GeneThera

[cowman]

The company with the live blood test is finally getting some help getting their test regulated. The USDA has announced they will be testing the test so to speak at their labs in Iowa.
Finally some light at the end of the tunnel?

[kato]

They should be testing it in a country like France or Japan, where all slaughtered animals are tested after slaughter. Then they could compare the blood test with the final result.

It would probably knock years off the time it takes to get approval.

[ValueChainFX]

good plan!

[kato]

For more info on what kind of tests are being used, check out
www.w3.aces.uiuc.edu/AnSci/BSE/BSE_Tests.htm

I think this is a university website.

[jensend]

heres an article on what upi finally got from usda. note that they got the statisics on number of tests but so far usda has withheld test results

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040114-041124-1470r

[kato]

WOW. That's an eye-opener.

After giving it some thought though, I'm not really that surprised. Once again the big boys are being left alone, while the smaller operators are targeted.

I also can't help but wonder why the one and only animal tested in the State of Washington in the entire year was a Canadian one. It's enough to make a person take up conspiracy theory as a hobby.

[jensend]

what's interesting is that when they finally got around to testing an animal in the state of washington it was a canadian cow that tested positive. somebody can calculate the probability of that.

[jensend]

sorry kato - i'm a little slow. doing chores after i posted the link it hit me the same as you realized and i couldn't wait to share my wisdom.

[kato]

It looks like a job for Fox Mulder.

[Horse]

If this is a blood test as I understand dosent it mean if it can be found in the blood it is not also in the muscle. This may be far worse than the current tests.

[StrawBoss]

I don’t believe that BSE can be detected with a blood test because if it can, the muscle would also be infected. That is one reason that the blood test theory is not widely supported--- there is two ways at looking at this blood test—snow-job to fool the consumer or our beef is not safe and all animals should be tested.

[cowman]

Well I'm no expert on the blood test...just what I heard from the guy from Genethera, when he was on the Rutherford show. He claimed how the test worked was the genetic markers for the disease were in the blood not the prion itself. That is how the test works. He claims an 85% success rate(rising to as high as maybe 95% with a larger database)! Now that sounds fairly bad but apparently the tests they now use don't even make the 85% range! So maybe Strawboss is right...the whole thing might be a snowjob!

[Cedar]

So....now it's a genetic disease???? Great! Let's just test them all and track down the "evil bloodlines" and get rid of them all! Job Done! Piece o' cake! (Organics sounds better all the time.)

[cowman]

The test used in Canada won't even detect the young cattle like the Japanese test does! The Japanese test is more accurate, way faster, and one third the cost. Why is it not used here? Maybe they don't want to find anything under 30 months?

[topper]

I read somewhere that the test the Japanese use gives a lot of false positives that is why canada and the us are hesitant to use it. I looked around but couldn't seem to find the site where I read that, maybe someone else knows more.