This is a guest post Andre, who is part of the team that manages Australian Credit Cards, a credit card comparison and personal finance blog based in Sydney, Australia.
Scientists have discovered a link between Mad Cow disease and Alzheimer’s.
Not surprisingly, Mad Cow disease, or the medical term, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has been rampant in the U.S. for decades. The human form of Mad Cow is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The USDA and FDA have done a very good job of keeping this fact hidden, as well as showing a healthy disregard for human life. Experts have called the testing on cattle raised for food in the U.S., ’careless’ and ‘irresponsible’. Testing one cow out of every 2,000 cows is seriously negligent. Because of this fact, no one knows how many infected cattle enter the human food chain. Irresponsible? I’d say.
The World Health Organization Warnings
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning stating that the U.S. is still violating the guidelines set forth for the prevention of BSE or Mad Cow disease getting into the human population. WHO states that the U.S. is inadequately testing the brains of human dementia victims and is likely missing hundreds of human cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, (CJD), caused by, none other than Mad Cow disease.
The warning goes on to state that the feeding of infected animals to other animals must be stopped. The feeding of slaughterhouse waste, including blood and excrement to other farmed animals is causing major health risks to all who eat beef, or any other farmed animal. Deer, elk, sheep, pigs and chickens can all carry this disease.
A prion is a protein and fold into an abnormal shape, at which time they begin killing off brain cells by the millions.
The Link
CJD and Alzheimer’s disease are found to be caused by an infectious prion, which is a virus. A prion is a protein, but a mutated kind of protein that is somewhat different in shape. These prions fold into an abnormal shape, at which time they begin killing off brain cells by the millions.
Steven Strittmatter, Professor of Neurology at Yale University comments that “It’s too bizarre that these two diseases would share this common protein.”
“The most frequent misdiagnosis of CJD among the elderly is Alzheimer’s disease. Neither CJD nor Alzheimer’s can be conclusively diagnosed without a brain biopsy, and the symptoms and pathology of both diseases overlap.” Michael Greger, M.D
The gestation period for this prion disease can be years or even decades. The problem with this is that many people infected will not even show signs of the disease for years, and the final death toll may not show up until it’s too late to actually do something about the rest of the population. Also, since CJD is often mis-diagnosed, getting the true picture will be difficult.
Regrettably, the National Institute of Neurological disorders, indicates that there is not one single diagnostic test for detecting CJD. The only way to confirm a diagnosis of CJD is by brain biopsy or autopsy. The biopsy is a dangerous procedure because it means removing a part of a person’s brain, and getting the part that is infected is not likely. And… when testing in either autopsy or biopsy, the surgeons performing the test have to take special care to alleviate the chances of becoming infected themselves. Strict surgical and disinfection procedures must be followed to perform this kind of tests.
I’d venture to say that most doctors would do just about anything BUT this, in order to avoid the risks involved, as well as the time and expense, hence – mis-diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s Statistics
And today, Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. It is the only disease that causes imminent death, because it cannot be prevented by medicine, or cured or even slowed. Going vegetarian can decrease your chances of contracting CJD.
From 2000 to 2008, in the U.S. alone, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have risen sixty-six percent (66%). An estimated 5.4 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s in 2011. This includes people over the age of 65, and younger people who have young-onset Alzheimer’s.
Scientists believe it is Mad Cow gone rampant and have found a possible link to this horrible brain wasting disease – and most other types of dementia. A link to Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and others… has also been made.
Dr. Greger explains, “Mad Cow disease is caused by unconventional pathogens called prions–literally infectious proteins–which, because of their unique structure, are practically invulnerable, surviving even incineration at temperatures hot enough to melt lead.” Sadly, pigs can also carry the disease, however, since they are slaughtered long before any symptoms can surface, therefore are difficult to diagnose.
According to Dr. Greger: “…laboratory experiments show that pigs can indeed be infected by Mad Cow brains– and hundreds of thousands of downer pigs, too sick or crippled by injury to even walk, arrive at U.S. slaughterhouses every year.”
Going vegan or vegetarian is the safest way to ensure that life can be worth living in old age.
Our Government
This is disturbing to me, as I am sure to everyone else discovering that the USDA, a government agency, is putting our lives at risk because of an effort to protect the agribusinesses’ that are so inept at processing safe meat. (Think- million pound beef recalls) From Dr. Greger: “Internal USDA documents retrieved through the Freedom of Information Act show that our government did indeed consider a number of precautionary measures as far back as 1991 to protect the American public from Mad Cow disease. According to one such document, however, the USDA explained that the “disadvantage” of these measures was that “the cost to the livestock and rendering industries would be substantial.”
How does it feel to recognize that your life is less important to our government, than costs incurred by a slaughterhouse?
Dying for a Hamburger?
What needs to be clearly understood is that when you eat a hamburger, you are not just eating one cow. A study done by R.P. Clayton and K.E. Belk in 1998 concluded that a single 4-ounce ground beef patty was made from, on average, at least 55 different animals to, at most, an average of 1082 animals.
Now, think about this – there are at least 35 million cows killed annually in the U.S. alone, and only .001% of them are tested, what do you think your chances are of getting Mad Cow disease/Alzheimer’s? These statistics are too high for me, which is why I am a vegan/strict vegetarian.
Going vegan or vegetarian is the safest way to ensure that life can be worth living in old age. Why take a chance eating infected and abused animals, when the alternative foods can be healthful, life giving and safe?
