Mad cow decision opponents take to Facebook
In just over a week, nearly 9000 people have joined a social networking group objecting to the Federal Government's decision to allow beef in Australia from countries affected by mad cow diseae.
The Facebook site, called Support Aussie Farmers - Say No To Imported Beef, says many consumers want imported beef clearly labelled in supermarkets. Founder of the page, Donna Morrison from Drysdale in Victoria, says Australian consumers have a right to know exactly what they're eating. "It just makes me so happy to find so many more people out there like myself that are passionate about this country, about its farmers and about our rights," she says. "The majority of people and myself would prefer to support Australian farmers and back Australian farmers and eat Australian beef.
"It's the best in the world."
Scientists in Canada and the United States claim to have found the evolutionary origin of prions, the deadly killer responsible for a family of fatal brain-wasting illnesses: chronic wasting disease in deer; scrapie in sheep; mad cow disease in cows; and human mad cow disease, kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.
Science Daily is reporting on results of study that suggests that people who consume deer and elk with chronic wasting disease (CWD) may be escaping infection by an inability of the infectious agent to spread to people.
CWD is a type of brain-damaging disease known as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or prion disease. CWD primarily affects deer, elk, and moose.
We have not given much if any space to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). We know the United States Department of Agriculture has been listening; that most farmers and ranchers have been protesting, and the public is mostly confused about what's up.
One-by-one, country-by-country, American Beef has fought its way back. Now it is hoping Taiwan does not turn out to be as volatile as was South Korea.
First, we found its "Prion Basics" a great feature, especially the listing of the various prion diseases and the mammals they affect. (See below). Second, we wanted to call attention to the open competition the Institute has for prion research. Deadlines are coming up, and awards of up to $150,000 sound pretty good even if paid in Canadian funds. Go 
gripped the world in the 1990s. In his 1997 book "Deadly Feasts," Richard Rhodes warned that the human variant of mad cow, known as vCJD, might kill as many as 500,000 people a year in Britain alone. So far, total confirmed cases world-wide run to around 150."
You've got a couple more days to submit written comments to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on the new so-called "BSE" rule requiring livestock renderers and animal feed manufacturers to remove the brain and spinal cord from cows 30 months and older.
The prion protein, which is associated with the causes of CJD, is normally used in the brain to maintain brain health but can contribute to nerve damage should it get tangled up with amyloid-beta, another protein known as the chief suspect of causing Alzheimer's disease.
Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, has often made life difficult for the government in London. He is doing so again by supporting Christine Lord, the mother seeking answers from the government about her son Andy's death from Variant Creutzfeldt Jakob (vCJD).
The new regulations bans the use of these carcasses in livestock feed if the cattle are over 30 months of age. This federal regulation is intended to prevent the spread of BSE or mad cow disease and will likely result in increased disposal costs for livestock producers.
Japan has suspended imports from a former Smithfield Beef Group meatpacking plant in Wisconsin after it found meat that could not be verified as coming from cattle aged 20 months or less, the farm ministry said on Thursday.
Scientists in the United Kingdom say there could be a "second wave" of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- the human form of the mad cow disease -- after discovering that some people have a genetic predisposition to the disease.
challenge, and instead we found the Denver-based U.S. Meat Export Federation is focused on turning Japanese government opinion against so much BSE testing. We learned the USMEF hosted a conference in Tokyo just last week with this focus:
Standards Agency of the European Commission. Under current regulations, the brains of all cattle aged over 30 months are tested for BSE before the beef is allowed into the food chain. The plan is to raise the testing age to 48 months from next January.
in a Washington State cattle herd cost U.S. beef exporters $11 billion between 2004 and 2007, a new report says. 
Researchers have discovered that genetic mutation may sometimes cause mad cow disease, raising hopes that breeders will be able to use the information to eliminate one avenue for the disease.
Case Western Law Professor Jonathan Adler writes on the widely read blog called 
The six-year old Alberta dairy cow found to be suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in February was the victim of infected feed, according to the official investigation.
Since Gambetti's team wrote a paper describing an initial 11 cases referred to his centre between 2002 and 2006 (Annals of Neurology, vol 63, p 697), another five have come to light. "So it is possible that it could be just the tip of the iceberg," Gambetti says.
Yet only this past weekend there was another protest in downtown Seoul, which attracted 50,000 people. It was another production of the People’s Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease and brought out religious groups including Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and Won Buddhists, as well as the opposition United Democratic Party, Democratic Labor Party, New Progressive Party and the Renewal of Korea Party. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and university students also participated.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Monday afternoon that it has confirmed the country's 13th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow in the western province of British Columbia.