Classic image of a cow with BSE. Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family A notable feature of such disease is the inability of the infected animal to stand. Source: APHIS

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad-Cow Disease (MCD), is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in cattle, that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord and also causes red eyes. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS is an operating unit of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA Neurodegenerative Disease ( Greek νέυρο- néuro-, "nerval" and Latin dēgenerāre, "to decline" or "to Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain The spinal cord is a long thin tubular bundle of Nerves that is an extension of the Central nervous system from the brain and is enclosed in and protected BSE has a long incubation period, about 4 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years, all breeds being equally susceptible. Incubation period is the Time elapsed between exposure to a Pathogenic Organism, or Chemical or radiation, and when Symptoms See Breed (song for the song by Nirvana. See Breed (video game for the video game by Brat Designs ^[1] In the United Kingdom, the country worst affected, more than 179,000 cattle have been infected and 4. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located 4 million slaughtered during the eradication programme. ^[2]

It is believed by most scientists that the disease may be transmitted to human beings who eat the brain or spinal cord of infected carcasses. ^[3] In humans, it is known as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD or nvCJD), and by April 2008, it had killed 163 people in Britain, and 37 elsewhere^[4] with the number expected to rise because of the disease's long incubation period. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ( CJD) is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder ( Brain Disease) that is ultimately 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common ^[5] Between 460,000 and 482,000 BSE-infected animals had entered the human food chain before controls on high-risk offal were introduced in 1989. Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. Offal is the Entrails and Internal organs of a Butchered Animal. ^[6]

A British inquiry into BSE concluded that the epidemic was caused by cattle, who are normally herbivores, being fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused the infectious agent to spread. In Epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a Herbivory is a form of Predation in which an Organism, known as a herbivore, consumes principally Autotrophs ref name=Campbell>Campbell Meat and bone meal (MBM is a product of the rendering industry ^[7][8] The origin of the disease itself remains unknown. The infectious agent is distinctive for the high temperatures at which it remains viable; this contributed to the spread of the disease in Britain, which had reduced the temperatures used during its rendering process. Rendering is a process that converts waste animal tissue into stable value-added materials ^[7] Another contributory factor was the feeding of infected protein supplements to very young calves. ^[7][9]

Infectious agent

Microscopic "holes" of tissue sections are examined in the lab. Source: APHIS

The infectious agent in BSE is believed to be a specific type of misfolded protein called a prion. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS is an operating unit of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA Protein folding is the physical process by which a Polypeptide folds into its characteristic and functional three-dimensional structure. Proteins are large Organic compounds made of Amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by Peptide bonds between the Carboxyl A prion (ˈpriːɒn is thought to be an infectious agent that according to current scientific consensus is comprised entirely of a propagated, mis-folded Those prion proteins carry the disease between individuals and cause deterioration of the brain. The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain BSE is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies' ( TSEs, also known as prion diseases) are a group of progressive conditions that affect the Brain and ^[10] TSEs can arise in animals that carry an allele which causes previously normal protein molecules to contort by themselves from an alpha helical arrangement to a beta pleated sheet, which is the disease-causing shape for the particular protein. An allele (ˈæliːl (UK /əˈliːl/ (US (from the Greek αλληλος allelos, meaning each other) is one member of a pair or series of different forms A common motif in the Secondary structure of Proteins the alpha helix (α-helix is a right-handed coiled conformation resembling a spring, in which The β sheet (also β-pleated sheet) is the second form of regular Secondary structure in Proteins consisting of beta strands connected laterally In Chemistry, conformational isomerism is a form of Stereoisomerism in which Molecules with the same Structural formula (same connectivity Transmission can occur when healthy animals come in contact with tainted tissues from others with the disease. In the brain these proteins cause native cellular prion protein to deform into the infectious state, which then goes on to deform further prion protein in an exponential cascade. This results in protein aggregates, which then form dense plaque fibers, leading to the microscopic appearance of "holes" in the brain, degeneration of physical and mental abilities, and ultimately death. Senile plaques (syn neuritic plaques senile druse braindruse are extracellular deposits of Amyloid in the Gray matter of the brain

Different theories exist for the origin of prion proteins in cattle. Two leading theories suggest that it may have jumped species from the disease scrapie in sheep, or that it evolved from a spontaneous form of "mad cow disease" that has been seen occasionally in cattle for many centuries. Scrapie is a fatal degenerative Disease that affects the Nervous systems of Sheep and Goats It is one of several Transmissible spongiform ^[11] Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus records cases of a disease with similar characteristics in the 4th and 5th Century AD. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. ^[12] The British Government enquiry took the view the cause was not scrapie as had originally been postulated, and was some event in the 1970s that was not possible to identify. ^[13]

Not all scientists agree that the danger of contracting the disease warrants taking extreme measures. They stress that human infection by mad cow disease has been statistically very small.

The BSE epidemic in British cattle

Cattle are normally herbivores. Herbivory is a form of Predation in which an Organism, known as a herbivore, consumes principally Autotrophs ref name=Campbell>Campbell In nature, cattle eat grass. Grass is the common word that generally describes Monocotyledonous green Plants The family Gramineae ( Poaceae) are the "true grasses" and include In modern industrial cattle-farming, various commercial feeds are used, which may contain ingredients including antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, and protein supplements. In modern usage an antibiotic is a Chemotherapeutic agent with activity against Microorganisms such as Bacteria, fungi or Protozoa Hormones (from Greek ὁρμή - "impetus" are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant Proteins are large Organic compounds made of Amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by Peptide bonds between the Carboxyl The use of meat and bone meal, produced from the ground and cooked left-overs of the slaughtering process as well as from the cadavers of sick and injured animals such as cattle, sheep, or chickens, as a protein supplement in cattle feed was widespread in Europe prior to about 1987. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Worldwide, soya bean meal is the primary plant-based protein supplement fed to cattle. However, soya beans do not grow well in Europe, so cattle raisers throughout Europe turned to the less expensive animal by-product feeds as an alternative. A change to the rendering process in the early 1980s may have resulted in a large increase of the infectious agents in the cattle feed. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. A contributing factor was suggested to have been a change in British laws that allowed a lower temperature sterilization of the protein meal. While other European countries like Germany required said animal byproducts to undergo a high temperature steam boiling process, this requirement had been eased in Britain as a measure to keep prices competitive. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Later the British Inquiry dismissed this theory saying "changes in process could not have been solely responsible for the emergence of BSE, and changes in regulation were not a factor at all. "^[14]

Following an epizootic of BSE in Britain, 165 people (up until 2007) acquired and died of a disease with similar neurological symptoms subsequently called vCJD, or (new) variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In Epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek epi- upon + zoion animal is a Disease that appears as new cases in a given animal population The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ( CJD) is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder ( Brain Disease) that is ultimately This is a separate disease from 'classical' Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is not related to BSE and has been known about since the early 1900s. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ( CJD) is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder ( Brain Disease) that is ultimately Three cases of vCJD occurred in people who had lived in or visited Britain — one each in Ireland, Canada and the United States. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United States of America —commonly referred to as the There is also some concern about those who work with (and therefore inhale) cattle meat and bone meal, such as horticulturists, who use it as fertilizer. Meat and bone meal (MBM is a product of the rendering industry Horticulture is the art and science of plant cultivation Horticulturists (or horticuluralists) work and conduct research in the fields of Plant propagation Up to date statistics on all types of CJD are published by the UK CJD Surveillance Centre in Edinburgh.

For many of the vCJD patients, direct evidence exists that they had consumed tainted beef, and this is assumed to be the mechanism by which all affected individuals contracted it. Beef is the Culinary name for Meat from Bovines especially domestic Cattle (cows Disease incidence also appears to correlate with slaughtering practices that led to the mixture of nervous system tissue with hamburger and other beef. The nervous system is a Network of specialized cells that communicate information about an animal's surroundings and itself A hamburger (or burger) is a Sandwich consisting of a cooked ground Meat Patty, usually Beef, placed in a sliced bun or between It is estimated that 400,000 cattle infected with BSE entered the human food chain in the 1980s. Although the BSE epizootic was eventually brought under control by culling all suspect cattle populations, people are still being diagnosed with vCJD each year (though the number of new cases currently has dropped to fewer than 5 per year). This is attributed to the long incubation period for prion diseases, which are typically measured in years or decades. As a result the extent of the human vCJD outbreak is still not fully known.

The scientific consensus is that infectious BSE prion material is not destroyed through normal cooking procedures, meaning that contaminated beef foodstuffs prepared "well done" may remain infectious. ^[15][16]

In 2004 researchers reported evidence of a second contorted shape of prions in a rare minority of diseased cattle. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " In other words, this implies a second strain of BSE prion. Very little is known about the shape of disease-causing prions, because their insolubility and tendency to clump thwarts application of the detailed measurement techniques of structural biology. Structural biology is the branch of Molecular biology concerned with the Architecture and shape of biological Macromolecules especially Proteins But cruder measures yield a "biochemical signature" by which the newly discovered cattle strain appears different from the familiar one, but similar to the clumped prions in humans with traditional CJD Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. The finding of a second strain of BSE prion raises the possibility that transmission of BSE to humans has been underestimated, because some of the individuals diagnosed with spontaneous or "sporadic" CJD may have actually contracted the disease from tainted beef. So far nothing is known about the relative transmissibility of the two disease strains of BSE prion.

Alan Colchester, a professor of neurology at the University of Kent, writing in the September 3, 2005 issue of the medical journal, The Lancet, proposed a theory that the most likely initial origin of BSE in Britain was the importation from the Indian subcontinent of bone meal which contained CJD infected human remains. The University of Kent is a plate glass campus University in Kent, England. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the journal For other uses of the term "lancet" see Lancet (disambiguation. ^[17] The government of India vehemently responded to the research calling it "Misleading, highly mischievous, a figment of imagination, absurd," further adding that India maintained constant surveillance and had not had a single case of either BSE or vCJD. ^[18][19] The authors responded in the January 22, 2006 issue of The Lancet that their theory is unprovable only in the same sense as all other BSE origin theories are and that the theory warrants further investigation. This article is about the journal For other uses of the term "lancet" see Lancet (disambiguation. ^[20]

UK epizootic and UK licensed medicines

During the course of the investigation into the BSE epizootic, an enquiry was also made into the activities of the Department of Health and its Medicines Control Agency. The Department of Health (DH is a department of the United Kingdom government but with responsibility for government policy for England alone on Health On May 7, 1999, in his written statement number 476 to the BSE Inquiry, David Osborne Hagger reported on behalf of the Medicines Control Agency that in a previous enquiry the Agency had been asked to:

". Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) David Osborne Hagger, born in 1939 in London, England, is a retired British government executive who was employed as Head of Abridged Licensing and Co-ordinator . . identify relevant manufacturers and obtain information about the bovine material contained in children’s vaccines, the stocks of these vaccines and how long it would take to switch to other products. " It was further reported that the: ". . . use of bovine insulin in a small group of mainly elderly patients was noted and it was recognised that alternative products for this group were not considered satisfactory. " A medicines licensing committee report that same year recommended that: ". . . no licensing action is required at present in regard to products produced from bovine material or using prepared bovine brain in nutrient media and sourced from outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Isles and the Republic of Ireland provided that the country of origin is known to be free of BSE, has competent veterinary advisers and is known to practise good animal husbandry. " In 1990 the British Diabetic Association became concerned regarding the safety of bovine insulin and the government licensing agency assured them that: ". Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) . . there was no insulin sourced from cattle in the UK or Ireland and that the situation in other countries was being monitored. " In 1991 a European Community Commission: ". Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. . . expressed concerns about the possible transmission of the BSE/scrapie agent to man through use of certain cosmetic treatments. " Sources in France reported to the British Medicines Control Agency: ". . . that there were some licensed surgical sutures derived from French bovine material. " Concerns were also raised: ". . . regarding a possible risk of transmission of the BSE agent in gelatin products. "

Husbandry practices in the United States relating to BSE

Soybean meal is cheap and plentiful in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the As a result, the use of animal byproduct feeds was never common, as it was in Europe. However, U. S. regulations only partially prohibit the use of animal byproducts in feed. In 1997, regulations prohibited the feeding of mammalian byproducts to ruminants such as cows and goats. Physiologically a ruminant is a Mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first stomach known However, the byproducts of ruminants can still be legally fed to pets or other livestock such as pigs and poultry such as chickens. In addition, it is legal for ruminants to be fed byproducts from some of these animals. [3] A proposal to end the use of cow blood, restaurant scraps, and poultry litter (fecal matter, feathers)^[21] in January 2004 has yet to be implemented [4], despite the efforts of some advocates of such a policy, who cite the fact that cows are herbivores, and that blood and fecal matter could potentially carry BSE. In Agriculture, poultry litter or broiler litter is a material used as bedding in poultry operations to renderthe floor more manageable

In February 2001, the USGAO reported that the FDA, which is responsible for regulating feed, had not adequately policed the various bans. February 2001: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September The Government Accountability Office ( GAO) is the Audit, Evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. [5] Compliance with the regulations was shown to be extremely poor before the discovery of the Washington cow, but industry representatives report that compliance is now 100%. Even so, critics call the partial prohibitions insufficient. Indeed, US meat producer Creekstone Farms alleges that the USDA is preventing BSE testing from being conducted [6]. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC is a conventional and angus beef producer and Limited liability company with livestock based in Campbellsburg Kentucky

Japan was the top importer of U. S. beef, buying 240,000 tons valued at $1. 4 billion in 2003. After the discovery of the first case of BSE in the U. S. on December 23, 2003, Japan stopped U. S. beef imports in December 2003. In December 2005, Japan once again allowed imports of U. S. beef, but reinstated its ban in mid-January 2006 after a technical violation of the U. S. -Japan beef import agreement: a vertebral column, which should have been removed prior to shipment, was included in a shipment of veal.

Tokyo yielded to U. S. pressure to resume imports, ignoring consumer worries about the safety of U. S. beef, said Japanese consumer groups. Michiko Kamiyama from Food Safety Citizen Watch said about this: "The government has put priority on the political schedule between the two countries, not on food safety or human health. "

Possibly due to pressure from large agribusiness, the United States has drastically cut back on the number of cows inspected for BSE. ^[22]

65 nations implemented full or partial restrictions on importing U. S. beef products because of concerns that U. S. testing lacked sufficient rigor. As a result, exports of U. S. beef declined from 1. 3 million metric tons in 2003, before the first mad cow was detected in the US, to 322 thousand metric tons in 2004. This has increased since then to 771 thousand metric tons in 2007. ^[23]

On December 31, 2006, Hematech, a biotechnology company based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, announced that it had used genetic engineering and cloning technology to produce cattle that lacked a necessary gene for prion production - thus theoretically making them immune to BSE. Events 406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Sioux Falls (ˌsuː ˈfɔːlz is the largest city in the US state of South Dakota. South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. ^[24]

BSE statistics by country

Dark green areas are countries with confirmed human cases of vCJD. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ( CJD) is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder ( Brain Disease) that is ultimately Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The Principality of Liechtenstein (Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a tiny doubly landlocked Alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman ( Arabic: سلطنة عُمان) is an Arab Country in Southwest Asia on the southeast Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Light green shows countries which have reported cases of only BSE.

The table to the right summarizes reported cases of BSE and of vCJD by country. BSE is the disease in cattle, while vCJD is the disease in people.

The tests used for detecting BSE vary considerably as do the regulations in various jurisdictions for when, and which cattle, must be tested. For instance, in the EU the cattle tested are older (30 months+), while many cattle are slaughtered earlier than that. At the opposite end of the scale, Japan tests all cattle at the time of slaughter. Tests are also difficult as the altered prion protein has very small levels in blood or urine, and no other signal has been found. Newer tests are faster, more sensitive, and cheaper, so it is possible that future figures may be more comprehensive. Even so, currently the only reliable test is examination of tissues during an autopsy.

It is notable that there are no cases reported in Australia, New Zealand and Vanuatu where cattle are mainly fed outside on grass pasture and, mainly in Australia, non-grass feeding is done only as a final finishing process before the animals are processed for meat. Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu ( French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu) is an Island

As for vCJD in humans, autopsy tests are not always done and so those figures too are likely to be too low, but probably by a lesser fraction. In the UK anyone with possible vCJD symptoms must be reported to the UK Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit and so it is unlikely that any cases would be missed. In the U. S. , the CDC has refused to impose a national requirement that physicians and hospitals report cases of the disease. Instead, the agency relies on other methods, including death certificates and urging physicians to send suspicious cases to the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, which is funded by the CDC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services based in unincorporated

References

External links

Government

• APHIS - BSE Information - U. S. Department of Agriculture
• Canadian BSE FAQs - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• BSE Homepage - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK)
• UK government inquiry into BSE from discovery to 1996
• UK Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit
• British Medicines Control Agency statement PDF - (Excerpts cited above. )
• BSE Resources - Food Safety. gov
• Impact of BSE on U.S. Economy - Economic Research Service
• Mad Cow FAQs - Massachusetts Public Health
• BSE (Mad Cow Disease) - Health Canada
• List of prohibited substances in ruminant feed - U. S. Code of Federal Regulations
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in North America - enumeration of reported cattle incidents

Consumer/health groups

• HowStuffWorks Craig C. Freudenrich, Ph. D.
• Mad Cow Disease news and information - Organic Consumers Association
• Pediatrician's evaluation of BSE risk- About.com
• Mad Cow information - Bureau for National Affairs
• BSE FAQs - International Food Information Council
• Mad Cow USA - Center for Media and Democracy
• Choosing Safer Beef to Eat - Center for Science in the Public Interest

Science/research

• BSE and blood transfusion (The Lancet - Vol. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA is a Consumer protection and Organic agriculture Advocacy group based in Finland Minnesota. Aboutcom is an online source for original information and advice and is among the top 15 US Websites ( Nielsen Online Spring 2008 BNA (The Bureau of National Affairs Inc is an independent privately owned publisher of specialized news and information for professionals in business and government The Center for Science in the Public Interest ( CSPI) is a non-profit watchdog and Consumer advocacy group headquartered in Washington D 368, Issue 9552, 09 December 2006, Pages 2061-2067)
• Scientific American - Article from 2004
• Mad Cow Information - North Dakota State University
• BSE Information Center - Iowa State University
• The Origins of BSE - Mark Purdey

Beef/cattle industry

• BSE News & Information - American Association of Meat Processors
• Livestock Feed Industry News - American Feed Industry Association
• BSE: environmental causation?