# Mad Cow in Alberta **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363 "2003-05-20T19:32:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363/1 "2003-05-20T19:32:58Z")
This week a cow in Alberta was diagnosed with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy-- Mad Cow Disease. Now I know there have been _links_ between Mad Cow and variant-form Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in people. And that these links were responsible for the wholesale destruction of the cattle industry in Britain (before it got ground into the dirt by hoof n mouth). But… Is there actually any _proof_ that the two are linked? Never mind the media hysteria-- is there actually a study showing a cause and effect relationship? Or even a correlation? Being a news guy myself, I know that you shouldn’t trust any medical or science article seen in a newspaper ever (most writers struggle to balance their chequebooks, let alone understand basic biology, and they haven’t got a hope in hell of comprehending prions…). But scrapie has been around in sheep a heck of a long time-- and I’ve never heard a whisper about people getting v-CJD from their mutton stew. So, what is the actual straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363/2 "2003-05-20T20:51:02Z")
I would also like to know how it is spread. Is it just from ingesting “contaminated” meat? Or can just contact with other cattle spread to other animals? I am already seeing the early beginnings of a media circus developing where I live (small city in Northern Alberta). So far I’ve seen a CTV and CBC mobile unit driving around town. If I see a CNN crew, I’ll moon them. Stay tuned. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363/3 "2003-05-20T23:15:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > **I would also like to know how it is spread. Is it just from ingesting “contaminated” meat? Or can just contact with other cattle spread to other animals?** This [CJD, BSE, nvCJD Information Resource](http://www.bseinfo.org/dsp/dsp_locationContent.cfm) will help to answer some of your questions. Cattle (and other animals including humans) cannot contract BSE from casual contact with other cattle – the original cases over here had all been of animals fed on food supplements containing animal-derived protein, or else were directly bred from animals fed in this way. The infective agent has been traced to brain, spinal cord, and retinal tissue of infected animals. It has not been found to occur in muscular tissue of these animals but may be transferred to meat from nervous tissue during the butchering process. Careful removal of the head and spinal cord is necessary to prevent potential cross-contamination. The reason why BSE seems to be responsible for a disease that humans can contract while its cousin scrapie does not remains unclear. This whole subject is scientifically controversial and results have been disputed for reasons that may well be connected to economic politics (for obvious reasons). In addition, there was a [report in January of this year](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/bse_and_cjd/default.stm) suggesting that sheep may also be a source of BSE. FTR, UK cattle stocks have been replenished following the foot and mouth outbreak of 2000/01; the UK has also been certified BSE-free for a number of years now, and all EU countries accept import of beef and cattle from the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363/4 "2003-05-21T13:32:48Z")
Forgive me **everton** , but I’m not going to put a lot of trust in a site produced by beef and cattle producers. It may be accurate, but I’m sceptical. Does anyone else have any hard information? Or is it just that despite years of research into this, we still haven’t tracked down exactly how people get this thing that eats holes in your brain? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-in-alberta/176363/5 "2003-05-21T16:26:39Z")
Of course you’re sensible not to take the beef and cattle industry’s word for it alone, but I’m not going to do all the work for you. Look further into the site I linked to and you’ll see it contains further links to sources that are independent of beef and cattle producers. The second link I posted is a BBC site that also contains numerous links to other independent sources.