Page 6A
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Thursday, February 1,2;
THE BATTALION
Why are people so angry about mad cow diseaseiC
Here’s the idea: You write
in with a question, and I do a
little research to supply you
with an answer. The ques
tions can vary from “Why is
the sky blue?” to “Why do
my feet stick to the floors of
movie theaters?”
To start things off, I will
STUART
HUTSON
begin by approaching a subject that hits close to
home since Texas A&M is heavily involved with
cattle science.
Question: What the heck is mad cow disease,
and how much are we in the United States at risk
of being harmed by it?
— Stuart Hutson, senior journalism major
Answer: I will be honest here. After a deluge
of recent news reports about this particular dis
ease, I did not have the slightest idea what this
was or how it was spread.
Feeling a little uninformed, I began investi
gating and, after a little research, I discovered
why I had no clue: neither do the experts.
Usually, if a disease is declared a possible
public health hazard (such as mad cow disease
has been in England) it is because of some nasty
little virus or bacteria.
But Jeff Saveli, an animal science professor
at A&M, said the disease is apparently caused
by a naturally occurring protein in the animal’s
system.
“This would be a lot easier to deal with if it
was a virus, but this is a disease that just occurs,
resulting in a spongy appearance in the brain and
nervous tissue,” he said. “The real name is
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), but
since it results in a loss of control of the nervous
system — which of course makes the cows
stumble around and fall down — it was called
mad cow disease by people in Great Britain,
who use the word ‘mad’ like crazy.”
Saveli said it is not known how the disease is
spread or even if it is spread at all.
The disease appears when this protein is around,
but exactly how it causes BSE is not known.
The human counterpart of the disease is the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) which, accord
ing to the American Medical Association, occurs
in about one per every million people naturally,
regardless of diet.
Saveli said major concerns about it arose
when the disease, which usually occurs in the el
derly, began popping up in 20- and 30-year-olds
in Great Britain in the ’80s.
“There was, of course, then concern that this
was coming from BSE,” he said. “But no real
evidence has ever really shown this.”
This concern resulted in close scrutiny of
herds, and the United States officially stopped
importing cattle from Great Britain in 1985.
Ever since, any herds that have the disease
have been destroyed since the protein that causes
mad cow disease cannot be destroyed by typical
methods used to destroy viruses or bacteria.
As for the danger to the United States popu
lace, according to the United States Department
of Agriculture, cattle in the United States has
been closely monitored for 10 years, and noto
case of BSE has been found.
However, Saveli warned that the disease 1*
been found in deer.
“It is known to exist in the deer population,
but I’ve only heard of one case of a hunter get
ting CJD,” he said. “And again, that brings up ,
the question of whether he was one of the one \y C( j ne !
a million that will get the disease anyway.” in a
Ok, to sum things up, mad cow disease is attorne
just a little floating protein that turns cow and to eons
human brains to sponge. It is not in U.S. beef, ^ ec
but watch out for deer (call it Bambi’s revenp^ e 5°
Overall, researchers are not sure how it is
spread, but hey, as my mother always says, CO u,-( s
“Better safe than sorry.” 1 Van
die for
Confused yet? Well, if there is anything yoiil Dur
would like clarified or would like to submit;: g n 'l
question, send an email to scifyi@hotmail.coii^ r ® * ie
and 1 will see if I can help.
on her
Pros
^pts all
Stuart Hutson is a senior journalism m the eirl
her hea
hit her;
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