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; Lit’s Go Out Thursdays uc The' Battalions