A FREE lesson your learners will always remember! A New DVD Film, Death March from Bataan to Manchuria: Raising a Survivor's Voice Image Title: Are You Using Cow Lipstick? Supplemental Information for Online Visitors about Mad Cow Disease: Go back to main Concept Attainment Lesson William C. Bruce Associate Dean and Professor College of Education and Psychology Phone: (903) 566-7048 e-mail: wbruce@uttyler.edu http://www.hometreemedia.org Fax: (903) 566-7036 Brought to you by Home Tree Media: Jascha Heifetz plays Hora Staccato http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poUoCggQZd0 Home Tree Media CBS Broadcasting Inc. Mad Cow Disease Confirmed In Alabama WASHINGTON, March 13, 2006 (CBS/AP) Fast Fact Two versions of the initial "rapid" screening test suggested the cow had the disease, and a more detailed Western blot confirmed that finding. (CBS/AP) A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department confirmed Monday. It is the third confirmed case in the U.S. The animal was a beef cow but hadn't entered the food supply for people or animals, said the department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford. The cow was euthanized by a private veterinarian and buried on the farm. Mad cow disease is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. "I want to emphasize that human and animal health in the United States are protected by a system of interlocking safeguards, and that we remain very confident in the safety of U.S. beef," Clifford said. "As of this time, there are no restrictions on Alabama beef producers," said Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture & Industries Ron Sparks. "Beef is safe. We can continue to consume beef as we did yesterday." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/13/national/main1396022.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories MSN NBC Alabama cow tests positive for mad cow disease Third U.S. case caught before it entered the food supply, USDA says WASHINGTON - A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department said Monday, confirming the third U.S. case of the brain-wasting ailment. The animal was a beef cow but hadn’t entered the food supply for people or animals, said the department’s chief veterinarian, John Clifford. "Which means the citizens of Alabama — and the nation — have no reason to believe their food supply from cattle is unsafe. It’s just as safe as it was yesterday," Alabama Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson told a news conference on Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ E. coli is a very common bacterial species. It is one of the most common bacteria in your intestinal tract. However, there's certain groups of E. coli, a certain subset of E. coli that carries some genes that make it particularly nasty. Most of these strains fall under a group that we call E. coli O157:H7. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/interviews/morris.html Is Our Meat Safe? Meat and poultry is safe. It is safer than it's probably ever been. It could probably be made even safer. But it's probably the safest thing we eat, because it's inspected, whereas seafood is not really inspected in this country, and fresh vegetables and fresh fruits are not really inspected. A lot of imported food is not really inspected. At least meat and poultry is largely inspected. ... http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/ Industrial Meat In recent decades, the beef industry has undergone a radical transformation -- the small cattle farmer has been all but replaced by beef processing companies that own huge feedlots and industrial meat-packing plants. One result of this concentration has been inexpensive and readily available meat; beef now costs half of what it did in 1970. Critics have charged, however, that the new system is inhumane to the animals and may have created new health risks. For a look at the pros and cons of the industrialization of the beef business, here are excerpts from FRONTLINE's interviews with Patrick Boyle, CEO of the American Meat Institute; Dan Glickman, former U.S. secretary of agriculture; Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control; Bill Haw, CEO of one of the nation's largest cattle feedlot operations; journalist Michael Pollan; and food-safety expert Dave Theno. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/industrial/consolidation.html Tapes & Transcripts on "Modern Meat" Tapes Home videos of "Modern Meat" are available at Shop PBS. Educational videotapes of "Modern Meat" are available for purchase by schools, libraries, and other educational institutions through Shop PBS for Teachers, or through PBS Video by calling 1-877-PBS-SHOP, by faxing your order to 866-274-9043 (include item title and number and credit card information), or by mailing your order to: PBS Video PO Box 609 Melbourne, FL 32902-0609 (include check, money order, or credit card information with your order) Transcripts You can download and print out a transcript of "Modern Meat" on this page of the website. This is the only place you can access a transcript of this report. It is not available anywhere else: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/etc/tapes.html Video Excerpt: This excerpt from "Modern Meat" shows the massive feedlots -- some call them cities of cows -- where thousands of cattle are kept in pens and fed high-energy rations of corn to fatten them up. Feedlot operator Bill Haw comments on how this system produces at a low cost the flavorful meat Americans have come to expect. He also says the animals live a pampered and comfortable existence. However, journalist Michael Pollan and microbiologist Dr. Glenn Morris, are concerned that feedlot conditions may contribute to the spread of dangerous bacteria that could find their way into the food supply. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/etc/video.html Cattlemen's Beef Board & National Cattlemen's Beef Association About U.S. Beef Safety Because of progressive steps taken by the U.S. government over the past 15 years, all U.S. beef is safe from BSE. http://www.bseinfo.org/ Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Harvard Risk Assessment 10/31/03 Harvard Risk Assesment (PDF) 11/30/01 BSE Risk Assessment Harvard Peer Review Documents Research Triangle Institute's Peer Review of the Harvard BSE Risk Assessment, October 31, 2002 (PDF) Harvard Center for Risk Assessment's Response to Reviewer Comments Submitted by Research Triangle Institute, October 2003 (PDF) Revised Risk Assessment: Evaluation of the Potential for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in the United States, October 2003 (PDF): http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_Harvard.html Comments from the United States on the OIE's proposed changes to the Code Chapter on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy December 2003, Report of the Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission Comments Submitted March 12, 2004 ...we would like the OIE to consider adding blood, blood by-products (dried beef powder, extracts, etc.) and products derived from beef blood to be on this list of commodities that can be safely traded. World Health Organization Guidelines on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies WHO Guidelines on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in relation to Biological and Pharmaceutical Products The causal link between vCJD and BSE is based on epidemiological, biochemical and transmission studies. The Joint WHO/FAO/OIE Technical Consultation on BSE (2001) reached a scientific consensus that BSE-contaminated food is the main avenue of exposure. Bovines, bovine products and by-products potentially carrying the BSE agent have been traded worldwide, giving this risk a global dimension. Epidemiological analysis does not indicate that medicinal products, blood and blood-derived products, or occupational exposure have been sources of infection in vCJD cases identified to date. 2.2 Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie BSE was first identified in British cattle in November 1986. Current evidence suggests that the disease originated from the use of feed supplements containing meat-and-bone meal (MBM) contaminated with a TSE agent (probably from scrapie-infected carcasses). By the end of 2002, over 182,000 confirmed cases of BSE had been reported in the UK. Smaller outbreaks have been reported in native-born cattle in most other Western and Central European countries and in Israel and Japan (totalling 3822 cases reported to the OIE as of April 2003). Most recent cases were in clinically unremarkable animals recognized at the abattoir following the introduction of a statutory test for PrPTSE applied after 1999 by member States of the European Union (EU) and by Switzerland to the brainstems of healthy cattle older than 30 months and suspect cattle at increased risk of BSE fallen stock and other animals older than 24 months sent for casualty slaughter). The increase in recognized cases presumably resulted from better detection of infected animals during the pre-clinical and early clinical stages of illness rather than a true “second wave” of BSE. In theUK the incidence of BSE has continued to decline rapidly since 1992, almost certainly in response to a statutory ruminant feed ban introduced in 1988. This is consistent with the hypothesis that cases arose by infection from contaminated feed. Although epidemics of BSE in other European countries have been recognized more recently than that of the UK, most are also in decline, and, so far, no single country except the UK has recognized more than 1500 cases. BSE infectivity has been demonstrated in the brain, spinal cord and retina of naturally affected cattle and also in the dorsal root ganglia, trigeminal ganglia, distal ileum (during incubation) and bone marrow (during clinical illness only) of those infected experimentally by the oral route. A wide range of other tissues (including most lymphoreticular tissues) from cattle sick with BSE—both naturally and experimentally acquired—showed no detectable infectivity using the mouse bioassay; parallel bioassays in cattle (now nearly complete) so far support the conclusion that there is a limited distribution of BSE infectivity in bovine tissues. BSE has been experimentally transmitted via the oral route to sheep and goats, but there is still no evidence that these small ruminants have been naturally infected. However, concern over this possibility has led to increased efforts at active and passive surveillance of scrapie in the EU, based on the observation that experimental BSE in small ruminants resembles scrapie. Recently, infectivity was found in blood of sheep with natural scrapie and in blood of sheep with experimental BSE during both clinical illness and pre-symptomatic periods. Working Group on International Reference Materials for Diagnosis and Study of TSEs: http://www.who.int/biologicals Joint WHO/FAO/OIE Technical Consultation on BSE: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/bse E.C. (European Commission), 2003. Updated opinion on the safety with regard to TSE risks of gelatine derived from ruminant bones or hides (adopted by the Scientific Steering Committee at its meeting of 6-7 March 2003. http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html E.C. (European Commission), 2002. Update of the opinion on TSE infectivity distribution in ruminant tissues (amended by the Scientific Steering Committee at its meeting of 7-8 November 2002). http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html E.C. (European Commission), 2002. Statement on prions in muscle (adopted on 04-05 April 2002) http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html E.C. (European Commission), 2001. Revised opinion and report on the safety of tallow obtained from ruminant slaughter by-products (adopted on 28-29 June 2001, editorial clarifications introduced at the meeting of 6-7 September 2001). http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html http://www.who.int/csr/en/ http://www.who.int/entity/bloodproducts/publications/en/WHO_TSE_2003.pdf Are Cow Brains Lurking in Your Lipstick? You’re probably thinking, “I hope not!”—but how can you be sure? The Food and Drug Administration recently told cosmetics makers to stop using the brains and spinal cord tissue from older cows in products like lipstick and hair spray in order to try to prevent the spread of mad cow disease to humans. Ready for the bad news? These same icky ingredients are “OK” if they come from cows younger than 30 months of age. Cosmetics companies use animal ingredients such as tissue and tallow (fat) because they’re cheap, not because they’re better than plant-based or synthetic ingredients. Slaughterhouses kill billions of animals every year and have to dispose of the “byproducts” somehow; selling them to cosmetics manufacturers is one easy solution. http://www.caringconsumer.com/feat/animalingredients/ Some images come from Google.com http://images.google.com/ Brain tissue infected with prions has a spongy appearance. http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/2004/01/23/mad_cow.php Did you miss these pages? Home Tree Media Links: Discrepant Event: The Samurai Crab Quick Discrepant Event: Guns, Germs, and Steel Discrepant Event: Life on Earth and Mars Discrepant Event: The Titanic Fishing Boats Discrepant Event about oil prices: Crude Pulse Discrepant Event about oil prices/Extra links: Crude Pulse Discrepant Event: Mad Cow Discrepant Event Extra Links: Mad Cow Discrepant Event: Immigration Discrepant Event: Immigration/Extra Links Check Out Our Teacher Books Table of Contents for Mindtronics! and Inquiry Alive! Teacher Links #1 Teacher Links #2 Links to Women in Science Technology Home Tree Media Site Map Email Us William C. Bruce Associate Dean and Professor College of Education and Psychology Phone: (903) 566-7048 e-mail: wbruce@uttyler.edu http://www.hometreemedia.org Fax: (903) 566-7036 Brought to you by Home Tree Media: Home Tree Media Go back to main Concept Attainment Lesson