I started researching for this report with the intent of discussing the current scientific understanding of Mad Cow disease (BSE) and the similar human disease (vCJD), including the mainstream and alternative theories. I wanted to inject some balance and logic into the public discussion. But, the more data I uncovered, the more I realized that in probing the depth and complexity of BSE/vCJD, I would fail to convey practical useful information, especially since scientists still don’t fully understand these diseases (contact me directly for a more scientific paper I'm working on).  While the debate rages on in the scientific community regarding the nature and infectiousness of BSE, the people want practical answers now.

According to the USDA website:

Q: What are the risks to the U.S. food supply as a result of this detection?

A: Despite this finding, USDA remains confident in the safety of the U.S. food supply. The risk to human health from BSE is extremely low. As is standard practice for downer animals identified prior to slaughter, the animal’s brain, spinal cord, and other related products were removed and sent to a rendering facility. These so-called “specified risk materials” present the greatest risk of carrying the BSE agent and have not entered U.S. food supply channels. The scientific community believes that there is no evidence to demonstrate that muscle cuts or whole muscle meats that come from animals infected with BSE are at risk of harboring the causative agent of the disease.

The first problem here is that I don’t trust the USDA one bit. This “rendering” can be fed to chickens, then recycled back to cattle on non-organic farms. Thus, infected tissue may be entering the food supply in asymptomatic chickens or cattle. Until the ongoing scientific controversies are resolved, it seems plausible that one could contract vCJD from BSE-tainted tissue. While this has never been demonstrated in any specific case and the dose-response relationship has yet to be established, it still might make sense to avoid commercial ground beef and other bovine-sourced drugs or supplements.

On the other hand, even eliminating all bovine products from your life may not prevent vCJD, the environmental theory proposes. If it is shown that vCJD may spontaneously develop through the action of environmental toxins, then a “radical upheaval of the status quo mindset can be expected.” In comparison to other food-borne diseases, should vCJD be causing a panic? Although mad cow has been “linked” to about 150 cases of vCJD in Britain, according to the CDC, “diseases caused by food may cause an estimated 325,000 serious illnesses resulting in hospitalizations, 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illnesses, and 5,000 deaths each year.” More British cattle farmers have committed suicide over their loss of livelihood than the total number of vCJD sufferers. In Japan, a veterinarian committed suicide, out of feelings of guilt, simply for misdiagnosing a case of BSE. This hysteria must end.

One positive thing that is coming out of the whole mad cow scare is this: people are starting to learn where their food comes from. We are learning from writers like Michael Pollanix of the NY Times that things aren’t pretty out there in food-industry land. The law of unintended consequences reared its ugly head after we, as a culture, moved off the farm and into the cities and suburbs, and lost connection to the earth, figuratively and literally.

I truly hope for a renaissance in our food production and distribution system. This rebirth must come from people, not a government mandate. (As we see, the function of government has become the protection of big industry.) While ten companies control the vast majority of supermarket and corner-deli food, we need to look for alternative, local sources. Local Greenmarkets are good places to start finding plant and animal foods grown humanely and sustainably. My basic rule is this: if I can’t look the farmer in the eye, ask a few questions and shake his hand over the quality of his produce, I shop elsewhere. If enough of us shopped this way for even a small portion of our “groceries,” the food industry wall of Jericho would begin to crumble and small regional farms would regain the respect and viability they once had. Oh yes, and the occasional disease outbreak would not cause national hysteria. Go ahead, call me a dreamer.