Soylent BSE?
I have seen a couple of news articles reporting on theories that Bovine Spongeform Encephelopathy and its human-affecting cousin, Crutzfeldt-Jakob disease, may have originated in animal feed that contained human tissue, imported from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the early 1980'.
The theory, noted as "controversial", (ya think?), in the UK Daily Mail, the Guardian and others, reports thatthere was a steady market for tissue, some apparently harvested from human bodies disposed of in the rivers of those counties, that was used in the manufacture of animal feeds in the UK. The article notes that the practice was very common from the late 50's through the 70's, and may continue yet today, and the the theory is that the condition we refer to as "mad cow disease" may have been caused by feeding cattle tissues that contained the early variant of Crutzfeldt-Jakob, a disease that appears in the human population sporadically.
Whether or not the theory holds, the fact that human remains are used in something as mundane as cattle feed is quite disturbing. It may be blurred by the origins of the protein, (halfway around the world, in places usually not afforded a lot of significance, in a sort of "what we don't know" kind of rationalization), but it makes one wonder what else we don't know. Is my Purina dog and cat chow safe? If this is a common practice, pray tell, what are the sources of protein produced domestically? Does the US import such proteins from abroad, and if so, from where and in what quantities? If ever there was even a hint that human tissues were being knowingly imported, or even harvested domestically, the uproar would drown out, at least for a time, all other issues that dominate our national mindset. If it were to become an issue, one would be forced to evaluate our political leaders and the myriad special interest groups that regularly hold forth on their positions on this question. I wonder how, say,Pat Robertson would react? Or perhaps John Kerry?
This issue deserves some investigation. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen,and if it does happen, it will be in the UK, not here in America. But watch and listen to what is said, and not said, when those issues come up in the congress and the various federal and state agencies, as well as those special interests involved in the industry. We, in all liklihood, will never get a straight answer on this, it will be left to the individual to read between the lines and make a decision.
Salad anyone?
update 1:
there is a firm in the New York City area, that appears to be using cadavers from various funeral homes as a supply for bone, skin and other human tissues, apparently for transplant purposes.
it has been alledged that the firm pays the funeral business for access to the bodies, and then sells the harvested tissue. published figures might lead one to see quite a profit margin.
what is disturbing, is that the records of these transactions are at best murky, and sometimes non-existent, and when they do exist, they appear to be falsified with respect to the consent of the families as well as the age and health of the deceased.
more on this if and when we hear about it.
The theory, noted as "controversial", (ya think?), in the UK Daily Mail, the Guardian and others, reports thatthere was a steady market for tissue, some apparently harvested from human bodies disposed of in the rivers of those counties, that was used in the manufacture of animal feeds in the UK. The article notes that the practice was very common from the late 50's through the 70's, and may continue yet today, and the the theory is that the condition we refer to as "mad cow disease" may have been caused by feeding cattle tissues that contained the early variant of Crutzfeldt-Jakob, a disease that appears in the human population sporadically.
Whether or not the theory holds, the fact that human remains are used in something as mundane as cattle feed is quite disturbing. It may be blurred by the origins of the protein, (halfway around the world, in places usually not afforded a lot of significance, in a sort of "what we don't know" kind of rationalization), but it makes one wonder what else we don't know. Is my Purina dog and cat chow safe? If this is a common practice, pray tell, what are the sources of protein produced domestically? Does the US import such proteins from abroad, and if so, from where and in what quantities? If ever there was even a hint that human tissues were being knowingly imported, or even harvested domestically, the uproar would drown out, at least for a time, all other issues that dominate our national mindset. If it were to become an issue, one would be forced to evaluate our political leaders and the myriad special interest groups that regularly hold forth on their positions on this question. I wonder how, say,Pat Robertson would react? Or perhaps John Kerry?
This issue deserves some investigation. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen,and if it does happen, it will be in the UK, not here in America. But watch and listen to what is said, and not said, when those issues come up in the congress and the various federal and state agencies, as well as those special interests involved in the industry. We, in all liklihood, will never get a straight answer on this, it will be left to the individual to read between the lines and make a decision.
Salad anyone?
update 1:
there is a firm in the New York City area, that appears to be using cadavers from various funeral homes as a supply for bone, skin and other human tissues, apparently for transplant purposes.
it has been alledged that the firm pays the funeral business for access to the bodies, and then sells the harvested tissue. published figures might lead one to see quite a profit margin.
what is disturbing, is that the records of these transactions are at best murky, and sometimes non-existent, and when they do exist, they appear to be falsified with respect to the consent of the families as well as the age and health of the deceased.
more on this if and when we hear about it.
posted by eccentric recluse at 5:13 PM
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