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Among them were African antelopes and domesticated and cap- tive wild cats. understanding of written and spoken native language and, with Among them were African antelopes and domesticated and cap- this, every scrap of dignity. tive wild cats. In contrast to sporadic CJD, which has a natural incidence of less than one per million and generally claims victims who are in - Organophosphate Pesticides their sixties and seventies, BSE-related CJD was initially antici- But first, the "organophosphate theory" of how it might have all pated to be a disease which claimed the lives of much younger began. Three years before the first case of BSE was reported in victims: teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s. Like the many Kent, British authorities ordered the compulsory spraying of cattle other postulates responsible for clouding the BSE catastrophe with the organophosphate pesticide phosmet, in order to combat a with uncertainty, this theory fell apart in late 1999 with the vCJD _ plague of warble fly. Manufactured by Zeneca, a subdivision of death of a 74-year-old man, and led to questions of whether the the British chemical giant ICI, and originally developed by the CJD-like symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, which account for Nazis, phosmet is a neurological toxin. Related to the infamous misdiagnosis in 10 per cent of sporadic CJD sufferers, might also birth-defect drug thalidomide, phosmet was used exclusively in lead, or have already lead, to vCJD escaping recognition in the Britain between 1982 and 1990. elderly. In 1996, Mark Purdey, an organic farmer from Somerset in A BSE-infected food chain amounts to far more than the T-bone _ England, suggested that organophosphate pesticides such as phos- and rump steak, roast sirloin and hamburger which frequent the met might be behind Britain's BSE and vCJD crises.‘ His largely menus of today's predominantly meat-eating society. Taken neglected, but nonetheless plausible, theory argues that the expo- together, these are the tip of an iceberg that has laid bare the vast sure of the bovine embryo to high doses of lipophilic formulations array of bovine-based products which have come to be part and of organophosphates might have acted to trigger the deformation parcel of everyday lives. Coming quickly to mind are milk, cream, of cattle prion protein and hence the onset of the BSE. Certainly cheese, medical vaccines, health supplements and confectionery the timing, distribution and dynamics of phosmet usage in Britain containing gelatin. tie in with the outbreak of BSE. Equally, the public health implications of BSE extend much In Europe, the agrichemical division of Switzerland's Sandoz further than the consumption of eaked tonnes of another organophos- infected bovine materials. Laboratory phate pesticide into the Rhine in experiments since the 1970s have 1986, killing all aquatic life in the shown that, compared with the blood river from Basel to the North Sea. It route, the oral pathway is a relatively took seven years to revive the river, inefficient means transmitting these wv. itis fair to say that BSE but it can also be argued that the ypes of diseases from one animal to . organophosphate spill has played a another. Extrapolating from that data, now looms asa pandemic role in the BSE which subsequently vCJD may ultimately claim fewer that may put HIV/AIDS afflicted cattle in Switzerland, men than women, since tradition in . France and Germany in the late every world region places more in the shade. 1990s. women than men in the kitchen to risk knife injuries with BSE-suspect meat. Additionally, it is not unreasonable Purdey had investigated the clus- ters of BSE in cattle, clusters of tra- ditional or sporadic human CJD in to conclude that a BSE-infected beef Britain, as well as clusters of a simi- consumer is henceforth a living incu- lar illness, chronic wasting disease, bator of vCJD. Like asymptomatic carriers of blood-borne infec- in deer and elk in the Unites States. He discovered that high lev- tions such as hepatitis and syphilis, asymptomatic carriers of the els of manganese—the metal sprayed in high doses on cattle via vCJD agent have the potential to transmit vCJD to recipients of | organophosphate pest deterrents—was a common factor. He sug- blood transfusions and organ transplants. gested that, in addition to activating a prion mutation in cattle, Overall, in the context of a BSE-infected food chain and the excess manganese might also intensify traditional forms of CJD, likelihood of BSE-contaminated blood and organ transplant sup- which could thereby explain vCJD appearing in humans several plies, it is fair to say that BSE now looms as a pandemic that may = decades younger than sporadic CJD victims. According to put HIV/AIDS in the shade. Purdey,* funding for BSE-organophosphate research may never eventuate. "No one's prepared to admit it, because it would ROOTS OF THE ORIGINAL BSE OUTBREAK involve massive compensation. By keeping the causal agent as A number of theories have been put forward to explain the 1985 something mystified, no one's to blame." He could be right. outbreak of BSE in British cattle. A small but respectable body of The transnational companies behind the pesticide trade exert opinion argues that both cattle and humans have been poisoned by enormous political influence, with the giant Syngenta AG now the widespread use of organophosphate pesticides; but an even heading the distribution of organophosphate pesticides. larger body of opinion considers that Britain's BSE resulted from Syngenta's rise to become the world number one in agrichemicals 1980s changes to the manufacture of animal protein—enriched (herbicides, fungicides and insecticides), number two in seed cattle feed. treatment and number three in seed supplies has been nothing From 1985, when a mysterious disease now known as BSE short of astronomical, and can be traced to the 1996 merger appeared in Daisy, a dairy cow from Kent, the annual number of between the agrichemical divisions of two Basel-based compa- BSE-infected cattle rose to 731 within the space of three years. nies, Sandoz and Ciba.’ April 1999 saw the agrichemical divi- By 1989, 400 new cases appeared each week, and, by 1992, 100 sions of the Swedish Astra AB and the British Zeneca Group PLC new cases appeared each day. Also in the 1990s, animal species merge to give birth to AstraZeneca, but by December 1999 both other than cattle, fed on cattle-containing rendered or raw meat AstraZeneca and the Basel-based duo, by then known as Novartis, and bones, began to die of BSE and CJD-like brain illnesses. had also merged to form Syngenta. Boasting to be "the world's now looms as a pandemic that may put HIV/AIDS in the shade. ROOTS OF THE ORIGINAL BSE OUTBREAK A number of theories have been put forward to explain the 1985 outbreak of BSE in British cattle. A small but respectable body of opinion argues that both cattle and humans have been poisoned by the widespread use of organophosphate pesticides; but an even larger body of opinion considers that Britain's BSE resulted from 1980s changes to the manufacture of animal protein—enriched cattle feed. From 1985, when a mysterious disease now known as BSE appeared in Daisy, a dairy cow from Kent, the annual number of BSE-infected cattle rose to 731 within the space of three years. By 1989, 400 new cases appeared each week, and, by 1992, 100 new cases appeared each day. Also in the 1990s, animal species other than cattle, fed on cattle-containing rendered or raw meat and bones, began to die of BSE and CJD-like brain illnesses. 12 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2001 ... it is fair to say that BSE www.nexusmagazine.com