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world region. It was claimed that the cattle were BSE-free, but 4. Purdey, Mark, "The UK epidemic of BSE: slow virus or chronic over the years mad cow disease in imported British cattle has pesticide-initiated modification of the prion protein? Part 2: An epi- been reported not only in Europe but also in Canada, Oman and demiological perspective", Medical Hypotheses 1996; 46:445-454. the Falkland Islands. EU members on the Continent also have 5. Piper, Elizabeth (Interview), "Could the scientists be wrong on exported millions of live cattle all over the world. In December mad cow disease?” Reuters, 1 February 2001. . eee nour 6. Dumble, Lynette J., "Feeding the world via biotechnology: A 2000, Kuwait reported a suspected BSE case in a three-year-old failed neo-Malthusian ploy?" Proceedings of 8th International dairy cow imported from an undisclosed European country. : Women In Leadership Conference, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Ultimately, the dumping of BSE-implicated produce, consid- Western Australia, November 1999. ered unfit for sale in Britain, will be recorded as another shameful 7. "BSE and scrapie: agents for change" (Editorial), Lancet 1988; chapter of British imperialism. 2:607-8. The French Minister for Agriculture, Jean Glavany, sees it 8. Kimberlin, R.H., Cole, S. and Walker, C.A., "Temporary and per- exactly in those terms, and recently commented that "...morally, manent modifications to a single strain of mouse scrapie on transmis- they should be judged for that one day. They even allowed them- _sion to rats and hamsters", Journal of General Virology 1987; selves the luxury of banning the use of such feed [in Britain], 68:1875-81. . . oo, while allowing it to be exported.” 9. Gibbs, C.J., Gajdusek, D.C. and Amyx, H., "Strain variation in the ainla akes . . alica viruses of Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease and kuru", in Slow Transmissible . Mainland Europe takes the high moral ground on the globalisa Diseases of the Nervous System (Prusiner, S.B. and Hadlow, W. J., tion of BSE, yet, even as Britain ceased exporting animal pro- : : . . wP editors), Academic Press, New York, 1979, vol. 2, pp. 87-110. tein-enriched cattle feed, other European countries were shipping 10. Foster, J.D., Hope, J., McConnell, I., Bruce, M. and Fraser, H. tonnes of their own and did not "Transmission of bovine spongiform implement total export bans until encephalopathy to sheep, goats, and January 2000.” mice", Annals of the New York Academy Already there are reports of vCJD- of Sciences 1994; 724:300-3. like illnesses in India, Korea, There are lessons aplenty 11. Kulczycki, J., Jedrzejowska, H., Pakistan, South Africa and Thailand. stemming from the man-made Gajkowski, K., Tarnowska-Dziduszko, One thi is certain, as the World . E. and Lojkowska, W., Health Organization and “Dr BSE pandemic, not the least of "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in young Manuelides have recently underlined: which is the price for placing people", European Journal of social a i al costs of . . Epidemiology 1991; 5:501-4. the social and environmental costs o profit ahead of public welfare 12. Will, R.G., Ironside, J.W., Zeidler, a BSE-contaminated food chain in M., Cousens, S.N., Estibeiro, K.., developing regions will far outweigh and animal integrity. Alperovitch, A. et al., "A new variant of the multibillion-dollar estimates o! Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the UK", Europe's present BSE-related crises. Lancet 1996; 347:921-5. Authorities in Australia, like those 13. Collinge, J., Sidle, K.C., Heads, J., in the United States, claim to have Tronside, J. and Hill, A.F., "Molecular imported little or no live cattle, beef products or livestock nutri- analysis of prion strain variation and the aetiology of ‘new variant’ tional supplements from the UK, and boast about not being at risk | CJD", Nature 1996; 383:685-90. of BSE. History may well tell otherwise. 14. Picard, Anne, "Blood withdrawal to cost $15 million", Toronto As a wartime mentality of panic buying has taken over in the — Globe and Mail, Toronto, 5 September 1995, pp. Al, A2. ; face of Britain's current meat shortage, there are lessons aplenty *. Slingers sonia Suspect moe product withdrawn", The Daily stemming from the man-made BSE pandemic, not the least of ews, iNew Lea ane, ay 1996. . . these being the price for placing profit ahead of public welfare 16. Créange, Alain; Gray, Francoise; Cesaro, Pierre; Adle-Biassette, and animal integrity Homa; Duvois, Christophe; Cherqui, Daniel; Bell, Jeanne; Parchi, . . . Piero; Gambetti, Pierluigi; and Degos, Jean-Denis, By and large, it may prove somewhat immaterial whether "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease after liver transplantation", Annals of organophosphate pesticides or scrapie/BSE-infected animal feed Neurology 1995; 38:269-271. triggered the BSE pandemic in cattle, because both have been 17. Radford, Tim, "700,000 BSE cattle 'fed to humans", The spread to the four corners of the globe with gay abandon. Should Guardian Weekly, London, 8 September 1996, p. 9. organophosphates be the culprit, it remains a matter of time 18. Hooper, John, "Britain evaded BSE checks for Europe", The before BSE outbreaks resembling those in Britain occur world- Guardian Weekly, 1 September 1996, p. 9. wide. Should the protein-enriched animal feed be the culprit, 19, Bates, Stephen, "EU hushed up BSE scandal for five years", The Britain's rendering economy has practically made certain that no Guardian Weekly, 8 September 1996, p. 1. region will escape. co 20. Stecklow, Steve, "UK's exports may have expanded the bound- aries of mad cow disease", Wall Street Journal, 23 January 2001. ra. There are lessons aplenty stemming from the man-made BSE pandemic, not the least of which is the price for placing profit ahead of public welfare and animal integrity. Endnotes 1. Webster, Philip and Laurence, Jeremy, "New infection linked to mad cow disease", The Times, London, 21 March 1996, p. 1. 2. "The BSE Inquiry: report, evidence and supporting papers of the inquiry into the emergence and identification of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and the action taken in response to it up to 20 March 1996" (Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Chairman), The Stationery Office, London, 26 October 2000. 3. Hyland, Julie, "British government warns variant CJD deaths may rise to 250,000", World Socialist Web Site, 3 November 2000, www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/bse-n03.shtml. About the Author: Dr Lynette J. Dumble, PhD, MSc, is a medical and environ- mental scientist and the international co-ordinator of the Global Sisterhood Network. She is a former professor of surgery at the University of Texas in Houston, and senior research fellow in history and philosophy of science at the University of Melbourne. Her article, "From Mad Cows to Humans: The Next Global Plague" was published in NEXUS 5/01 (Dec 1997-Jan 1998). Dr Dumble can be contacted by e-mail at Iidumble@connexus.net.au. APRIL — MAY 2001 NEXUS #15 www.nexusmagazine.com