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6. In the UK there have been no cases of BSE in other TSE- biologists swooped in, hijacking all the research grants and rapid- susceptible ruminants such as goats and sheep, despite the cus- ly laying claim to full ownership and academic rights over this tomary inclusion of the same MBM protein source in their feeds. new strain of TSE. They coined the classy name "prion disease", 7. Four of the original five kudu antelope that developed BSE _and ran a host of sharp-suited symposiums in expensive five- at the London Zoo had not had any possible access to feeds con- star Floridian hotels, thousands of miles adrift from the English taining MBM. pasturelands—the hotbed of the real problem. 8. The UK government's former experimental farm at From then on, any investigations into the broader scientific per- Liscombe on Exmoor was designed to raise suckler beef cattle on spectives surrounding TSEs were frozen out of the agendas of the a pure grass/silage system, without resorting to feeding any funding bodies. Multidisciplinary research studies were forced to MBM-containing concentrated feeds at all. Yet BSE struck down give way to research projects that conformed to the convergent four animals on this holding. assumption that the "prion" would encapsulate all of the answers 9. The infamous mechanically retrieved meat products/baby to this problem. The journals were soon bursting apart with a foods blamed for causing vCJD in the UK were exported all over monotonous dirge of articles that bleated out yet another variation the world to countries where vCJD has not erupted to date. on the stereotyped theme of the prion protein: prion protein geno- Likewise, the tradition of "skull splitting" in small rural butchers, types, the biochemistry of the prion protein, along with a count- which has been offered as an explanation for the growing number _less number of prion transmission live-animal studies that had of vCJD clusters in rural areas, had been practised by the smaller been duplicated by virtually every institution involved with TSE butchers all over the UK. research—for no useful scientific purpose. 10. BSE fails to fulfill "Koch's postu- Once it became clear that the various feed- lates"—the yardstick for gauging whether a bans had failed to halt BSE in the UK (e.g., given disease stems from infectious origins. the 40,000+ BSE cases in cattle born after the For instance, more than 15% of cattle 1988 feed ban), the incestuous clique of slaughtered for displaying the classic symp- "expert" advisers was forced to come up with toms of BSE did not demonstrate the pres- an ever-increasing array of implausible rea- ence of the "causal" prions at post-mortem. sons for explaining the continuation of BSE. ae nobody has offered And following on from that advice, an equal- The Reductionist Mindset Takes a acredible explanation ly inept package of control measures was Firm Hold implemented whenever and wherever TSE Despite the myriad epidemiological flaws as to how these reared its ugly head around the world. and millions of pounds worth of research abnormally shaped Their final farcical solution entailed a failing to ascertain any ciation between the origin of these diseases and the scrapie agent, the whole propaganda myth that BSE was caused by scrapie became incorporated as "gospel" into the mainstream public/professional mentality. But it is easy to see how the momen- tum of such a reductionist mindset took a hold. The media loved the theo- ry because they could drum up a viral holocaust-horror scoop. The farming industry could get their beef sales back on the road by deluding consumers into believing that they had eliminated key pathological hallmark of the the causal agent. The vegetarian lobby spongiform-diseased brain is represent- found themselves landed with a powerful propaganda weapon on ed by a malformed version of the prion protein, known as the their plate, while the scientific institutions could carry on drawing prion, there is no actual evidence in support of the assumption that generous funding for their hyperinfection witchhunt without the the protein portion of the prion represents the TSE infectious embarrassment of having to account for years of barking up the agent. Nor is there evidence that TSEs are infectious diseases that wrong tree. And the government could conveniently offload the can be spread via body-to-body contact. And furthermore, blame onto the vagaries of some naturally occurring "nasty" for nobody has offered a credible explanation as to how these abnor- which no vested interest or official directive could ever be held mally shaped "prions" initially develop in the mammalian brain or wholesale annihilation programme of both wild and domestic animal populations across specially designated TSE eradi- cation zones. Despite the well-publi- cised history of total failure of these abhorrent control measures, this brave new wave of totalitarian overkill went unquestionably ahead—gobbling up millions of healthy mammalian lives and millions of dollars of public funds. "prions" initially develop in the mammalian brain or the natural environment ... Prion Origins: The Quest for the Primary Cause While it is well established that the accountable. the natural environment, nor explained how these prions are capa- In the early days, the world of TSE research had been confined ble of inducing a kind of cascade of self-replication in the TSE- to the rather cranky ranks of backstreet institutions whose diseased brain. researchers seemed more preoccupied with advancing acidic I became interested in the possibility that the use of systemic debate over the nature of the "infectious" agent than with getting OP warble fly insecticides may have triggered this protein malfor- on with worthwhile research projects. It was these scientists who —_ mation in some way, thereby serving as one of the primary causes first fossilised the reductionist notion that TSEs stemmed from of the modern BSE/vCID strains of this disease. For these oil- infectious origins. based chemicals were designed to penetrate through the skin and But as soon as the positive evidence for the first case of BSE metamorphose the internal environment of the cow into a poiso- was back from the lab, a fast-expanding clique of "expert" micro- nous medium so as to exterminate internal parasites. They had to .. Nobody has offered a credible explanation as to how these — APRIL — MAY 2003 NEXUS 27 in the mammalian brain or the natural environment ... www.nexusmagazine.com