Consumer's bird flu and mad cow disease

By Charles Fawkes

"Food and safety is, above all a public health issue."

HOUSE OF LABOUR: Bahamian consumers following local and international news concerning the out break of the Mad Cow disease and Bird Flu disease in the United Stated must each time they eat beef of chicken be wondering if they are "taking their life into their own hands".

Our medical establishments has spoken briefly about the problem, but obviously not wanting to cause a panic; have given little information to the public concerning the impact theses two diseases can have on the Bahamian population.

When the outbreak of these two diseases began in distant lands in China or the Asian countries there was little need for much concern. However, with the diseases now showing up in the United States our biggest trading partner for beef and chicken and related products and when consumers start reading headlines like: "USDA misleading Americans public about beef safety", or "Delaware finds second U.S farm with bird flu", or "Could mad cow disease already be killing thousands of people annually?", it is time to take a second look with or without the government or the local medical establishment leading the way. With this in mind Consumer's Corner wishes to present the following information for the perusal of consumers in The Bahamas researched from several consumer sites and news agencies.

First, bird flu has been discovered in a second chicken flock in Delaware, sparking concerns the outbreak could seriously threaten the mid-Atlantic region's poultry industry. News of the second infection rippled through the U.S. commodity markets, sending future prices sharply lower for cattle, soybeans and soy meal. Delaware officials said the bird flu virus found in a commercial flock of roaster chickens in northern Sussex County was the same H7 strain found five miles away in Southern Kent County late last week. The H7 virus, which is not transmissible to humans, is different from the strain that has killed at least 19 people and decimated poultry stocks in Asian Nations. Surprised state officials, who had believed the first case was an isolated incident, immediately banned the sale of live poultry in the state as a precaution.

Delaware said it will kill 72,000 birds in three chicken houses to stop the spread of the virus. The state slaughtered 12,000 chickens after the first finding. Washington's efforts to convince trading partners to ease bans in American poultry was delayed by the new finding, industry officials said. Japan and South Korea, which are among the 10 Asian countries affected by the much more dangerous H5N1 virus, temporarily banned all U.S. poultry shipments. Russia, the top buyer of U.S poultry, suspended imports only from Delaware. And Mexico added Delaware to its list of eight other states from which it will not import poultry. "Obviously the time frame for restoring normal trade relations has lengthened a bit because of this second flock," said Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council. Industry officials said it will probably take a few weeks before the U.S. Agriculture Department could begin a "full court press" to reopen oversees markets.

Secondly, in the month-and–a- half since a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington State, consumers have been learning more than they wanted to know about what cattle in this country have been eating. Though consumers may imagine bucolic scenes of nursing calves and cows munching on grass or hay, much of American agriculture no longer works that way. For years, calves have been fed cow's blood instead of milk, and cattle feed has been allowed to contain composted wastes from chicken coops including feathers, spilled feed and even feces. Most people had never heard of those practices until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) barred them, saying they could spread mad cow disease. But the agency did not prohibit other practices that involved using animals remains to make cattle feed.

Though the United States banned the use of cow parts in cattle feed in the 1990's it still permits rendered matter from cows to be fed to pigs and chickens, and rendered pigs and chickens to be feed to cows. Critics say that in theory, that sequence could bring mad cow disease full circle, back to cows.

An expert panel advising the government urged a ban on using any animal remains to make feed supplements for cattle. The European Union has such a rule, but America does not, and the cattle industry has accused the advisory group of exaggerating the risk. Europe barred animal parts from cattle feed because scientists suspect that tissue from infected animals particularly the brain or spinal cord from sick cows, can transmit the disease. Contaminated feed is widely believed to have started the mad cow epidemic that infected more than 180,000 animals in Britain in the 1980's and had led to death of more than 140 people.

Thirdly, Type A influenza can infect several species, including birds, pigs, horses, seal and whales. Influenza viruses that infect birds are called "avian influenza viruses". Birds are an especially important species because all known subtypes of influenza A viruses circulate among wild birds, which are considered the natural host for influenza A viruses. Avian influenza viruses do not usually directly infect humans or circulate among humans. Avian influenza A viruses do not usually infect humans; however, several instances of human infections and outbreaks have been reported since 1997. When such infections occur, public health authorities monitor the situation closely because of the concerns about the potential for more widespread infection in the human population.

The reported symptoms of avian influenza in humans have ranged from typical influenza –like symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches) to eye infection, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications. Studies to date suggest that the prescription medications approved for human influenza strains would be effective in preventing avian influenza infection in humans, however, sometimes flu strains can become resistant to these drugs and so they may not always be effective.

All influenza has the potential to change. It is possible that an avian influenza virus could change so that is could infect humans and could spread easily from person to person. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. If an avian virus were able to infect people to gain the ability to spread easily from human person to person, "influenza pandemic" could begin.

Fourthly it is not surprising that the U.S has mad cow disease given their flaunting of World Health Organisation recommendations. What is surprising, however, is that they actually found a case given the inadequacy of their surveillance programme, a level of testing that Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner, probably the world's leading expert on theses diseases, calls simply "appalling". Europe and Japan follow World Health Organisation Guidelines and test every downer cow for mad cow diseases, the U.S. has testes less than 2% of the downers over the last decade. Most of the U.S downer cows too sick or injured to even walk, end up on our dinner plates.

In Canada authorities were able to reassure the public that at least the downer cow they discovered infected with BSE –Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or mad cow disease was excluded from the human food chain and only rendered into the animal feed. U.S. officials don't seem to be able to offer the same reassurance, as the mad cow we discovered may very well have been ground into hamburger. How then, can the USDA and the beef industry insist that the American beef supply is still safe? They argue that the infectious prions that cause the disease are only found in the brain and nervous tissue, not the muscles, not the meat.

For example, on NBC's Today, USDA Secretary Veneman insisted, " the fact of the matter is that all scientific evidence would show, based upon what we know about the diseased, that muscle cuts, that is, the meat of the animal itself should not cause any risk to the human health. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association echoed" Consumers should continued to eat beef with confidence. All scientific studies show that BSE infectious agent has never been found in beef muscle meat or milk and U.S beef remains safe to eat. This can be viewed as misleading and irresponsible on two counts.

First Americans do eat bovine central nervous system tissue. The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) is the investigative watchdog arm of Congress. In 2002, the GAO released their report on the weaknesses present in the U.S. defense against mad cow disease. Quoting from that congressional report, "In terms of the public health risk, consumers do not always know when foods and other products they use may contain central nervous system tissue. May edible products such as beef stock, beef extract, and beef flavouring, are frequently made by boiling the skeletal remains (including the vertebral column) of the carcass." According to the consumer advocacy organization Center for Science in the Public Interest, spinal and taco fillings. In fact, a 2002 USDA survey showed that approximately 35 per cent of high-risk meat products tested positive for central nervous system tissues.

The GAO report continues: "In light of the experiences in Japan and other countries that were thought to be BSE free, we believe that it would be prudent for USDA to consider taking some action to inform consumers when products may contain central nervous system or other tissue that could pose a risk if taken form BSE – infected animal. This effort would allow American consumers to make more informed choices about the products they consume" The USDA, however, did not follow those recommendations, deciding such foods need not be labeled.

Even if consumers just stick to steak, they may not be shield from risk. The "T" in a T- bone steak is a vertebra from the animal's spinal column, and as such may contain a section of the actual spinal cord. Other potentially contaminated cuts include porterhouse, standing rib roast, prime rib with bone, bone-in rib steak, and (if they contain bone) chuck blade roast loin. These cuts include spinal cord tissue and/ or so called dorsal root ganglia, swellings of nerve roots coming into the meat form the spinal cord, which have been proven to be infectious as well. This concern has led the FDA to consider banning the incorporation of "plate waste" from restaurants into the cattle feed. The American Feed Industry Association defends the current exemption of plate scrapings from the 1997 feed regulations;" How can you tell the consumer ' Hey you've eaten a T-bone steak and it's fine for you, but you can't feed it to animals?

Even boneless cuts may not be risk – free, though. In the slaughterhouse, the bovine carcass is typically split in half down the middle with a band saw, sawing right through the spinal column. This has been shown to aerosolise the spinal cord and contaminate the surrounding meat. A study in Europe found in contamination with spinal cord material on 100 per cent of the split carcasses examined. Similar contamination of meat derived from cattle cheeks can occur form brain tissue, if the cheek meat is not removed before the skull is fragmented or split. The World Health Organisation has pointed out that American beef can be contaminated with brain and spinal cord tissue in other ways as well.

In conclusion, as consumers we wish to urge the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Health to stay abreast of development in these two areas and remind them of the following concerning food and food safety. Food and safety is, above all a public health issue. The precautionary principle should apply when scientific evidence is not conclusive enough to establish control measures based on a sound and accurate risk assessment by measures need to be taken for the purpose of protecting public health, and public safety or the environment. Sound science is necessary for making safety decisions, but they must also take into account non-scientific factors such as economic concerns, ethical issues, environmental impact, and the benefits for the consumer to be obtained from the process or product.

Charles Fawkes is the President of the National Consumer Association, Editor of the Headline News, The Consumer Guard and The Worker's Vanguard. His e-mail address is fawkesmore@mail1.coralwave.com. He can be contacted at his office in the House of Labour at 326-6620.

Posted: Friday February 13, 2004