Another case of so called mad cow disease has been found in Alberta. This comes as no surprise as most cases have been discovered there and both governments have predicted there would be more. As far as actually contacting an illness, BSE is not a disease I worry much about. There have still been fewer than 200 known victims world wide. Many things are more dangerous and more likely to happen to us.
The problem is more one of perception because the disease has been hyped all out of proportion to the likelihood of contacting it. What does upset me is that officials seem to ratchet back the numbers every time there is a new case. I have been writing about it since it first appeared and there is always an announcement of lower total numbers then were announced at the beginning. Somebody, somewhere got it wrong.....
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I think any newish disease goes through a stage of fear mongering. Not that they aren't awful diseases, but they tend to capture the public's imagination for a time. Prion diseases just seem so odd with their rogue protein fragments and gruesome history. Kuru and cannibalism--but we forget that hunters have been dealing with this in areas of the US for years with CWD in elk and deer. Scrapie has been around a long time as has CJD--but the risk is so remote of actually catching it.
I need you to fact check a story for me. I don't know nothin' bout birthin' no calves. I'm afraid I applied kidding info to a calving.
Thanks for this post and I had thought about you when I saw it on the news this morning! All this after the recall that they did last week! Ugg
I just dread these announcements. The funny thing is I heard it here first, our own media haven't been making much of it for a change.
Rosie, you have a good point there. We do tend to fear what we don't understand...I would gladly help you with any fact checking that I can...just let me know
mon@rch, it is so bad for people's perceptions to read these things
Linda, I think of my Canadian friends whenever this kind of thing comes out in the news. It is all over the news down here.
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