" US - number of downers rendered into MBM - meat and bone meal
feed for other animals" -
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 1:50 PM
Subject:- USA DOWNERS TO RENDERING - 2007 - USDA: 1,910,300
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/bse/downloads/risk_assessment_%20final9-2007.pdf
APHIS/USDA RISK ASSESSMENT
e-page 140/159
chart on dead & downers - proportion rendered ....... risk assessmenet
Table 3
Proportion of Animals Rendered Among Downers and Those That Die Prior to Slaughter
excluding calves =1.9 million
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For years, USDA has been underestimating and misleading the public about the true number of downer cattle
in USA.
"Non-ambulatory cattle have been estimated by USDA to be approximately 200,000 head per year based on
a 1999 American Association of Bovine Practitioners survey."
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/000241.html
"The USDA estimates that there 195,000 downers cattle each year in the United States, while Dr. Stanley
Prusiner estimates that there are about one million (see http://www.kqed.org/programs/programarchive.jsp?
progID=RD19&ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&type=radio). Dr. Prusiner bases his estimate on the fact that
detailed statistic from the United Kingdom show that approximately 1% of the national herd are considered
“downer cows.” Given that the U.S. herd size was 97 million in 2002, this would suggest that there were
970,000 downer cattle. Regardless of which estimate is correct, we urge the USDA to listen to OIE and, at a
minimum, test all “downer” cattle using one of the rapid tests "
Before the ban, USDA estimated that 150,000-200,000 downers
were entering slaughter plants
Question - are SRM removed before the 1.9 million downers are rendered? (specified risk materials - brains,
spinal cords, etc. - parts most likely to contain infectious prions . . . ) or is SRM included in MBM distributed in
feeds ?
Rendering = MBM Meat and Bone meal for animal feeds and pet foods "Poultry operations
and pet food manufacturers accounted for 66% of the domestic MBM market of nearly
5.7 billion pounds in 2000, while hog and cattle operations took most of the rest."
Rendering does NOT inactivate Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) - Mad Cow disease
"Understanding the BSE Threat, p. 7. WHO also notes that BSE is “the notable exception” to rendering’s
ability to kill most infectious agents."
USDA acknowledges "downers" are the animals most likely to be infected with BSE.
To make sure they do not find any "mad cows", the USDA conducts as few tests as possible -
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/bse/surveillance/ongoing_surv_results.shtml
in 2010 a total of only 34,386 animals were tested for BSE out of the 35 million slaughtered.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/content/printable_version/fs_BSE_ongoing_vs.pdf
"Samples will be collected from renderers and 3D/4D
facilities, with a quota set at 5,000 samples. "
By my calculation, if there are just under 2 million downers each year, and 5000 of the downers are tested -
that is only 1/4 of 1% [0.0025%] of the cattle most likely to have BSE . . .
EU tests all cows over 30 months - and Japan tests ALL animals and has found 34 mad cows.
See recent study Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A
Meat and Bone Meal and Mineral Feed Additives May Increase the Oral Prion Disease Transmission
Christopher J. Johnson Debbie McKenzie Joel A. Pedersen Judd M. Aiken
Prion Research Laboratory, USGS National Wildlife Health Center
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21218345
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Rendering facilities discharge their wastes to public sewers:
"All runoff from the rendering facility should be
collected, directed away from production facilities,
and finally directed to sanitary sewer systems or
wastewater treatment plants."
http://fss.k-state.edu/FeaturedContent/CarcassDisposal/PDF%20Files/CH%204%20-%20Rendering.pdf
The wastewater treatment process does not inactivate prions - it reconcentrates them in the sewage sludge
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/es703186e
The potentially prion infected sludge is then spread on grazing lands, hay fields, dairy pastures, and in Class
A sludge "biosolids" on parks, playgrounds, ballfields, lawns and home flower and vegetable gardens.
Alzheimer's is a prion disease: http://www.sludgevictims.com/pathogens/ALZHEIMERS_is_a_prion_disease.
pdf
Numbers for early onset Alzheimer's (ages 50 - 64) are also soaring: http://www.cbsnews.
com/stories/2008/03/08/eveningnews/main3919747.shtml
Prions have been found in urine and feces of prion victims. These wastes also end up in public sewers and
sewage sludge:.
http://www.sludgevictims.com/pdf_files/PRIONSINURINE.pdf
http://www.sludgevictims.com/pdf_files/PRIONSINFECES.pdf
Has Alzheimer's disease become an epidemic with prions circulating and amplifying in untested livestock and
the meat supply due to modern meat packing practices:
"In just 4 ounces, a typical burger patty is packed with the meat and fat of 50 to 100 cattle from multiple
states and two to four countries.
Eat two hamburgers a week — as the average American does — and in a year's time the consumer samples
a stampede: 5,200 to 10,400 cattle. "
http://www.think-aboutit.com/health/CattleDrive.htm
Respectfully submitted, Helane Shields, Alton, NH hshields@tds.net