1) Discover Current Issue : Cow Parts: To reconstruct the complete cow, you would need to gather countless products from an astonishing array of industries. Some are still close to agriculture— processed animal feed and pet food as well as garden supplies such as blood and bonemeal. But other products have no apparent connection with farming, such as jet engine lubricants and brake fluid from bovine fatty acids, which are derived from tallow, which is itself produced from fat and bone.

The number of uses for beef by-products was once largely a matter of curiosity, of interest mainly to the manufacturers and to renderers. But in Great Britain, the appearance of BSE in the mid-1980s created a critical need for an inventory of beef by-products and their uses to identify which specific cow parts should be banned for use as human food and in animal feeds and fertilizers. The process was slowed by administrative wrangling, so 10 years passed from the time BSE was discovered and the audit was completed. But early in the investigation, scientists identified the cow parts that might carry the risk of contaminating farmers, slaughterhouse workers, employees at rendering plants, butchers, and the public. The most infectious organs— where BSE prions cluster— are the brain and spinal cord, followed, on a less infectious level, by the pineal, pituitary, and adrenal glands, spleen, tonsils, placenta, lymph nodes, ileum, part of the colon, dura mater, and cerebrospinal fluid. Less infectious still are the distal colon, nasal mucosa, sciatic nerve, bone marrow, liver, lung, pancreas, and thymus gland.

0 comments

1