- Regarding recent articles on mad cow disease, this is
a serious public health situation that needs immediate attention by regulatory
officials.
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- Reports state that the meat from the suspect infected
animal proceeded to enter the human food chain, but the nervous-system
tissue did not. Since the infectious agents of mad cow disease - also known
as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - are not only isolated in the
nervous tissue of animals but also in lymphatic tissue that occurs throughout
the body of all animals, it would be prudent to enact an emergency rule
to refrain from sending to market all meat from animals that have neurologic
disease.
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- The U.S. Senate passed such a ban, but the legislation
was previously hung up in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is now
time to immediately revisit this issue in the interest of public health.
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- Richard L. Vogt, MD Executive Director Tri-County Health
Department Greenwood Village
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