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Some Very Important
Facts About BSE
By Dr. Harash Narang
1-12-4
 
Note: Dr. Harash Narang has devoted over 30 years of his professional career to the study of the group of animal and human diseases classified as Spongiform Encephalopathies ("SE's"). He has published many research papers in scientific journals on SE's. Instead of assisting and furthering his researches, Dr. Narang's employers, the Public Health Laboratories Service (PHLS), and other bodies have consistently interfered with and hindered his researches.
 
Following are excerpts from Dr. Narang's statement to The BSE Inquiry, which was set up by the British government in January 1998, to establish and review the history of the emergence and identification of BSE and new variant CJD.
 
Dr. Narang's full statement can be read here: http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/ws/s113.pdf
 
The entire BSE Inquiry can be accessed here: http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/index.htm
 
The BSE Inquiry
Statement No 113
By Dr Harash Narang
13th July 1998
 
(Excerpts)
 
[The UK Government Knew In 1990 That BSE Was Transmissible To Humans But Covered It Up]
 
[Note: It was not until March 1996 that the UK government publicly admitted that BSE was transmissible to humans.]
 
[In 1990], I expressed my grave concerns to Dr Lightfoot and to Dr Smith. I told them that I thought that BSE had crossed to humans and that we had to be vigilant to monitor this. I said that we should be examining normal human brains reaching post mortem and also brains from patients with atypical neurological symptoms. I said that we should also set up animal experiments to establish whether atypical cases were transmissible. I was told by Dr Smith that I should not under any circumstances talk to the press about my views on BSE/CJD...
 
Meanwhile Dr Robert Perry of the Newcastle General Hospital, who was a colleague of mine, recorded four cases of CJD in the Northern region health area. Normally he would have expected two cases in any one year. I analysed the brains and identified that two were not typical CJD. They showed a typical SE [spongiform encephalopathy] accompanied by "focal neurofibrillar tangles formation" in the cortex and cerebellum. I classified these CJD cases as "atypical". The clinical symptoms resembled BSE. Dr Perry and I published our findings in the Lancet in March 1990, but the PHLS [Public Health Laboratory Service] and the Lancet removed from the publication all references to BSE. At the conclusion of the paper we had suggested that our concern was that BSE had crossed and that atypical cases of CJD were not being identified. We therefore proposed a large survey of brain tissues of apparent victims of other neurological diseases to establish the full extent of CJD in the population at the beginning of the BSE epidemic. This proposal was excluded from the final paper.
 
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[Cows May Be Getting BSE From Eating Poultry Manure]
 
[Note: In the US, poultry manure is permitted to be fed to cattle.]
 
BSE cases have appeared on some organic farms where the animals have not been fed with MBM [Meat and Bone Meal] including the farm owned by Jeff Nichols. This led to the belief that organophosphates might be responsible for BSE. However, I have discussed this phenomenon with three organic farmers and I visited several organic farms during 1994. I established that the cows on the farm had been exposed to and had eaten poultry manure, which is widely used on organic farms. I have personally witnessed cows eating poultry manure from a heap of manure waiting to be spread on an organic farm. It is also an established practice to add bird droppings into some cattle feed. Since MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] allowed poultry to be fed on meat and bone meal until 1996, the poultry droppings would contain large amounts of the undigested agent.
 
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BSE Was Found In 29% Of Brain Samples From Seemingly-Healthy Cattle
 
In a study undertaken for "World in Action" in 1995 World in Action obtained 30 cattle heads from abattoirs in the Midlands. I tested 28 brains and established that 8 of the cattle tested which must have appeared healthy at slaughter, actually had BSE. This BSE would be detected by my test even though they were sub-clinical, symptom free cases. To date, MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] has no such test of its own and vacuoles are not seen in sub-clinical cases until they develop the clinical symptoms.
 
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BSE May Be Transmissible To Poultry, Pigs & Fish
 
On 31st March 1995 I attended and spoke at a seminar arranged by the Public Health Trust entitled "This BSE Business". This seminar was attended by, amongst others, Ray Bradley, Jeff Almond and Keith Meldrum. During the course of my talk I outlined the potential problems in the use of meat and bonemeal for feeding to poultry, pigs and fish and I warned at least pigs and probably the other animals would develop the disease.
 
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There Is 'Very Strong Evidence' That Hens Can Incubate Spongiform Encephalopathy
 
MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] have carried out their own transmission experiments with hens. In these experiments, some of the chickens exposed to the BSE agent showed neurological symptoms. However MAFF have not so far published details of the symptoms seen in chickens. Examination of brains from these chickens did not show the typical pathology seen in other SE's [spongiform encephalopathies].
 
A farmer in Kent in November 1996 noticed that one of his 20 free range hens, the oldest, aged about 30 months was having difficulty entering its den and appeared frightened and tended to lose its balance when excited. Having previously experienced BSE cattle on his farm, he took particular notice of the bird and continued to observe it over the following weeks. It lost weight, its balance deteriorated and characteristic tremors developed which were closely associated with the muscles required for standing. In its attempts to maintain its balance it would claw the ground more than usual and the ataxia progressively developed in the wings and legs, later taking a typical form of paralysis with a clumsy involuntary jerky motion. Violent tremors of the entire body, particularly the legs, became common, sparked off by the slightest provocation. This is similar to that seen in many BSE cases where any excitement may result in posterior ataxia, often with dropping of the pelvis, kicking and a general nervousness. Three other farmers and a bird breeder from the UK are known to have reported having hens with similar symptoms. The bird breeder who has been exhibiting his birds for show purposes for 20 years noticed birds having difficulty getting on to their perch and holding there for any length of time without falling. Even though the bird was eating normally, he noticed a weight loss of more than a pound in a bird the original weight of which was 5 pounds.
 
Histological examination of the brain revealed degenerative pathological changes in hens with a minimal vacuolation. The presence of PrP [prion protein] immunostaining of the brain sections revealed PrP-sc [scrapie prion protein] positive plaques and this must be regarded as very strong evidence to demonstrate that the hens had been incubating Spongiform Encephalopathy.
 
 

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