- Note - How was this blood to be disposed
of? Since the Mad Cow prion can withstand temperatures of approximately
1,000 degrees farenheit, how was this blood shipment going to be treated?
It is interesting to consider that some of the tankers you see on US roads
may be carrying '22 tons' of cow blood from slaughter houses for use in
pet foods, fertilizers, and various farm animal food products...
-
-
-
- LONDON (AP) - Eight people were taken to a hospital today after a tanker
carrying 22 tons of blood from cattle that were destroyed in an effort
to eradicate mad cow disease spilled on a highway.
-
- A tanker was on a highway near Birmingham
in central England when it leaked, police said. Two of the highway's three
lanes were closed while the blood was removed, causing long lines of traffic.
-
- Police Inspector Clive Isherwood said
authorities believe the blood came from older cows that were destroyed
as part of the government's campaign to eradicate bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
or BSE. The blood was also to be destroyed.
-
- ``It is not known if the blood is infected
with BSE, but we are taking all precautions necessary to ensure the safety
of the public,'' Isherwood said.
-
- An official from the Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity said chances were
remote that the blood was infected since many cattle over 36 months old
were destroyed as a preventative measure and did not actually carry the
disease.
-
- Police said eight people who had been
splashed with blood - four firefighters, two police officers, the tanker
driver and his wife - were taken to Walsall Manor Hospital to be cleaned
up.
-
- The European Union banned British beef
exports in March 1996 after Britain announced a possible link between BSE
and the fatal, brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that has killed
27 people in Britain since 1995.
-
- Hundreds of thousands of cattle have
been slaughtered and their carcasses destroyed since March 1996.
|
