Food Recalls USDA Launches Its Largest Beef Recall; Metal Found in Lollipops

I’ve been holding off on recall stories because there are so many of them, but it’s hard to ignore the 143 million pounds of beef targeted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to The Associated Press via The New York Times.

It’s the largest beef recall in U.S. history and affects meat dated to Feb. 1, 2006. Yes, you read the year correctly.

The beef under recall comes from a California slaughterhouse that is being investigated for animal abuse. The concern? That non-ambulatory cows may have been slaughtered without a veterinarian’s approval.

Cows must be able to walk to guarantee that consumers are eating healthy meat. The ability to walk also is an indicator of whether the animal might have Mad Cow Disease.

The USDA investigation began after a video depicted sick and injured cattle being kicked, shocked and abused to get them into the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Chino, California. (That’s very close to where I used to live in California.) Watch the video if you dare.

About 37 million pounds of beef that went to schools probably has already been eaten by our kids, because Hallmark is a huge provider to the federal school lunch program, reports The Associated Press.

Here’s part of a statement from Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer:

I am dismayed at the inhumane handling of cattle that has resulted in the violation of food safety regulations at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. It is extremely unlikely that these animals were at risk for BSE (mad cow disease) because of the multiple safeguards; however, this action is necessary because plant procedures violated USDA regulations.

If you  mistakenly think the meat was safe to eat, I urge you to watch the video. Here’s a Question and Answer from the USDA.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration recalled 400,000 Valentine Cards and Pops because metal fragments were found in two candies.

“The products being recalled are packages of 10 and 30 Pokémon branded Valentine cards and lollipops featuring a variety of characters,” writes the FDA. See the link on how to return the Valentines.

Additional
Cruelty Charges Filed Against Slaughterhouse Boss – Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Michael]

The abuse of animals at that slaughterhouse is so appalling!

And I can't even imagine how many millions of animals died in vain for the 143 million pounds of meat ...

[brettdl]

Yeah, I agree.

[Terry S. Singeltary Sr.]

USDA LARGEST BEEF RECALL, DOWNERS, KIDS, AND CJD

i lost my mother to the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease on 12/14/97.
i have been an activist ever since.

concerning this beef recall and any potential link to Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy i.e. BSE and or h-BASE.
the last two cases of mad cow disease in the USA i.e. Texas and Alabama were NOT of the UK BSE strain,
but a new strain that is much more virulent to humans than the UK BSE.

due to the incubation period of TSE, these kids and their parents will not know for years, or decades
IF they have been exposed and go clinical and die. TSE are 100% fatal.

the fda feed ban (the OTHER safe guard), was and is nothing but ink on paper.

Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer Regarding Hallmark/Westland
Meat Packing Company Two Year Product Recall

February 17, 2008

"Today, USDA is announcing additional actions as a result of the ongoing
investigation at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. USDA's Food Safety
and Inspection Service (FSIS) has evidence that Hallmark/Westland did not
consistently contact the FSIS public health veterinarian in situations in
which cattle became non-ambulatory after passing ante-mortem inspection,
which is not compliant with FSIS regulations. ...

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/02/0046.xml

>>>It also includes the removal of specified risk materials-those tissues
demonstrated to contain the bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in
infected cattle-from the human food chain, along with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's 1997 ruminant to ruminant feed ban. The prohibition of
non-ambulatory cattle from the food supply is an additional safeguard
against bovine spongiform encephalopathy. <<<

10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. MBM IN COMMERCE USA
2007

Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST
RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II
___________________________________
PRODUCT
Bulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling's 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried,
Recall # V-024-2007
CODE
Cattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
Pfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007.
Firm initiated recall is ongoing.
REASON
Blood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was
cross-contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been
manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE
statement.
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
42,090 lbs.
DISTRIBUTION
WI

___________________________________
PRODUCT
Custom dairy premix products: MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL
Prot-Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal,
TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY
Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST
POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN Meal, COPPINI - 8# SPECIAL
DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J - PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK
CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN, BETTENCOURT #1/GHC
MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT Meal, SMUTNY,
A-BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007
CODE
The firm does not utilize a code - only shipping documentation with
commodity and weights identified.
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
Rangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm
initiated recall is complete.
REASON
Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross
contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not
bear cautionary BSE statement.
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
9,997,976 lbs.
DISTRIBUTION
ID and NV

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2007/ENF00996.html

and that is but one of many since the infamous 8/4/97 partial
and voluntary mad cow feed ban.

2006 was a banner year for MAD COW PROTEIN IN COMMERCE ;

PLEASE SEE LAUNDRY LIST OF MAD COW PROTEIN IN COMMERCE HERE ;

SRM SPECIFIED RISK MATERIALS

RUMINANT TO RUMINANT ANIMAL PROTEIN IN COMMERCE 2006-2007

http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-materials-srm.html

Geographical BSE Risk (GBR) assessments covering 2000-2006

Date : 01.08.2006

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/Scientific_Document/GBR_assessments_table_Overview_assessed_countries_2002-2006.pdf

USDA CERTIFIED H-BASE MAD COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/02/usda-certified-h-base-mad-cow-school.html

http://tinyurl.com/yul2lw

[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of
Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

03-025IFA
03-025IFA-2
Terry S. Singeltary

Page 1 of 17

9/13/2005

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/02/usda-certified-h-base-mad-cow-school.html

kind regards,
terry

[Terry S. Singeltary Sr.]

USDA LARGEST BEEF RECALL, DOWNERS, KIDS, AND CJD

[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of
Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

03-025IFA
03-025IFA-2
Terry S. Singeltary

Page 1 of 17

9/13/2005

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/02/usda-certified-h-base-mad-cow-school.html

kind regards,
terry

[Terry S. Singeltary Sr.]

Recalled beef from Chino slaughterhouse was used in 466 food products

10:05 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 19, 2008

By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise

PDF: Businesses that may have received the meat

http://www.pe.com/multimedia/pdf/2008/WestlandRecallConsolidatedRetailDistributionforWeb3-18-08.pdf

PDF: Recalled products

http://www.pe.com/multimedia/pdf/2008/AdditionalProductsContainingWestlandRecalledBeef03-14-08.pdf

From Slim Jim jerky and Jenny Craig meatloaf to Farmer John salami and Kids
Cuisine frozen tacos, the list of products containing recalled meat from the
now-closed Chino slaughterhouse continues to grow.

The California Department of Public Health now lists 466 types of foods sold
to markets, restaurants, grocery chains, catering businesses, workplace
cafeterias and other food services. The state expects the list to get
longer, department spokeswoman Lea Brooks said.

"We're identifying more products in which the recalled beef was an
ingredient," she said.

When the list debuted in late February, it contained products from three
manufacturers. Now there are 16. The recall may not involve entire product
lines. The links to affected lot numbers and retail distributors are listed
on the California Department of Public Health Web site: www.cdph.ca.gov

Also growing is the list of California restaurants, markets and other
retailers that may have received some of the 143 million pounds of beef from
Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

The recall, the largest beef recall in U.S. history, was triggered by an
undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States showing
employees at the plant abusing cattle and violating federal slaughter rules.

Still at issue is who will pay for the losses. Industry experts have said
the value of the affected foods could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

Westland/Hallmark President Steve Mendell testified before a congressional
subcommittee last week that his company is broke and won't be able to
reimburse distributors or the many schools that received his meat products
through the National School Lunch Program.

The recall, which covered meat from cattle slaughtered at the plant between
Feb. 1, 2006, and Feb. 2, 2008, is a class II recall, which means the chance
of getting sick from the meat is remote.

In Riverside County, one restaurant was found to have some recalled meat.
None has been found by public health officials in San Bernardino County, and
the chances lessen as time passes, they said. Most has been consumed,
destroyed or returned to the manufacturer, said Steve Van Slocum, Riverside
County's deputy director of environmental health on Wednesday.

As recently as last week, Ralphs and Food 4 Less, which have 400 stores in
Southern California, were removing items from shelves, said Terry O'Neill,
the chains' spokesman. The stores don't carry all items on the list, and
O'Neill couldn't say which ones were pulled.

"The recall is so vast," he said.

The products are being immediately removed from shelves based on
notification from the manufacturer or the grocery chain's parent company,
Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., and being destroyed or held for return, he said

O'Neill said all customers will be reimbursed for products that are on the
list or that they are worried may be affected.

On Wednesday, three restaurants were removed from the list of retailers in
the state -- which grew from 5,000 to 7,900 in the past three weeks. But
some distributors turned over names of all their customers, so the state's
list included some stores and restaurants that never received recalled meat.

In all, six restaurants have been deleted from the list: P.H. Wood's Brewery
in Moreno Valley, the Yellow Basket restaurants in Temecula and Santa Ana,
and three others in Orange County.

P.H. Wood's received a small amount of the meat from supplier American Meats
in 2002. It was probably a sample, said Scott Diehl, the brewery's general
manager and part owner.

A couple of customers notified him that he was on the list, and it took
about a week to get the documentation, mostly letters from his suppliers of
six years, to prove he wasn't receiving meat from Westland/Hallmark, Diehl
said.

"The frustrating thing is having that bad name of being on the list," he
said. "It looks like (the distributor) gave a blanket list."

Reach Janet Zimmerman at 951-368-9586 or jzimmerman@PE.com

http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_D_recall20.3cf1153.html

Recalled beef from Chino slaughterhouse was used in 466 food products

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse.html

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO.

March 6, 2008

Consumer Concerns

Q. My child/school recently consumed Hallmark/Westland products. What is the
risk to children's health?

snip...

Audit Report

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program - Phase II

and

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat
Recovery Products - Phase III

Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006

Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle
Still Remain

Our prior report identified a number of inherent problems in identifying and
testing high-risk cattle. We reported that the challenges in identifying the
universe of high-risk cattle, as well as the need to design procedures to
obtain an appropriate representation of samples, was critical to the success
of the BSE surveillance program. The surveillance program was designed to
target nonambulatory cattle, cattle showing signs of CNS disease (including
cattle testing negative for rabies), cattle showing signs not inconsistent
with BSE, and dead cattle. Although APHIS designed procedures to ensure FSIS
condemned cattle were sampled and made a concerted effort for outreach to
obtain targeted samples, industry practices not considered in the design of
the surveillance program reduced assurance that targeted animals were tested
for BSE.

snip...

Inherent Limitations in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle APHIS
obtained significantly more samples for testing than they originally
anticipated would be needed to achieve its stated level of confidence in
estimating the prevalence of BSE in the U.S. herd. Because of the voluntary
nature of its program, however, we could not determine how successful APHIS
was in obtaining a representative proportion of high-risk cattle for
testing. Our prior report recognized the significant challenges for APHIS to
obtain samples from the high-risk population because of the inherent
problems with obtaining voluntary compliance and transporting carcasses for
testing. APHIS took steps to obtain facilitated pathways, by entering into
over 100 agreements, to collect and test brain samples for BSE. However,
using USDA published data that estimates the distribution of the cattle
population, as well as those that died or became nonambulatory, we could not
determine whether APHIS achieved either geographical representation or
representation of the desired surveillance stream (clinical suspects, fallen
stock, casualty slaughter fallen stock, and routine slaughter). Findings 1
and 2 present the conditions noted that impact this evaluation. USDA Testing
Protocols and Quality Assurance Procedures In November 2004, USDA announced
that its rapid screening test produced an inconclusive BSE test result. A
contract laboratory ran its rapid screening test on a brain sample collected
for testing and produced three high positive reactive results. As required,
the contract laboratory forwarded the inconclusive sample to APHIS’ National
Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for confirmation. NVSL repeated the
rapid screening test, which again produced three high positive reactive
results. Following established protocol, NVSL ran its confirmatory test, an
immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, which was interpreted as negative for BSE.
Faced with conflicting results between the rapid screening and IHC tests,
NVSL scientists recommended additional testing to resolve the discrepancy
but APHIS headquarters officials concluded that no further testing was
necessary since testing protocols were followed and the confirmatory test
was negative. In our discussions with APHIS officials, they justified their
decision to not do additional testing because the IHC test is
internationally recognized as the “gold standard” of testing. Also, they
believed that

conducting additional tests would undermine confidence in USDA’s testing
protocols. OIG obtained evidence that indicated additional testing was
prudent. We came to this conclusion because the rapid screening tests
produced six high positive reactive results, the IHC tests conflicted, and
various standard operating procedures were not followed. Also, our review of
the relevant scientific literature, other countries’ protocols, and
discussions with experts led us to conclude that additional confirmatory
testing should be considered in the event of conflicting test results. To
maintain objectivity and independence, we requested that USDA’s Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) perform the Office International des Epizooties (OIE)
Scrapie-Associated Fibrils (SAF) immunoblot test. The additional testing
produced positive results. To confirm, the Secretary of Agriculture
requested that an internationally recognized BSE laboratory in Weybridge,
England (Weybridge) perform additional testing. Weybridge conducted various
tests, including their own IHC tests and three Western blot tests. The tests
confirmed that the cow was infected with BSE. The Secretary immediately
directed USDA scientists to work with international experts to develop new
protocols that include performing dual confirmatory tests in the event of an
inconclusive BSE screening test. We attribute the failure to identify the
BSE positive sample to rigid protocols, as well as the lack of adequate
quality assurance controls over its testing program. Details of our concerns
are discussed in Findings 3 and 4.

snip...

Controls (Firewalls) to Prevent BSE in the Food Supply USDA instituted
proactive procedures to prevent tissues and products that could possibly
contain the infective agent for BSE from entering the food supply. FSIS
performs inspections on cattle before slaughter (ante mortem) to observe
clinical signs that may indicate a central nervous system disorder or other
signs that may be associated with BSE. Such animals are condemned and
prohibited from slaughter for human consumption. FSIS also identified
high-risk beef tissue and products as SRMs, and banned them from the food
supply. FSIS inspects slaughter processes to verify that slaughterhouses
have incorporated controls for handling SRMs into their operational plans;
adequate procedures must be in place for removing, segregating, and
disposing of SRMs. OIG reviewed the SRM plans of several establishments,
observed FSIS inspection procedures, and evaluated the effectiveness of
controls during the slaughter process. We did not identify SRMs entering the
food supply. However, due to the lack of adequate records, we could not
determine whether SRM procedures were followed and/or were adequate in 9 of

12 establishments visited during the audit. There is no requirement in the
United States for the age of animals to be recorded, therefore, APHIS and
FSIS rely on meat establishments to determine the age of cattle slaughtered
using documentation or dentition. SRM restrictions apply predominantly to
cattle 30 months of age or older. FSIS periodically checks the accuracy of
age determinations through dentition; however, we could not determine how
often these checks are made. We found that improvements can be made in the
following areas. • FSIS approved an alternate ante mortem inspection
procedure that limited the number of cattle subject to inspection. FSIS
discontinued this procedure during the audit. • FSIS does not have an
information system capable of readily identifying the scope of, and trends
in, noncompliance violations relating to SRMs. • Most of the establishments
reviewed did not have adequate SRM plans, and FSIS did not always identify
these deficiencies. • Several of the establishments did not comply with
their SRM plans and/or maintain records to support that they follow their
plans. FSIS has addressed the specific cases of noncompliance identified
during the audit. Findings

snip...

Downers and Cattle that Died on the Farm

Our prior audit recognized the significant challenge for APHIS to obtain
samples from some high-risk populations because of the inherent problems
with obtaining voluntary compliance and transporting the carcasses for
testing. USDA issued rules to prohibit nonambulatory animals (downers) from
entering the food supply at inspected slaughterhouses. OIG recommended, and
the International Review Subcommittee33 emphasized, that USDA should take
additional steps to assure that facilitated pathways exist for dead and
nonambulatory cattle to allow for the collection of samples and proper
disposal of carcasses. Between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, the APHIS
database documents 27,617 samples were collected showing a reason for
submission of nonambulatory and 325,225 samples were collected with reason
of submission showing “dead.”

snip...

We also disagree with APHIS/FSIS’ contention that because they have tested
over 375,000 of their 446,000 estimate of high risk cattle, few in the
high-risk population are being missed, including those that might be
pre-screened before entering a slaughter facility’s property. In our prior
audit, we reported that APHIS underestimated the high-risk population;

*** we found that this estimate should have been closer to 1 million animals
(see Finding 1).

snip...

The policy stated in the preamble to 9 CFR 309.2(b)104 states that FSIS has
excluded all nonambulatory disabled cattle from the human food supply,
regardless of the reason for their nonambulatory status or the time at which
they became nonambulatory (emphasis added). If an animal becomes
nonambulatory in route to the establishment due to an acute injury, it must
be humanely removed from the truck, humanely euthanized, and the carcass
properly disposed of. Likewise, cattle that become nonambulatory on the
establishment premises, such as an animal that breaks its leg as it is
unloaded from the truck, are also required to be humanely moved, humanely
euthanized, and the carcass disposed of properly. However, an FSIS notice105
states that if cattle are ambulatory at ante mortem inspection and become
nonambulatory disabled prior to slaughter, the VMO should verify that the
animal suffered an acute injury and allow the animal to proceed to slaughter
and post mortem inspection. FSIS would expect such situations to be
extremely rare because cattle, when handled and moved under proper humane
handling conditions, should not be injured while being moved in pens. For
cattle that become nonambulatory disabled after ante

mortem inspection, if the VMO cannot determine that a specific, acute injury
occurred that caused the animal to become nonambulatory disabled, the animal
is to be condemned and cannot enter the slaughter establishment. There
appears to be inconsistent USDA policies related to slaughtering
downers/nonambulatory cattle. Regarding animals for slaughter, it is clear
that downers will not be slaughtered. In fact, one report106 states: “The
U.S. Policy is to condemn all cattle that are nonambulatory or disabled when
presented for slaughter." The Department has widely publicized that one of
the firewalls put in place to prevent the spread of BSE is the prevention of
downers from entering the food supply. Our review at the 12 plants visited
showed the following variations in application of the policy for condemning
or passing nonambulatory cattle for slaughter.

This was the only documentation of the condition of the cattle available at
the plants. Plant inspection personnel believed that FSIS Notice 5-04
allowed the slaughter of nonambulatory cattle if the cattle had passed ante
mortem inspection and then went down as the result of an acute injury.
Therefore, they had allowed the plant to slaughter these cattle for human
consumption. We observed use of a forklift and a rail above the pens to
transport nonambulatory cattle to the slaughter area.

snip...see full text 130 pages ;

http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf

snip...

Science 23 November 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5547, pp. 1726 - 1728
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066838

Reports

Estimation of Epidemic Size and Incubation Time Based on Age Characteristics
of vCJD in the United Kingdom

Alain-Jacques Valleron,1 Pierre-Yves Boelle,1 Robert Will,2 Jean-Yves
Cesbron3

SNIP...

The distribution of the vCJD incubation period that best fits the data
within the framework of our model has a mean of 16.7 years, with a standard
deviation of 2.6 years. The 95% upper percentile of this distribution is
21.4 years. The 95% confidence interval (CI) of the estimates of the mean
and standard deviation is relatively narrow: The 95% CI for the estimate of
the mean incubation period is 12.4 to 23.2 years, and the 95% CI of the
standard deviation is 0.9 to 8 years (10). The decrease in susceptibility to
infection in exposed subjects older than 15 years, as estimated from the
parameter , was found to be very sharp: 16% per year of age (CI: 12 to 23%).
This means that, under the best fitting hypothesis, an individual aged 20
years in 1981 had 55% less risk of becoming infected than a child aged 15
years (99.9% for an individual aged 70).

http://www.sciencemag.org/

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-questions-and-answers.html

SPECIFIED RISK MATERIALS

http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-materials-srm.html

March 16, 2008

MAD COW DISEASE terminology UK c-BSE (typical), atypical BSE H or L, and or
Italian L-BASE

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/03/mad-cow-disease-terminology-uk-c-bse.html

Communicated by:
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

[In submitting these data, Terry S. Singeltary Sr. draws attention to
the steady increase in the "type unknown" category, which, according
to their definition, comprises cases in which vCJD could be excluded.
The total of 26 cases for the current year (2007) is disturbing,
possibly symptomatic of the circulation of novel agents.
Characterization of these agents should be given a high priority. - Mod.CP]

[see also:

snip...

************************************************************
Become a ProMED-mail Premium Subscriber at

************************************************************
Visit ProMED-mail's web site at .

http://pro-med.blogspot.com/2007/11/proahedr-prion-disease-update-2007-07.html

SEE STEADY INCREASE IN SPORADIC CJD IN THE USA FROM
1997 TO 2006. SPORADIC CJD CASES TRIPLED, with phenotype
of 'UNKNOWN' strain growing. ...

http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/resources-casereport.html

There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they were presented last
week in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD surveillance
collection.

He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectively
SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/1006-4240t1.htm

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4240t1.pdf

Original Paper

Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion
Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Laura Debatina, Johannes Strefferb, Markus Geissenc, Jakob Matschkec,
Adriano Aguzzia, Markus Glatzela, c

aInstitute of Neuropathology, and
bDivision of Psychiatry Research, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich,
Switzerland;
cInstitute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf,
Hamburg, Germany

Address of Corresponding Author

Neurodegenerative Dis (DOI: 10.1159/000121389)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Key Words

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Alzheimer's disease
Deposition of -amyloid
Prion protein

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and prion diseases such as sporadic
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) share common features concerning their
molecular pathogenesis and neuropathological presentation and the
coexistence of AD and CJD in patients suggest an association between the
deposition of the proteolytically processed form of the amyloid precursor
protein, -amyloid (A), which deposits in AD, and the abnormal form of the
prion protein, PrPSc, which deposits in sCJD. Methods: We have characterized
sCJD patients (n = 14), AD patients (n = 5) and nondemented controls (n = 5)
with respect to the deposition of PrPSc and A morphologically, biochemically
and genetically and correlated these findings to clinical data. Results:
sCJD-diseased individuals with abundant deposits of A present with a
specific clinicopathological profile, defined by higher age at disease
onset, long disease duration, a genetic profile and only minimal amounts of
PrPSc in the cerebellum. Conclusion: The co-occurrence of pathological
changes typical for sCJD and AD in combination with the inverse association
between accumulation of A and PrPSc in a subgroup of sCJD patients is
indicative of common pathways involved in the generation or clearance of A
and PrPSc in a subgroup of sCJD patients.

Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Author Contacts

Markus Glatzel
Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Martinistrasse 52, DE-20246 Hamburg (Germany)
Tel. +49 40 42 803 2218, Fax +49 40 42 803 4929
E-Mail m.glatzel@uke.uni-hamburg.de

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000121389

Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734.

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150
words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor:

In their Research Letter, Dr Gibbons and colleagues1 reported that the
annual US death rate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been stable
since 1985. These estimates, however, are based only on reported cases, and
do not include misdiagnosed or preclinical cases. It seems to me that
misdiagnosis alone would drastically change these figures. An unknown number
of persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in fact may have CJD,
although only a small number of these patients receive the postmortem
examination necessary to make this diagnosis. Furthermore, only a few states
have made CJD reportable. Human and animal transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies should be reportable nationwide and internationally.

Terry S. Singeltary, Sr
Bacliff, Tex

1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323. FREE FULL
TEXT

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=singeltary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

MARCH 26, 2003

In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there

should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena

from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic

CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535

Regarding Alzheimer's disease

(note the substantial increase on a yearly basis)

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/07/08014001.pdf

snip...

The pathogenesis of these diseases was compared to Alzheimer's disease at a
molecular level...

snip...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/03/12003001.pdf

And NONE of this is relevant to BSE?

There is also the matter whether the spectrum of ''prion disease'' is wider
than that recognized at present.

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/07/06005001.pdf

Human BSE

snip...

These are not relevant to any possible human hazard from BSE nor to the much
more common dementia, Alzheimers.

snip...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/07/09001001.pdf

IN STRICT CONFIDENCE

TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1993/01/05004001.pdf

Subject: Re: Hello Dr. Manuelidis Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 17:47:09 -0500
From: laura manuelidis Reply-To:
laura.manuelidis@yale.edu Organization: Yale Medical School To: "Terry S.
Singeltary Sr."

References: <

Dear Terry,

One of our papers (in Alzheimer's Disease Related Disord. 3:100-109, 1989)
in text cites 6 of 46 (13%) of clinical AD as CJD. There may be a later
paper from another lab showing the same higher than expected incidence but I
can't put my hands on it right now. We also have a lot of papers from 1985
on stating that there are likely many silent (non-clinical) CJD infections,
i.e. much greater than the "tip of the iceberg" of long standing end-stage
cases with clinical symptoms. Hope this helps.

best wishes for the new year laura manuelidis

"Terry S. Singeltary Sr." wrote: > > Hello again Dr. Manuelidis, > > could
you please help me locate the 2 studies that were > done on CJD where it
showed that up to 13% of the people > diagnosed as having Alzheimer's
actually had CJD. > trying to find reference... > > thank you, > Terry S.
Singeltary Sr.

==================================
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread13175.html

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?p=156015

TSE UPDATE (SEE LINKS BELOW)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

DOWNER COW BLUES SENATORS WANT CRACKDOWN

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/downer-cow-blues-senators-want.html

Thursday, March 6, 2008

House committee subpoenas Hallmark/Westland CEO - i call for an
investigation of the investigators

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/house-committee-subpoenas.html

Friday, March 7, 2008

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO.

March 6, 2008

Consumer Concerns

Q. My child/school recently consumed Hallmark/Westland products. What is the
risk to children's health?

SEE FULL TEXT ;

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-questions-and-answers.html

March 16, 2008

MAD COW DISEASE terminology UK c-BSE (typical), atypical BSE H or L, and or
Italian L-BASE

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/03/mad-cow-disease-terminology-uk-c-bse.html

IN FY 2007 TWO FIELD CASES, ONE VALIDATION CASE, AND TWO RSSS CASES WERE
CONSISTENT WITH NOR-98 SCRAPIE. ...

(BRINGS A TOTAL OF 5 NOR-98 CASES DOCUMENTED IN 2007 IN USA. ...TSS)

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/monthly_scrapie_rpt.pps

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/

CWD

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/

TME

http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/

Beyond PrPres Type 1/Type 2 Dichotomy in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Emmanuelle Uro-Coste1#, Hervé Cassard2#, Stéphanie Simon3, Séverine Lugan2,
Jean-Marc Bilheude4, Armand Perret-Liaudet5, James W. Ironside6, Stéphane
Haik7,8, Christelle Basset-Leobon1, Caroline Lacroux2, Katell Peoch'9,
Nathalie Streichenberger5, Jan Langeveld10, Mark W. Head6, Jacques Grassi3,
Jean-Jacques Hauw8, Francois Schelcher2, Marie Bernadette Delisle1, Olivier
Andréoletti2*

1 INSERM U858, Institut de Médecine Moléculaire de Rangueil and Service
d'Anatomie Pathologique et Histologie-Cytologie, C.H.U. Rangueil, Toulouse,
France2 UMR Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)/Ecole
Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT) 1225, Interactions Hôtes Agents
Pathogènes, ENVT, Toulouse, France3 Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA),
Service de Pharmacologie et d'Immunologie, DRM, CEA/Saclay, Gif sur Yvette,
France4 Bio-Rad, Research and Development Department, Marnes-la-Coquette,
France5 Hôpital Neurologique, Services de Neurochimie et de Pathologie,
Bron, France6 National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Division
of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh,
United Kingdom7 INSERM, Equipe Avenir, Maladies à Prions chez l'Homme,
Paris, France8 Neuropathology Laboratory, Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP,
Paris, France9 Service de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire, Hôpital
Lariboisière, Paris (Laboratoire associé au CNR “ATNC”) et EA 3621 Faculté
de Pharmacie, Paris, France10 Central Institute for Animal Disease Control
CIDC-Lelystad, Lelystad, The Netherlands

Abstract

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) cases are currently subclassified
according to the methionine/valine polymorphism at codon 129 of the PRNP
gene and the proteinase K (PK) digested abnormal prion protein (PrPres)
identified on Western blotting (type 1 or type 2). These biochemically
distinct PrPres types have been considered to represent potential distinct
prion strains. However, since cases of CJD show co-occurrence of type 1 and
type 2 PrPres in the brain, the basis of this classification system and its
relationship to agent strain are under discussion. Different brain areas
from 41 sCJD and 12 iatrogenic CJD (iCJD) cases were investigated, using
Western blotting for PrPres and two other biochemical assays reflecting the
behaviour of the disease-associated form of the prion protein (PrPSc) under
variable PK digestion conditions. In 30% of cases, both type 1 and type 2
PrPres were identified. Despite this, the other two biochemical assays found
that PrPSc from an individual patient demonstrated uniform biochemical
properties. Moreover, in sCJD, four distinct biochemical PrPSc subgroups
were identified that correlated with the current sCJD clinico-pathological
classification. In iCJD, four similar biochemical clusters were observed,
but these did not correlate to any particular PRNP 129 polymorphism or
western blot PrPres pattern. The identification of four different PrPSc
biochemical subgroups in sCJD and iCJD, irrespective of the PRNP
polymorphism at codon 129 and the PrPres isoform provides an alternative
biochemical definition of PrPSc diversity and new insight in the perception
of Human TSE agents variability.

snip...

Prion Strains and PrPSc Phenotype
Although prion strains can only be identified definitively by bioassay,
molecular in vitro tools to characterize PrPSc are more and more widely used
for the rapid identification of particular agents, such as BSE in cattle,
sheep, rodent and humans (vCJD) [20],[21]. This has come to be termed
“molecular strain typing” and although widely employed, the exact
relationship between PrPSc biochemistry and the biological properties of the
agents responsible remain to be determined. In sCJD, the presence of four
distinct PrPSc biochemical forms apparently correlated to
clinico-pathological phenotypes as defined by Parchi et al. [2] could be an
indication of the involvement of different TSE agents.

iCJD cases are a consequence of accidental human to human TSE transmission,
most likely representing transmission of sCJD. The identification in iCJD
cases of the four PrPSc signatures identified in sCJD is consistent with the
existence of distinct prions associated with these biochemical forms.

Three examples of human-to-human transmission of variant CJD through blood
transfusion have now been identified. While all blood donors were MM at
codon 129 PRNP, the recipients had either a MM (n = 2) or a MV genotype (n =
1). Despite this genotype difference there appears to have been conservation
of the disease phenotype and PrPres type in all “secondary” vCJD cases
[22]–[25]. These observations could suggest that in case of inter-human
transmission, difference in donor/recipient genotype could result in
un-altered abnormal PrP signature.

Our identification of MM GH iCJD cases harbouring similar PrPSc signature as
a VV1 sCJD case or of a VV dura mater iCJD case similar to MM2 sCJD might
indicate preservation of a specific PrPSc biochemical signature after human
to human transmission between individuals of different codon 129 genotypes.

Treatment with extracts of GH contaminated by CJD has lead to a high number
of iCJD cases in France and the UK. The codon 129 genotypes of the affected
individuals in the two countries differ, with the French cohort
predominantly MM and MV and the British cohort MV and VV [26]. In the
absence of any clear explanation for this finding, it was suggested that it
might be due to contamination of different batches of GH with different
prion strains from individuals of differing PRNP codon 129 genotypes. Our
identification of different biochemical forms of PrPSc in GH French patients
and in UK patients is consistent with this hypothesis. The variability
observed within the French GH cases could signify involvement of different
prion strains, consistent with multiple contaminated GH batches in the
French epidemic.

Conclusion
The identification in this study of different PrPSc species in CJD patients
with the same PRNP polymorphism at codon 129 and WB PrPres profile offers a
new perspective on our understanding of the relationship between PrP
biochemistry, prion disease phenotype and agent strain. We highlight two
novel approaches to analysing PrPSc in sCJD and iCJD and offer evidence that
these analyses provide potentially-strain associated information, which
appears to be lacking from the conventional WB assay.

snip...

SEE FULL TEXT ;

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000029

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734.

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150
words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor:

In their Research Letter, Dr Gibbons and colleagues1 reported that the
annual US death rate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been stable
since 1985. These estimates, however, are based only on reported cases, and
do not include misdiagnosed or preclinical cases. It seems to me that
misdiagnosis alone would drastically change these figures. An unknown number
of persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in fact may have CJD,
although only a small number of these patients receive the postmortem
examination necessary to make this diagnosis. Furthermore, only a few states
have made CJD reportable. Human and animal transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies should be reportable nationwide and internationally.

Terry S. Singeltary, Sr
Bacliff, Tex

1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323. FREE FULL
TEXT

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=singeltary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

MARCH 26, 2003

In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there

should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena

from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic

CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535

TSS