On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 12:11:35 -0600, you wrote: >Derrill 'Kisc' Guilbert <lister at insaneninjahero.com> writes: > >> The only way you're going to catch BSE is if you eat an infected cow's >> brain. Beef is perfectly safe. > >Or spinal cord. > >Automated stripping of meat from the spine often gets bits of the >nerves, too. I would regard any ground beef product as a potential >vector. > >Inspectors reports say they often find bits of CNS tissue on solid >cuts of meat, too. > >You may remember that over 100 people in Britain *did* catch vCJD, >without straightforwardly eating a cow's brain. But there is a possibility of the prions beings transmitted all sorts of ways, including, bizarrely enough, through vegetables, if the fertilization process is done (im)properly. This is still a seriously fuzzy issue, and I'd prefer to see a lot more research and a lot less panic. As it is, we have the Vegans on one side screaming "We told you so!" and claiming the very smell of meat will kill, and on the other side is the Beef Council claiming that raw meat is the healthiest thing in the world. (The previous sentence contained hyperbole, obviously.) It really doesn't help that the USDA's Chief of Staff is a former lobbyist for the beef industry, I think. -- laz I am the Dread Pirate Roberts #23546. Ask me about franchise opportunities!