Greetings again BSE-L members,
I had a pleasant surprise this past Saturday. I got an unexpected package from O.I.G. on my old F.O.I.A. request, of the final test results of the infamous mad sheep of mad river valley. IF you all remember, back on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:00:20 -0500 I wrote ;
Greetings,
With great disgust, I must report, that after years and years of wrangling over the infamous mad sheep of mad river valley, I have failed in getting an official answer via FOIA on the outcome of the TSE testing of those imported Belgium sheep. The USA Government refuses to tell the public, exactly what the testing outcome was, and in doing so, shows just how corrupt this administration has been. and the excuse given in their answer to my final appeal, which they have now officially denied, was bizarre to say the least ;
"I am denying your FOIA appeal. This is the final agency decision. You may seek judicial review of this decision in the United States district court for the judicial district in which you reside or have your principal place of business or in the District of Columbia, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. & 552(a)(4)(B)."
FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1] ...snip...end...TSS
NOW, out of the wild blue, AFTER them telling me they denied my FOIA appeal for the final time, any further action would have to be judicial review in the United States district court, I get 25+ pages, a lot of redacted names, etc, but this is the first time they sent me anything about this in the 6 years of waiting for my FOIA request. IT will take me a long time to get this online due to the fact you cannot hardly read it, very poor quality and eligibility of text. BUT, the just of it is, somebody (REDACTED) screwed those tests up. I will work to get all the data online next week or so, but it is odd how much they were concerned for human and animal health from an atypical scrapie of foreign origin back then, but yet when we document it here in the USA, you don't hear a word about it. it's a completely different story.
IN SHORT ;
August 15, 2000
OIG case # NY-3399-56 REDACTED, VT
''Enclosed is OIG's notification that they have scheduled an investigation of the following individual. REDACTED is alleged to have provided possibly inaccurate test results involving diseased sheep. However, because the results were determined to be inconclusive, no actual violation was actually committed.''
snip...
[only bush et al could have interpreted it that way. don't all criminals wish this is the way the system worked. ...tss]
JULY, 28, 2000
Case Opening Memorandum
snip...
An investigation regarding the subject identified below will be conduced and a report submitted at the conclusion of the investigation. If you have or should later receive additional information concerning this matter, please forward it to this office.
If you believe that administrative action should be taken before all criminal and other legal matters are completed, please coordinate that action with this office in order not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
The fact that this subject is under investigation should not be discussed with anyone who does not have a need to know and all inquiries on the investigation should be referred to the office of Inspector General.
snip...end
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY FEBRUARY 7, 2002
SUBJECT OIG CASE NY-3399-56 REDACTED VT HEALTH/SANITATION VIOLATION
TO: William Buisch, Regional Director Eastern Region, VS Raleigh, NC
Enclosed is the official investigation report on REDACTED. If you will recall, REDACTED is alleged to have provided possible inaccurate test results involving diseased sheep.
OIG is closing their file upon issuance of the Report of Investigation (copy enclosed). We are, therefore, also closing our case file.
REDACTED
Resource Management Systems and Evaluation Staff
Enclosure
cc:
REDACTED IES, Riverdale, MD (w/cy of incoming)
APHIS:RMSES: REDACTED 2/7/02 "NY-3399-56-REDACTED Closure''
END...TSS
NOW, the question is, who screwed those test up, and was it done on purpose, just to cover someone's ass for letting those sheep in here in the first place ???
WHICH tests were compromised, one of them, all of them, and, can we trust the outcome of any of these test under the circumstances here ???
i.e.
"It is significant that four of the sheep which first tested positive on REDACTED Western blot tests, thereby providing the type of confirmation the plaintiffs argue is lacking on the current record."
UNDER what circumstances were these test compromised ???
MY basic, simple question, was not answered in layman term, i.e. exactly what strain of TSE did those sheep have ???
IS this the best we can do ???
>>>"REDACTED is alleged to have provided possibly inaccurate test results involving diseased sheep. However, because the results were determined to be inconclusive, no actual violation was actually committed.''<<<
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/sarc070619.pdf
OR ;
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement May 4, 2004
Media Inquiries: 301-827-6242 Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
Statement on Texas Cow With Central Nervous System Symptoms
On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed. FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse. FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed).
Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA. Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/new01061.html
OR ;
BESIDES the Texas mad cow that sat on the shelf for 7+ months before the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG finally did the end around Johanns et al and finally had Weybridge bring that negative cow back from the dead to finally being a confirmed mad cow (hint, hint, getting MRR implemented first), was this simply another bumbling of BSE protocol, or just same old same old; Jim Rogers (202) 690-4755 USDA Press Office (202) 720-4623 Statement by Chief Veterinary Medical Officer John Clifford Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Regarding Non-Definitive BSE Test Results July 27, 2005
snip...
Our laboratory ran the IHC test on the sample and received non-definitive results that suggest the need for further testing. As we have previously experienced, it is possible for an IHC test to yield differing results depending on the “slice” of tissue that is tested. Therefore, scientists at our laboratory and at Weybridge will run the IHC test on additional “slices” of tissue from this animal to determine whether or not it was infected with BSE. We will announce results as soon as they are compiled, which we expect to occur by next week. I would note that the sample was taken in April, at which time the protocols allowed for a preservative to be used (protocols changed in June 2005). The sample was not submitted to us until last week, because the veterinarian set aside the sample after preserving it and simply forgot to send it in. On that point, I would like to emphasize that while that time lag is not optimal, it has no implications in terms of the risk to human health. The carcass of this animal was destroyed, therefore there is absolutely no risk to human or animal health from this animal.
snip...
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/news/2005/07/bsestatement_vs.html
snip...
please see full text ;
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/06/mad-cows-and-computer-models-us.html
OR ;
USDA: In 9,200 cases only one type of test could be used
WASHINGTON (AP)--The U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledged Aug. 17 that its testing options for bovine spongiform encephalopathy were limited in 9,200 cases despite its effort to expand surveillance throughout the U.S. herd.
In those cases, only one type of test was used--one that failed to detect the disease in an infected Texas cow.
The department posted the information on its website because of an inquiry from The Associated Press.
Conducted over the past 14 months, the tests have not been included in the department's running tally of BSE tests since last summer. That total reached 439,126 on Aug. 17.
"There's no secret program," the department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford, said in an interview. "There has been no hiding, I can assure you of that."
Officials intended to report the tests later in an annual report, Clifford said.
These 9,200 cases were different because brain tissue samples were preserved with formalin, which makes them suitable for only one type of test--immunohistochemistry, or IHC.
In the Texas case, officials had declared the cow free of disease in November after an IHC test came back negative. The department's inspector general ordered an additional kind of test, which confirmed the animal was infected.
Veterinarians in remote locations have used the preservative on tissue to keep it from degrading on its way to the department's laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Officials this year asked veterinarians to stop using preservative and send fresh or chilled samples within 48 hours.
The department recently investigated a possible case of BSE that turned up in a preserved sample. Further testing ruled out the disease two weeks ago.
Scientists used two additional tests--rapid screening and Western blot--to help detect BSE in the country's second confirmed case, in a Texas cow in June. They used IHC and Western blot to confirm the first case, in a Washington state cow in December 2003.
"The IHC test is still an excellent test," Clifford said. "These are not simple tests, either."
Clifford pointed out that scientists reran the IHC several times and got conflicting results. That happened, too, with the Western blot test. Both tests are accepted by international animal health officials.
Date: 8/25/05
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2005/aug05/aug29/BSEtestoptionswerelimited.cfm
WELL, someone did call me from Bio-Rad about this, however it was not Susan Berg. but i had to just about take a blood oath not to reveal there name. IN fact they did not want me to even mention this, but i feel it is much much to important. I have omitted any I.D. of this person, but thought I must document this ;
Bio-Rad, TSS phone conversation 12/28/04
Finally spoke with ;
Bio-Rad Laboratories 2000 Alfred Nobel Drive Hercules, CA 94547 Ph: 510-741-6720 Fax: 510-741-5630 Email: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
at approx. 14:00 hours 12/28/04, I had a very pleasant phone conversation with XXXX XXXXX about the USDA and the inconclusive BSE testing problems they seem to keep having. X was very very cautious as to speak directly about USDA and it's policy of not using WB. X was very concerned as a Bio-Rad official of retaliation of some sort. X would only speak of what other countries do, and that i should take that as an answer. I told X I understood that it was a very loaded question and X agreed several times over and even said a political one.
my question;
Does Bio-Rad believe USDA's final determination of False positive, without WB, and considering the new atypical TSEs not showing positive with -IHC and -HP ???
ask if i was a reporter. i said no, i was with CJD Watch and that i had lost my mother to hvCJD. X did not want any of this recorded or repeated.
again, very nervous, will not answer directly about USDA for fear of retaliation, but again said X tell me what other countries are doing and finding, and that i should take it from there. "very difficult to answer"
"very political"
"very loaded question"
outside USA and Canada, they use many different confirmatory tech. in house WB, SAF, along with IHC, HP, several times etc. you should see at several talks meetings (TSE) of late Paris Dec 2, that IHC- DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NEGATIVE. again, look what the rest of the world is doing. said something about Dr. Houston stating; any screening assay, always a chance for human error. but with so many errors (i am assuming X meant inconclusive), why are there no investigations, just false positives? said something about ''just look at the sheep that tested IHC- but were positive''. ...
TSS
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Your questions
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 15:58:11 -0800
From: To: flounder@wt.net
Hi Terry:
............................................snip
Let me know your phone number so I can talk to you about the Bio-Rad BSE test.
Thank you
Regards
Bio-Rad Laboratories 2000 Alfred Nobel Drive Hercules, CA 94547 Ph: 510-741-6720 Fax: 510-741-5630 Email:
=================================
END...TSS
######### https://listserv.kaliv.uni-karlsruhe.de/warc/bse-l.html ##########
Executive Summary
In June 2005, an inconclusive bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) sample from November 2004, that had originally been classified as negative on the immunohistochemistry test, was confirmed positive on SAF immunoblot (Western blot). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified the herd of origin for the index cow in Texas; that identification was confirmed by DNA analysis. USDA, in close cooperation with the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), established an incident command post (ICP) and began response activities according to USDA’s BSE Response Plan of September 2004. Response personnel removed at-risk cattle and cattle of interest (COI) from the index herd, euthanized them, and tested them for BSE; all were negative. USDA and the State extensively traced all at-risk cattle and COI that left the index herd. The majority of these animals entered rendering and/or slaughter channels well before the investigation began. USDA’s response to the Texas finding was thorough and effective.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/epi-updates/bse_final_epidemiology_report.pdf
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Mad Cow Disease typical and atypical strains, was there a cover-up ? August 20, 2008
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/08/bovine-spongiform-encephalopathy-mad.html
http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2007/10/bse-base-mad-cow-testing-texas-usa-and.html
EXACTLY WHAT are they afraid of by sound testing ???
http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/
EXACTLY WHAT are these people capable of doing ???
JUST HOW FAR will they go ???
Mad Sheep The True Story Behind the USDA‚ War on a Family Farm Linda Faillace
The page-turning account of a government cover-up, corporate greed, and a courageous family‚ fight to save their farm.
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/madsheep
got to read this months ago, and it is deeply disturbing how the feds handled this from the very beginning, and to this day we do not know the results of the mouse bio-assays, and what those sheep actually had. i don't necessarily agree with the TSE science in this book, but the book is a must read if your interested at all in human and animal TSEs. ...TSS
Submitted by flounder on Thu, 09/07/2006 - 9:43pm.
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2006/08/28/book-release-party-linda-faillaces-mad-sheep
to be continued. ...TSS
SOME HISTORY ON THIS ;
Subject: RE-FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1] From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
Greetings,
With great disgust, I must report, that after years and years of wrangling over the infamous mad sheep of mad river valley, I have failed in getting an official answer via FOIA on the outcome of the TSE testing of those imported Belgium sheep. The USA Government refuses to tell the public, exactly what the testing outcome was, and in doing so, shows just how corrupt this administration has been. and the excuse given in their answer to my final appeal, which they have now officially denied, was bizarre to say the least ;
"I am denying your FOIA appeal. This is the final agency decision. You may seek judicial review of this decision in the United States district court for the judicial district in which you reside or have your principal place of business or in the District of Columbia, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. & 552(a)(4)(B)."
FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/
WITH great sadness and disgust, the USDA OIG has finally shot me down for good, and have refused my FOIA request officially. I got the letter around Jan. 1, 2008 and have just not been able to admit defeat until now. The Faillace's claim their sheep were TSE free, and they very well may have been, I dont know, and we now find out we will never know. does not matter I suppose, the TSE they were worried about in those imported Belgium sheep was documented in 2007 in the USA in 5 different states i.e. the NOR-98. UNLESS, those sheep from Belgium imported to the USA had BSE, and that may be why they did not give the test results via the FOIA?
PLEASE NOTE, none of this answered my question and or FOIA request of what type TSE was finally diagnosed in those Vermont sheep, and or did they ever do mouse bio-assays, and if not, why not. none of these questions were ever answered, and probably never will be. also, the seven pages in question in hotline files. it was four pages of my old letter to them about BSE testing on top of the Sheep testing, two page letter from Ms MacNeil and one page of exemptions, and one page fax copy of my complaint sum on 'BSE Testing'. the one page of exemptions of the agencies reasons for not answering my question about those sheep and the mouse bio-assays, and the reason they law claim is because of individual privacy, adversely affect the individual, and or revealing their identify. which is nothing I was asking for. I was asking for the final results of the mouse-bioassays of the TSE in the Vermont sheep imported into the USA from Belgium. why is it they refuse to tell the public, what type Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy those sheep had ???
copy of letter as follows ;
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL WASHINGTON D.C. 20250
DEC 28, 2007
Mr. Terry S. Singeltary, Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas 77518
Subject: FOIA Appeal-Log No. 08-00034 (No. 07-00060)
Dear Mr. Singeltary:
This is in response to your December 3, 2007, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. & 552, appeal of the November 20, 2007, decision of Ms. Deirdre MacNeil, FOIA/Privacy Act (PA) Attorney, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Agriculture (USDA). As explained below, your FOIA appeal is denied.
As background, on March 1, 2007, you requested the "final results of the TSE Mouse-bioassays of those Atypical TSE in the Vermont Sheep." FOIA requires the release of agency records except where one or more of the nine enumerated exceptions apply. On November 20, 2007, Ms. MacNeil responded to your request by sending you seven pages from Hotline files PS-3340-0024, which was responsive to your request. Ms. MacNeil withheld identifying information pursuant to Exceptions 6 and 7(C) of the FOIA. See 5. U.S.C.& 552(b)(6) and (7)(C). On December 3, 2007, you appealed Ms. MacNeils decision.
12-3-07
To The Honorable Inspector General USDA,
I respectfully "APPEAL" the decision to withhold information I requested under the F.O.I.A. About the final results of the T.S.E. Mouse-bioassays of the Atypical T.S.E. in the Vermont Sheep imported from Belgium and later confiscated and slaughtered under a "Extra Ordinary Declaration of Emergency due to Atypical T.S.E. in U.S.A. sheep.
Log Number 07-00060 FOIA 07-566
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
Exemption 6 permits the Government to withhold information about individuals in "personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." 5 U.S.C. & 552 (b)(6). To warrant protection under Exemption 6, information must first meet a threshold requirement by falling within the category of personnel and medical files and similar files. Id. Information fits into a "similar file" if it contains information regarding a particular individual. See United States Dept of State V. Washington Post Co., 456, 601-02 (1982). The threshold is met in this case, as the memorandum contains information regarding particular named individuals.
Exemption 7(C) protects from disclosure law enforcement information, the disclosure of which "could reasonably be expected to constitute and unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." 5 U.S.C. & 552(b)(7)(C. Under Exemption 7(C), it has been held that a protectible privacy interest exists in the identities of investigative agents. See Senate of
Mr. Terry S. Singeltary, Sr. Page 2
Puerto Rico v. United States Dep't of Justice, 823 F.2d 574, 588-89 (D.C. Cir. 1987); Nishnic v. United States Dep't of Justice, 671 F. Supp. 776, 789 (D.D.C. 1987). Such a privacy interest exists in this case, as the withheld information contains the identities, including names and identifying information, of investigative agents in the memorandum.
Once it is determined that a privacy interest exists, Exemptions 6 and 7(C), of FOIA require a balancing of interests between the public interest served by disclosure and an individual's right to privacy. See, e.g., Senate of Puerto Rico, 823 F.2d at 587; Dep't of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 372 (1976). Determination of whether disclosure is warranted turns not upon the particular purpose for which the document is requested, but upon the nature of the requested document and its relationship to the central purpose of FOIA, which is to "open agency action to the light of public scrutiny." United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 772-73 (1989) (quoting Rose, 425 U.S. at 372). I have determined that the release of the withheld information, of investigative agents in the memorandum, would not serve the public interest. Therefore, I am denying your appeal with respect to the withholdings pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C).
In addition to appealing the exemptions pursuant to 6 and 7(C), you appear to take issue with USDA's Animal $ Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) response to your FOIA requests with APHIS. You may contact APHIS regarding the status of any such requests by contacting Mr. Garfield Daley, Acting FOIA Officer, at (301)734-5273, 4700 River Road, Unit 50, Riverdale, MD, 20737-1232
Finally, in your appeal, you seek answers to a series of questions posed to various USDA officials, including the Inspector General, However, FOIA allows requesters to access records only. It does not require Federal agencies to answer questions, render opinions, provide subjective evaluations, or create explanatory materials, See, e.g., NLRB v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. 421 U.S. 132, 162 (1975); Zemansky v. Epa, 767 f2d 569, 574 (9th Cir. 1985); Flowers v. IRS, 307 F. Supp. 2d 60, 71 (D.D.C. 2004); Citizens Progressive Alliance v. U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, 241 F. Supp. 2d 1342, 1364-65 (D.N.M. 2002); Hudgins v. IRS, 620 F. Supp. 19, 21 (D.D.C. 1985). As FOIA requires an agency only to produce responsive non-exempt records to a requester, OIG is not obligated to answer questions regarding the TSE occurrence as you requested. Therefore, I am denying your appeal with respect to your questions.
Mr. Terry S. Singeltary, Sr. Page 3
For these reasons, I am denying your FOIA appeal. This is the final agency decision. You may seek judicial review of this decision in the United States district court for the judicial district in which you reside or have your principal place of business or in the District of Columbia, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. & 552(a)(4)(B).
Sincerely,
David R. Gray
FOR
Phyllis K. Fong
Inspector General
=======END...TSS...4.24.08=======
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: Boyd.Rutherford@usda.gov
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 12:35 PM
Subject: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
Greetings USDA,
I respectfully request the final results of the mouse bio-assays test that were to have supposedly began 2+ years late, 5 years ago, on the imported sheep from Belgium ?
WHAT happened to the test results and MOUSE BIO-ASSAYS of those imported sheep from Belgium that were confiscated and slaughtered from the Faillace's, what sort of TSE did these animals have ?
WERE they atypical scrapie, BSE, and or typical scrapie ?
HOW much longer will you refuse to give us this information ? and for what reason ?
WHY is it that the Farm of the Mad Sheep of Mad River Valley were quarantined for 5 years, but none of these farms from Texas and Alabama with Atypical TSE in the Bovine, they have not been quarantined for 5 years,why not, with the real risk of BSE to sheep, whom is to say this was not BSE ?
snip...
full text ;
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/regpublic.nsf/168556f5aa7a82ba85256ed00044eb1f/eff9eff1f7c5cf2b87256ecf000df08d?OpenDocument
FURTHERMORE, I respectfully request up front, that any fees for this FOIA be wavered due to the fact this information should be free to the public and is in the best interest for the public to have these final results, no financial gain from this FOIA information is to be made either. ...
Thank You,
kind regards,
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
Imported
Belgium/Netherlands
Sheep Test Results
Background
Factsheet
Veterinary Services April 2002
APHIS
snip...
Additional tests will be conducted to determine exactly what TSE the animals have BSE or scrapie. These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals
Page 15 of 98
8/3/2006
and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_ahvtsheeptr.pdf
DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E.
(PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=fr20jy00-31
DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E
(PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [2]
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=fr20jy00-32
--- Original Message ---
Subject: Sheep
Date:Sat, 12 Jun 2004 14:26:04 EDT
From: LAVET22@aol.com
To: flounder@wt.net
Mr. Singeltary.
I hope this finds you well. As you are aware I left the USDA last year. I can only update you on the sheep before that time. Contact was established with the UK on doing the bioassay studies. They agreed. However, we were prioritized after their own needs, hence the delay. I am aware that there are now additional labs in Europe running the mouse bioassay strain typing. You will have to contact USDA for further word.
Linda Detwiler
=========
My reply to Dr. Detwiler;
--- Original Message ---
Subject: Re: Sheep
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 13:53:57 -0500
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
To: LAVET22@aol.com
References:
hello Dr. Detwiler,
thanks for your kind reply.
However, we were prioritized after their own needs, hence the delay.
not sure i understand that?
You will have to contact USDA for further word.
already done that, and there answer was;
--- Original Message ---
Subject: Re: hello Dr. Sutton.question please.scrapie.TSS
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 14:36:09 -0400
From: Jim.D.Rogers@aphis.usda.gov
To: flounder@wt.net
Dear Mr. Singeltary,
The Western blot tests on these animals were completed in April of this year. That means that we can begin the mouse inoculations. To get the results of the Western blot tests, you will need to submit a Freedom of Information Act request through our FOIA office. The FAX number there is 301-734-5941.
Have a nice day,
Jim Rogers
APHIS LPA
--- Original Message ---
Subject: re-85th Meeting of SEAC - 30.11.04
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 16:56:55 -0000
From: "Barlow, Tom (SEAC)"
To: "'flounder@wt.net'"
Dear Mr Singeltary
Thank you for you enquiry to the SEAC secretariat about mouse bioassays commissioned by the USDA to investigate TSE cases in imported sheep. After making a number of enquiries, it appears that Defra were notinvolved with this work. However, it is possible that a UK research laboratory was contacted by the USDA about such tests but I have been unable to find out any further information. You may wish to make further enquiries with the USDA.
Yours sincerely
Tom Barlow
Dr Tom Barlow
Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) Secretariat
Area 108, 1A Page Street, London SW1P 4PQ
Tel: 0207 904 6267
===================
https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/regpublic.nsf/168556f5aa7a82ba85256ed00044eb1f/eff9eff1f7c5cf2b87256ecf000df08d?
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
PLEASE NOTE !
I know Linda and Larry Faillace's {kinda}, we have corresponded over the years, and I even was asked by their Editor-in-Chief John Barstow, of Chelsea Green Publishing Company, to read the transcript of the Faillace's book before it was published, see how if I liked it, a proof read of sorts, they sent me the transcript i.e. MAD SHEEP, THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE USDA'S WAR ON A FAMILY FARM by Linda Faillace.
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/madsheep/Reviews
BOOK RELEASE PARTY - Linda Faillace's MAD SHEEP
got to read this months ago, and it is deeply disturbing how the feds handled this from the very beginning, and to this day we do not know the results of the mouse bio-assays, and what those sheep actually had. i don't necessarily agree with the TSE science in this book, but the book is a must read if your interested at all in human and animal TSEs. ...TSS Submitted by flounder on Thu, 09/07/2006 - 9:43pm.
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2006/08/28/book-release-party-linda-faillaces-mad-sheep
OH, and the identifying information of investigative agents, i.e. Dr. Linda Detwiler, well, I {kinda} know her too, we have corresponded over the years as well. so this excuse to not give up the information of the FOIA on those mad sheep of mad river valley, and what the final mouse bio-assays showed, if any, atypical Scrapie, typical scrapie, or BSE, was bogus. It was one more of a long line of lies, deceit, and corruption by this Administration. I remember before this administration took office, i remember requesting for information i.e. hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents of the USA BSE surveillance plan, USDA emergency BSE response plan, the red book, yellow book, green book, and Dr. Detwiler sent to me with no problem. well, i might have complained a time or two about the slowness of response, and maybe sometimes when the information was not what i wanted, due to how i ask the question. but i would eventually get the data. I just looked at the date, and it was 1999. IT was 3 inches of paperwork in that one mailing. SO why is it, after some 5 years of asking and requesting, why i cannot get one question answered ;
FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/
WHAT STRAIN OF TSE DID THESE SHEEP HAVE, atypical NOR-98-like, typical scrapies, or BSE ???
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
NOR-98 ATYPICAL SCRAPIE USA UPDATE AS AT OCT 2007
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 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
DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM
http://downercattle.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
FDA Strengthens Safeguards for Consumers of Beef Issues Regulation on Animal Feeds with Added Safeguards Against BSE
http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Progress Report from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center April 3, 2008
http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/
Thursday, April 24, 2008
RE-FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-foia-of-declaration-of-extraordinary.html
TSS...END...APRIL 24, 2008
https://lists.aegee.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0804&L=BSE-L&T=0&F=&S=&X=06F577281C867A8623&Y=flounder9%40verizon.net&P=22793
Subject: Re: Confiscation of Sheep in Vermont and testing results ? From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
######## Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
AgricultureLaw.com News - March 22, 2001
CAN someone please, from the USDA sheep scrapie/TSE team, try to come up with another story besides the one sent to me about NOW going to start testing, on testing we were told 3+ years ago were to begin. YOU must please come up with a better one than that, and please do a better job than that of the blunder in TEXAS and that mad cow. The story about USDA NOW just being able to begin testing after them telling us for 14 years they have been doing just that, please come up with a better story for the Vermont sheep TSE to mice testing that should have started some 3+ years ago. THE next thing we will hear is that you have mixed there brains up with cow brains...
TSS
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. wrote:
Greetings again list members,
This is very disturbing to me and others as well. All evidence (and it is mounting) points to another cover-up and more lies from the USDA about animal TSEs. How many more lies and cover-ups can this Administration put forth to the American (Tourists) consumers before they take a stand? The stupidity and or ignorance of the American consumer in relations to human/animal TSEs are simply amazing to me. I suppose in a way I am one of them as well. I still go out to eat, get sick, and simply accept it as another '24 hour stomach virus'.....NOT;
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that known food borne pathogens account for 14 million illnesses, 60,000 hospitalizations and 1,800 deaths to humans in the United States each year.1 Total food borne illness from both known and unknown pathogens is likely to be responsible for 76 million cases, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths annually.1
Total food borne illness from both known and unknown pathogens
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/guidance/Guide122.pdf
AND HOW MANY ARE TSEs ?
I thought I might send a few threads through the list of other recent and old comments on this topic of the Vermont sheep;
MAY 20, 2004
Terry, I am so glad you wrote them and I am equally peaved by the answer-- so why did the western blot take 4 years? I guess they want us to think they had develop the test? Well why didn't they get it from the UK, or wait till the test were developed prior to 'taking the sheep'. This is stupid. It does not take 4 years to run western blot-- unless of course they didn't run it until you questioned them. I have the very big impression they want us to forget about the sheep. I asked Lisa Furgeson about the sheep in a public meeting and she go so angry, telling everyone it HAD to be done and the USDA was reasonable about it, only the land owners turned it into a circus. When asked about the test in this same public meeting, about 2.5 year ago, she said the mice test were already underway and it was too early to tell. (About Mar/April 2001)
snip...END
NEXT;
Dear Terry, It's because they didn't find anything, and they knew they wouldn't. The whole thing had been fabricate after Belgium found BSE and Europe was unhappy about our hormone laced beef. Tit for tat. Those sheep were sacrificed as a straw dog to protect the beef industry, back when they thought the public would swear off beef forever over mad cow. Now they know that as far as the public is concerned, mad cow is something that gets talked about for a week or two and goes away. They are hoping to lie and stall and withhold results until people forget all about that little "incident" in Vermont, and for the most part, that's what's happened. There's no one to hold their little feet to the fire; not the scientific community, not Belgium Government, not the EU, and certainly not the US sheep industry or the American public. JMHO, but the whole thing stinks; it always has and it always will. Regards, XXXXXXXXXXXXX
NEXT;
Terry, I've been a member of an online sheep mailing list for several years. They can stall and backpedal forever, but they can't change the fact that long before the USDA clamed to have "discovered" an "abnormal" TSE in the Vermont sheep, they wanted them dead for political reasons. This and a following message written by Linda and Lawrence Faillace are from the archives at sheep-L.
(November 1999)
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Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:14:42 -0500 Reply-To: Linda and Lawrence Faillace Sender: This is a list for people interested in sheep
From: Linda and Lawrence Faillace Subject: Faillace Family Sheep Farm
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
First Linda and I would like to apologize for not keeping our fellow shepherds informed about this issue previously. We were under an unofficial "gag" order from USDA, but now that the story is in the media we are free to speak.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the basic facts they are: 1)no sheep worldwide has ever contracted BSE outside of lab conditions, 2)our sheep and their ancestors are certified to never have been fed meat and bone meal, 3) all surveillance and testing has shown them to be free of TSE's (verified by several of the world's leading TSE pathologists), 4)sensitive and reliable live animal tests now exist for showing the absence of TSEs.
The USDA began their crusade a full two years after our initial importation and immediately before the time we were due to receive our certified status in the VSFCP. In USDA's words, their efforts to have our sheep killed are in response to political pressure from the cattle and pharmaceutical industries.
The saving grace for us in this whole situation is the phenomenal support we have received. Thank you Gene, Garry, Will, and other members of the Sheep-L community! The outrage and fury that this issue has raised is remarkable and we have been supported by not only shepherds and private citizens, but also local and state government officials, the Vermont State Grange, Dr. David Henderson, the Vermont Sheep Breeders Association, as well as other agricultural organizations, and members of the media. The media attention has been particularly helpful because the truth has been able to come out and has highlighted the hypocrisy of USDA's case.
Our farm, a true family operation includes my wonderful wife Linda, our three children (Francis, Heather, and Jackie), and myself. We strive to do the best job possible and to make a real difference in the way that farming is practiced in Vermont and beyond.
If you would like more details, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Meanwhile the battle continues!
Larry Faillace
Dr. Larry and Linda Faillace Ag-Innovations, Inc/Three Shepherds of the Mad River Valley 565 Behn Road Warren, VT 05674 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
1)no sheep worldwide has ever contracted BSE outside of lab conditions,
considering surveillance and strain typing, this is rather a hypithetical assessment (assumption, no proof). Plus, we have new evidence to date (2004) of atypical TSE showing up in sheep and cattle in many different Countries...TSS
=========================================
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:19:12 -0500 Reply-To: Linda and Lawrence Faillace Sender: This is a list for people interested in sheep
From: Linda and Lawrence Faillace Subject: BSE Content-Type:
June Reed commented:
BSE is terribly, terribly personal to me. For the same reason, so is
shaping policy that will work. This country and its producers must NEVER experience BSE or what happened in UK. And that mandates a well articulated plan and response, not to mention guts. The US has had one for years.
There is absolutely no question that the US should take strong efforts to try and verify its often stated claim of "BSE Free Status." The fact of the matter is the USDA's record of dealing with TSE diseases is hopelessly inadequate. Out of a cumulative cattle population since 1990 of 1.2 billion (yes, that's billion), less than 9,000 cattle have been tested for BSE in the United States. We were also the last western country to prohibit feeding ruminants to ruminants even though the science had long shown that this was a dangerous practice. In fact, even though scientists now worry about the human blood supply regarding CJD infection, and a USDA BLOOD TEST has now been developed which can detect the abnormal prion protein, US cattle continue to be fed cattle blood products. Furthermore, I don't think that I am telling anyone on this list that the US approach to dealing with scrapie leaves much to be desired. Worse yet, Chronic Wasting Disease, which plagues Western US elk and deer populations, continues to run rampant in both wild and farm raised populations, while government agencies argue over whose jurisdiction this falls under. The bottom line: Many potential vectors of BSE or a BSE-like disease remain and not enough action is being taken to prevent a repeat of what happened in the UK.
In this country, we had cattle imports from UK. They were subject to
surveillance/quarrantine as one option and slaughter/idemnity as another. Those not sold to USDA have about all died for one reason or another.
There was not a mandatory cattle surveillance program in place, therefore these cattle could not be easily traced. In fact, 33 of the imported cattle were never located. This is quite unlike the situation that our sheep were imported under, where surveillance was a part of the import regulations.
None were infected with BSE upon necropsy.USDA put a ban on imported
feedstuffs/products in, I think, 1989.
When USDA has been asked about the ban on imported feedstuffs, they could not in fact guarantee that no feeds containing meat and bone meal had crossed US borders from overseas. The USDA has to admit that although the documents show that no such feedstuffs were imported, the possibility exists that it did occur. (The same argument they are using against us when we show them documents verifying the diet of our animals.)
No one KNOWs if Larry's sheep, before they came into his possession,
consumed any illegal feed. And you can't prove a negative.
Actually, we have many, many documents showing that no such feed was consumed. In addition, we have surveillance data on the source flocks going back to the early 90's which demonstrate a complete lack of TSE diseases, and for that matter, neurological symptoms of any kind. The surveillance of all the imported sheep and their offspring has shown them to be completely healthy.
There is a possible chance, whether it is similiar to a meteor falling
on someone, or as the UK government maintained while defending its polices from1989-1996 regarding danger from BSE, "vanishingly small".
As everyone is aware, when government policy is formulated, relative risk assessment is what is normally employed, while on the other hand a "0 risk" policy is never achievable. In light of all of the previously mentioned facts, as well as the fact that several excellent live animal tests now are available for ruminants, it is completely possible for a protocol to be put together that would give everyone the assurances they need without destroying these healthy sheep. We have repeatedly offered for ALL our animals to be tested (tonsil test, eyelid test, blood test, etc.). However, since we are dealing with a politically motivated situation, all offers of a testing program by ourselves have been declined by USDA.
But,<<> the KNOWN CONSEQUENCES if the sheep ever did develop BSE,
and it was made public, consequences to our animal ag industries, to our consumer confidence in our product, to our multi-billion dollar trade in exported animal product....IS IT WORTH THE RISK???
Interesting that the muti-billion dollar trade issue is referred to here. Trade sits at the center of this issue and the perception of the US "BSE free status" is a blue chip that is being protected with every means possible. There is nothing new about trade barriers being disguised as "health concerns," and we have certainly not seen the last of the battles between the US and EU over beef as well as other commodities.
At the time he brought sheep in, the "science" had not demonstrated
that sheep could get BSE yet
A completely false statement. The research conducted in Edinburgh Scotland was published in the
I support what USDA is doing. USDA cannot get the sheep if Larry
doesn't want them to. Our government cannot seize livestock. USDA is doing everything by the book, I mean by the book. And this whole thing is hard for both Larry and the people who are visiting with him about buying/slaughtering the stock. Some of these folks are/have been sheep producers themselves.
The USDA cannot seize our sheep without scientific evidence.
Speaking of doing everything by the book, we went above and beyond the USDA's rules when we imported the sheep. We chose to follow stricter health requirements, particularly for scrapie. Linda and I are trying to help build an industry and wanted the best possible sheep. Our East Friesians, Beltex, and Charollais have all thrived and we are extremely pleased with their production.
Furthermore, no one from USDA that is dealing with this issue has raised sheep to my knowledge. If they have, they haven't mentioned it. As for those from ASI who have supported USDA's position, we have never had contact from any of them regarding their stance or any other aspect of this issue. Since we have been members of ASI since 1994, we have found this treatment particularly unprofessional.
Fortunately for us, June is the first person connected with sheep that has supported USDA's position. In fact, from the immense number of personal phone calls, numerous call-in listeners on many radio programs, and enormous numbers of e-mails and letters, the support for our position is truly remarkable. This issue has really uncovered a nerve and many people are feeling extremely passionate about the way we are being treated. We feel truly blessed by how many friends and supporters we have out there.
We KNOW the pain too well that Larry might be feeling at this moment.
But, put in the context of possible
consequences, and of the risk these poor animals MIGHT represent to our entire nation, I think as an Industry we need to support Larry, not to fight USDA, but to co-operate with USDA. Politics is perception.
Politics is perception, and the perception in our neck of the woods is that once again big business and big government are trying to squash the family farm. Vermonters, sheep farmers, regular citizens and consumers, elected officials, the Grange, etc., etc., they're all coming to same conclusion, enough is enough and it's time to take a stand against these tactics that have become all too familiar.
can't lose sight of that; it marrys science in policy formation. In a
way, all of us are at risk as producers, as long as Larry holds on to these sheep. And not just us, but dairy and beef industries as well. And not just US agriculture: this is also a public health issue, we now know that, based on science.
Here, we are in partial agreement, all sheep producers are at risk, but not from BSE. The sheep industry has too long been the pawn in American agriculture. If we capitulate, where does it end? Since no sheep worldwide has contracted BSE outside of lab conditions, the needless slaughter of our sheep will certainly create the perception that sheep do in fact contract the disease. We can tell you that at every meeting with USDA, we have been asked for names of sheep producers who have imported genetics, especially those imported via Canada. Of course, we have never offered any names. The point is that this issue has been pitched by USDA as an isolated one, but you can be sure that it won't end with our sheep.
Sorry for the length of our response, but the readers on this list deserve the truth.
Larry and Linda Faillace
Dr. Larry and Linda Faillace
Ag-Innovations, Inc/Three Shepherds of the Mad River Valley
565 Behn Road
Warren, VT 05674 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
==========================================
Since no sheep worldwide has contracted BSE outside of lab conditions,
AGAIN, Dr. Faillace is stating something that in fact, has never been proven. AGAIN, we have new atyipcal cases of TSE showing up in sheep and cattle that could very well be a BSE type TSE in sheep...TSS
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Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 07:58:12 -0700 Reply-To: Jackie Watkins Sender: This is a list for people interested in sheep
From: Jackie Watkins Subject: Fw: USDA SEEKS TO SLAUGHTER 365 East Friesian and Beltex SHEEP Content-Type:
USDA SEEKS TO SLAUGHTER 365 SHEEP: MAD-COW DISEASE LINK FEARED Nov. 14/99 Dow Jones/ Washington Post NEW YORK -- These stories explained that the Agriculture Department wants to slaughter 365 sheep under quarantine at two Vermont farms because they may have come in contact with mad cow disease. Controversy over the sheep's fate underscores policy makers' continuing wariness over the family of degenerative brain afflictions believed to be spread by oddly shaped proteins called prions. There has, according to these stories, never been a case of mad cow disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, reported in the United States, but at least 16 people died in England in 1996 from a similar disease, apparently after eating contaminated beef. And while alarm has, these story say, subsided over the possibility that cows contract BSE from feed derived from sheep brains, unease lingers over whether sheep can carry BSE for years after ingesting feed derived from contaminated beef. George Beran, a veterinary professor at Iowa State University and author of a handbook on diseases that affect both humans and animals, was quoted as saying, "This is brand new," adding that rudimentary detection methods make "depopulating the herd" the only sure way to combat a prion disease outbreak. It was uneasiness over the science of BSE that prompted the Agriculture Department to keep a close watch on 65 East Friesian and Beltex milk-producing sheep imported by Vermont farmers Larry Faillace, of Warren, and Houghton Freeman, of Greensboro, from England in early 1996. The importers wanted to build a new cheese-making industry. Faillace was quoted as saying, "The average American sheep does 100 pounds of milk in a year, while ours do 1,000 pounds." The USDA was initially concerned about whether the sheep were infected with scrapie, the ovine equivalent of BSE, but the animals were quarantined and cleared both in Belgium and the United States. Faillace, who was cited as saying that he can sell all the cheese he can make, adding, "There's nothing wrong with our sheep, and the risk is theoretical," "We just want USDA to get off our backs." But Detwiler, senior staff veterinarian for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, was cited as saying that the Agriculture Department would persevere, even though the sheep were ostensibly disease-free: "We're just trying to be ultraconservative."
========================================
IN 2004, we have documented BSE in the USA and Canada. WE have been feeding TSE infected animals back and forth to each other (BSE/CWD/SCRAPIE/not sure about much TME to do scent glands) for decades. SO what makes the USA sheep any different from these Belgium sheep?...TSS
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Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 21:55:21 -0700 Reply-To: will verboven Sender: This is a list for people interested in sheep
From: will verboven Organization: Subject: Re: vermont & bse Content-Type:
Something about this matter bothers me, I quote a piece of the posting made by the Faillace family: "We have repeatedly offered for ALL our animals to be tested (tonsil test, eyelid test, blood test, etc.). However, since we are dealing with a politically motivated situation, all offers of a testing program by ourselves have been declined by USDA.
Now what rationale would the USDA have for not having these sheep tested. Especially using tests, some of which the USDA not only invented but the researchers were awarded honors and prizes for innovative achievements. If the USDA does not have faith in these tests what message are they giving to producers. It seems to me the danger to the USDA in this case is that these tests may prove them wrong! Interesting how politics overrules science - well it wouldn't be the first time.
Will Verboven Calgary, Alberta Canada
============================================
Interesting how politics overrules science - well it wouldn't be the first time.
HOW correct Mr. Verboven was, and in fact, it will not be the last time either, in the USA in 2004, this policy of Politics overruling Science is very much alive and well, and the agent continues to spread...TSS
=============================================
hello XXXX,
Those sheep were sacrificed as a straw dog to protect the beef industry,
i'll have to agree with you there for sure, but the threat of BSE/BASE/CWD back to sheep is very real, you may disagree there. also, (and you will probably disagree here), the threat of scrapie to human is very real as well. we could debate this all day with pros and cons, but the oral study by natural feeding and transmission of scrapie to primate is still disturbing to me, but none of us will know the answer to that until they do some serious strain typing of all TSEs and some serious transmission studies, not like the pro-longed and put off studies of these Vermont sheep. Kinda like the way the UK has put this off. I only hope that scrapie is a natural disease of sheep and goat that does not transmit to humans, but this has yet to be proven.
snip...
They are hoping to lie and stall and withhold results until people forget all about that little "incident" in Vermont,
this will not happen, promise ;-)
kindest regards, terry ======
TSS
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. wrote:
######## Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: hello Dr. Sutton...question please...scrapie...TSS Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 14:36:09 -0400 From: Jim.D.Rogers@aphis.usda.gov To: flounder@wt.net
Dear Mr. Singeltary,
The Western blot tests on these animals were completed in April of this year. That means that we can begin the mouse inoculations. To get the results of the Western blot tests, you will need to submit a Freedom of Information Act request through our FOIA office. The FAX number there is 301-734-5941.
Have a nice day,
Jim Rogers APHIS LPA ==========
Greetings List members,
I do not understand this process of testing?
IF we go back, and if I remember correctly;
These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete.
this was some 3+ years ago, and the damn testing has not even started yet in mice???
let's look further;
Imported Belgium/Netherlands Sheep Test Results The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that 2 sheep from a flock of 125 which were confiscated in March of 2001 from a farm in Vermont have tested positive for an atypical undifferentiated transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). TSEs are a class of degenerative neurological diseases that are characterized by a very long incubation period and a 100-percent mortality rate. Two of the better known varieties of TSEs are bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and scrapie in sheep. Additional tests will be conducted to determine exactly what TSE the animals have—BSE or scrapie. These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete. This flock of 125 sheep was confiscated in March 2001 after 4 animals from an associated flock tested positive for an atypical TSE of foreign origin. In all, APHIS acquired 380 sheep from a total of three flocks. All of the animals were humanely euthanized, sampled, and disposed. The animals did not enter the animal or human food supply. The decision to confiscate the sheep was made after four sheep from one the of the flocks tested positive for an atypical undifferentiated TSE of foreign origin in July 2000. On July 14, 2000, USDA issued a declaration of emergency and extraordinary emergency to acquire the sheep. The first flock of 21 sheep were voluntarily sold to USDA on July 14, 2000. Those animals tested negative for a TSE. The owners of the other two flocks contested USDA’s action. A federal district court judge ruled in favor of USDA based on the merits of the case. The flock owners appealed to the Second Circuit Court requesting a stay, which was denied. After the request for a stay was denied, the flocks were confiscated by USDA in March 2001. The second flock of 234 animals was confiscated on March 21, 2001. Testing for TSEs is ongoing for this flock. The third flock of 125 sheep was confiscated on March 23, 2001. Background APHIS’ mission is to “Protect American Agriculture.” As part of that mission APHIS regulates the importation of animals and works with U.S. producers to eradicate animal diseases. To improve the genetic base of the domestic sheep population or to gain access to breeds not commonly found in the United States, there was a brief window of time in 1996 when USDA allowed the importation of sheep from certain countries. In August and November 1996, two importations of sheep from Belgium occurred. The sheep were primarily East Friesian milk sheep which originated from both Belgium and the Netherlands. A total of 65 sheep were imported. These sheep were used for milk production; milk from these sheep was used to produce cheese that was sold locally and nationally. This brief import window was shut in late 1996 after published research indicated that sheep that were orally infected with BSE had a wider tissue distribution of the agent than cattle with BSE. This raised the possibility that if sheep were naturally infected with BSE the disease may spread from one sheep to another. In late 1997, both Belgium and the Netherlands reported their first cases of BSE in native cattle. In 1998, the European Union’s Scientific Steering Committee issued an opinion that stated it is highly likely that European sheep were exposed to feed contaminated with the BSE agent. Based on these reports, the state of Vermont, in consultation with APHIS, imposed a quarantine on these sheep in October 1998. The two flocks of sheep and their progeny were prohibited, by the State quarantine, from entering either the human food or animal feed chains or being sold for breeding purposes. Subsequent to the quarantine, APHIS obtained information that the flocks of origin had been fed concentrates prepared at local mills. This practice has been shown as the most likely route of BSE exposure for the infected cattle in Belgium. If any of the quarantined sheep were to be culled or died, tissues from animals greater than 6 months of age were collected for diagnostic purposes and the carcasses were incinerated at APHIS’ expense. Based on four animals from one flock testing positive for an atypical undifferentiated TSE, USDA determined that an emergency and extraordinary emergency existed in Vermont. These declarations, which were effective July 14, 2000, provided funds and the authority to seize and dispose of these sheep. Factsheet Veterinary Services April 2002 APHIS The declaration of emergency provides authority for USDA to seize and destroy the sheep and authorizes payment of fair market value for the sheep. On October, 28, 2000, Congress provided the USDA with additional authority and funding ($2.4 million) to compensate the owners for economic losses incurred due to seizure and destruction of the Vermont sheep. This was in addition to fair market value funds that would have been provided for the sheep. This additional funding, which was available only if the sheep were destroyed on or before November 17, 2000, was declined by the owners. The owners of the other two flocks contested USDA’s action. A federal district court judge ruled in favor of USDA based on the merits of the case. The flock owners appealed to the Second Circuit Court requesting a stay, which was denied. TSE Testing Tissues from the sheep have been subjected to three tests; histopathology, immuno-histochemistry, and Western-blot. Histopathology examines brain tissue for microscopic changes indicative of a TSE. Immunohistochemistry examines the brain tissue for the abnormal prion protein, which is a marker for TSE disease. The Western-blot test also detects the abnormal form of prion protein in the brain tissue. All of these are recognized as official tests by APHIS. The abnormal prion protein was detected by the Western-blot test in all of the sheep that have tested positive for a TSE in these groups of animals. The method used for this test has been published in literature and is an accepted methodology. The tissue samples were from the obex, which is the best location in the brain to find the abnormal form of the prion protein (an indicator of TSE infection) if it is present. The Western-blot test however cannot differentiate between scrapie and BSE. The only known validated method to differentiate between these two diseases requires a series of mouse bioassay systems, which take at least 2–3 years for completion. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Safeguarding American Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • United States Department of Agriculture •
http://cofcs66.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_ahvtsheeptr.pdf
Q’s & A’s Regarding Vermont Sheep Test Results Q: What are the most recent developments concerning the sheep imported from Belgium and the Netherlands to Vermont that were confiscated last year? A: Two sheep from a flock of 125 that were confiscated in March of 2001 from a farm in Vermont have tested positive for an atypical undifferentiated transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). In all, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acquired 380 sheep from a total of three flocks. All of the animals were humanely euthanized, sampled, and disposed. These animals did not enter the animal or human food supply. Q: What do these tests mean? A: Tissues from the sheep have been subjected to three tests; histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and Western-blot. Histopathology examines brain tissue for microscopic changes indicative of a TSE. Immunohistochemistry examines the brain tissue for the abnormal prion protein which is a marker for TSE disease. The Western-blot test also detects the abnormal form of prion protein in the brain tissue. All of these are recognized as official tests by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The abnormal prion protein was detected by the Western-blot test in all of the sheep that have tested positive for a TSE in these groups of animals. The method used for this test has been published in literature and is an accepted methodology. The tissue samples were from the obex, which is the best location in the brain to find the abnormal form of the prion protein (an indicator of TSE infection) if it is present. The Western-blot test however cannot differentiate between scrapie and BSE. The only known validated method to differentiate between these two diseases requires a mouse bioassay system, which takes at least 2-3 years for completion. Q: Will tests to strain-type this TSE be conducted? A: Yes. Additional tests will be conducted to determine exactly what TSE the animals have—BSE or scrapie. These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete. Q:Why did the USDA acquire three flocks of sheep in Vermont? A: APHIS regulates the importation of foreign animals and works with U.S. producers to contain and eradicate animal disease. On July 10, 2000, several sheep associated with this flock of 125 tested positive for a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). In all, APHIS has acquired 380 sheep from a total of three flocks. All of the animals were humanely euthanized, sampled, and disposed. The animals did not enter the animal or human food supply. USDA acquired these sheep to prevent the spread of a TSE to other livestock. Q: What threat did these sheep pose? A: TSEs, a class of diseases, can hide in animals for a long time before the animals show signs of illness. TSEs are always fatal. Also, the type of TSE that was present in the Vermont sheep has not been determined. While it could have been the kind that affects only sheep, they could also have been carrying the TSE that affects cattle. Q: Where did these sheep come from? A: Two shipments of sheep were imported into the United States. These shipments included primarily East Friesian milk sheep originating from both Belgium and the Netherlands. A total of 65 sheep were imported. The imported sheep were originally consigned to two farms in Vermont. These sheep were in milk production flocks since their import, and at the time USDA acquired them were between 4-5 years of age. Most of the original sheep imports bore offspring. Since the sheep entered the United States, USDA tracked the movements of the original sheep and their progeny. All of the imported sheep and their offspring were accounted for. Q:Why did USDA allow importation of these animals? A: In the early 1990’s, there was significant interest from various sources in obtaining both live sheep and germplasm from overseas. This was intended either to improve the genetic base of the domestic sheep population or to gain access to breeds not commonly found in the United States. USDA-APHIS evaluated the situation and came to the conclusion that sheep Factsheet Veterinary Services April 2002 APHIS could be imported from certain countries with various restrictions that would reduce the risk of disease transmission. After this conclusion, there was a brief window of time in 1996 when imports were allowed from certain countries. This window was closed in late 1996, after information was published that outlined both the experimental transmission of BSE to sheep via oral inoculation and a wider tissue distribution of the agent than previously established. Q:Why was USDA concerned about the sheep imports? A: In 1993, the first indications about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infectivity in experimentally inoculated sheep were published. In 1996, additional research demonstrating wider tissue distribution of the agent was published. In late 1997, both Belgium and the Netherlands reported their first cases of BSE in native cattle. Subsequent to these findings, the European Union’s Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) issued an opinion in 1998 that stated it is likely that European sheep were exposed to feed contaminated with the BSE agent. The combination of all of these factors led USDA to the conclusion that the sheep in Vermont could possibly have been exposed to BSE while in Europe and therefore, as a precaution, the decision was made by the State of Vermont at the request of APHIS to quarantine them. Subsequent to the quarantine, APHIS obtained information that the flocks of origin had been fed concentrates prepared at local mills. This practice has been shown as the most likely route of BSE exposure for the infected cattle in Belgium. Q: How did USDA determine that the original four animals had a TSE? A: Each of the sheep that tested positive for a TSE underwent four separate tests. The first two tests were conducted in June 1999. The first of these was histopathology. Histopathology examines the brain of the subject for microscopic changes. The sheep tested did show some changes indicative of a degenerative neurological condition, but the changes were not diagnostic for a TSE. The second test in June 1999 was the immunohistochemistry. This test examined sections of the brain of the subject for the abnormal prion proteins that are an indicator of TSE infection. No abnormal prion protein was detected in this test. The third and fourth tests were conducted in June and July of 2000. The third, the Western-blot test, is another method of detecting the abnormal form of prion proteins in the brain tissue of a test subject. Abnormal prion protein was detected by this method in four of the sheep. Thus, the sheep tested positive for a TSE. The fourth test, capillary electrophoresis, detects the presence of abnormal prion protein in the blood of a subject. In this case, the same four sheep that tested positive for the Western-blot test also were positive with the capillary electrophoresis test. However, this test is still considered to be experimental; therefore, the USDA actions were not based on these test results. Q:Was more testing needed to be sure of the original TSE results? A: The test that was done —Western-blot analysis— is an approved test authorized by APHIS, and it was done at a USDA-cooperating laboratory. The method used for this test has been published in literature and is an accepted methodology. The tissue samples were from the best location in the brain to find PrPres (an indicator of TSE infection) if it is present. Q: If the sheep were in the country since 1996, why did USDA wait so long to take action? A: The flocks were placed under quarantine due to the possibility of exposure to BSE that could have occurred prior to their importation. The quarantine allowed for increased monitoring and surveillance of these animals. Although many animals had been examined from these flocks prior to this date, there had not been any definitive evidence of a TSE agent. USDA had been trying to negotiate with the flock owners to voluntarily sell the sheep to the USDA so that the risk could be removed. Without the definite TSE agent evidence, the USDA did not have authority to move forward. During this monitoring process, four sheep tested positive for an atypical TSE of foreign origin in July of 2000, triggering a USDA action to acquire the sheep. However, the owners of two of the flocks contested USDA’s action. A Federal district court judge ruled in favor of USDA based on the merits of the case. The flock owners appealed to the Second Circuit Court requesting a stay, which was denied. After the request for a stay was denied, the flocks were confiscated by USDA in March 2001. Q: How did USDA dispose of the sheep? A: USDA euthanized the sheep in a humane manner, took samples for further diagnostic studies, and incinerated their remains. No tissues entered either the human or animal food chain. Q: What is the difference between BSE in sheep and scrapie? A: Both BSE and scrapie are TSEs. TSEs are forms of progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals and are caused by similar uncharacterized agents that generally produce spongiform changes in the brain. In addition to BSE and scrapie, other examples of TSEs include: transmissible mink encephalopathy; feline spongiform encephalopathy; chronic wasting disease of mule deer, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, and elk; and in humans, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome, fatal familial insomnia, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). The common characteristics of the TSEs are long incubation periods of months to years, the presence of scrapie-associated fibrils in the brain, and the ability to transmit the disease to laboratory animals by an injection into the brain of brain tissue from the diseased animal. Scrapie was first recognized as a disease in sheep in Europe more than 250 years ago. It was first diagnosed in U.S. sheep in 1947. Scrapie is not known to be a human pathogen. BSE was first recognized in Great Britain in 1986 and has been considered primarily a disease of cattle. BSE has not been diagnosed in native cattle outside of Europe. There are various scientific hypotheses concerning the origin of BSE. BSE is thought to be the most likely cause of vCJD, which is a fatal human disease. There have been more than 117 vCJD cases in the UK, 5 in France, and 1 in the Republic of Ireland. BSE can be orally transmitted to sheep with as little as one-half gram of infected brain tissue. Sheep infected with BSE showed the same signs as scrapie and routine tests cannot differentiate between the two. There is one method of distinguishing between scrapie and BSE in the same species. This method involves conducting bioassay studies via the inoculation of infected material into mice. These mouse bioassay studies have been done to identify both BSE in cattle and strains of scrapie in sheep. When these studies were done on brain material from sheep experimentally infected with BSE, the study demonstrated that the agent was similar to the BSE agent as identified in cattle rather than the scrapie agents identified from sheep. BSE has not been diagnosed as a natural disease in sheep to date. However, it must be pointed out that the studies to differentiate between scrapie and BSE take years and not many samples have been completed. Q: What causes TSE? A: Little is known about the actual agent that causes TSEs. So far, scientists know that the TSE agent is smaller than most viral particles. It is highly resistant to heat, ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, and common disinfectants that normally stop viruses or kill bacteria. Also, the agent does not cause the host’s immune system to create detectable antibodies. The TSE agent has not yet been observed under a microscope. Three main theories on the nature of the agent have been proposed: an unconventional virus; a prion or a partially protease-resistant protein that is rebuilt into an abnormal prion; an incomplete virus (i.e., a small piece of DNA) that protects itself by using a host protein (a virino). Currently, the abnormal prion theory has gained more acceptance in the scientific community. Q: Can BSE infect sheep? A: BSE has been transmitted experimentally to sheep through the feeding of small amounts (0.5 g) of infected cattle brain. This indicates a theoretical possibility that some sheep could have contracted BSE through the consumption of contaminated feed. Investigations on the feeding practices of sheep in Europe found that it was common practice in some countries to feed sheep meat and bone meal. Because continental Europe imported significant amounts of BSE-contaminated meat and bone meal from the United Kingdom, sheep in the European Union were most likely exposed to the BSE agent. Defining the natural occurrence of BSE in native European sheep will most likely take 2–3 years. BSE in sheep cannot be differentiated from scrapie though routine methods of diagnosis (current differentiation a mouse bioassay system and takes 2–3 years). BSE in sheep appears to cause infectivity in more tissues than BSE in cattle and may spread from one sheep to another, unlike BSE in cattle. If BSE occurs naturally in sheep and behaves like scrapie (i.e., transmits laterally), feed bans will not prevent the spread of disease. Q: Have natural cases of BSE in sheep been detected in any country? A: Currently, there have not been any naturally occurring cases of BSE in sheep reported in any country. However, testing to differentiate between scrapie and BSE in sheep has not been done routinely. Due to the length of time required for the differentiation studies, only a small number of samples have been completed. Some work has been started in Europe to determine if any of the recent cases diagnosed as scrapie could actually be BSE, but this will take some time. The definitive test to differentiate is a mouse bioassay system that takes several years to complete. Q: Do the sheep imported to the United States in 1996 have scrapie or BSE? A: There is no simple laboratory test that can definitively distinguish between BSE and scrapie in animals. Mouse inoculation studies, which take 2 or more years for completion, are necessary to define the disease agent. USDA will undertake such studies on samples from these sheep. Q: If the diseases look the same, how do we know if the U.S. sheep population has scrapie or BSE? A: We have no evidence of BSE in either our sheep or cattle populations. BSE would have to have been introduced into our sheep population through imports. Import restrictions based on both scrapie and BSE have limited the possibility of such exposure. The importation of sheep from countries affected with scrapie have been prohibited since a scrapie eradication program was started in the United States in 1952. Exceptions to this policy have been for Australia and New Zealand, countries known to be free of TSE, Canada, a country with a similar animal health status as our own, and animals for a research project for the brief period of time in 1996, when the policy was changed. Import restrictions due to BSE took effect in 1989, and BSE was not known to exist prior to 1986. Ten years of active surveillance of U.S. cattle has shown no evidence of BSE. The cattle population can be used as the best indicator of the possible presence of BSE in the United States, as this is the same species in which the disease naturally occurs. Our surveillance system in cattle includes a system of reporting from diagnostic laboratories, field investigations of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, testing of rabies-negative animals from public health laboratories, testing of CNS-condemned cases reported by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), testing of non-ambulatory cattle and adult cattle dying on farms from unknown causes. Q: If there is a possibility that the imported sheep have scrapie, why were sheep destroyed? A: Prior to the importation of these animals, efforts were made to determine that they were free of scrapie. After importation we received information that the flocks where the sheep originated in Belgium and the Netherlands may not have been monitored as closely for scrapie as previously indicated. In addition, enrollment in the Scrapie Flock Certification Program was required to ensure that monitoring continued for an extended period of time. Q: What assurances do we have for the American public to protect their health? A: The USDA policy regarding to BSE has been proactive and preventative. APHIS has taken measures in surveillance, prevention, education, and response to protect animal and public health. For example, import restrictions have been in place since 1989 and active surveillance efforts began in 1990. APHIS actively works with State and Federal agencies, including FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and stakeholders to assure we are taking the proper actions in response to changing knowledge and information concerning BSE. Additional information on public health issues can be provided by the following agencies: FSIS, FDA, and CDC. The CDC can provide details about surveillance efforts for vCJD. For further information on APHIS prevention, surveillance and response activities for BSE please see www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/bse. Q: Is BSE in sheep a risk to humans? A: The research on BSE in sheep is too new to provide an answer to this question. Q:Were meat products from these animals sold for human or animal consumption? A: No meat from the four sheep that tested positive in 2000 for abnormal prions was ever sold. Approximately 28 lambs went to slaughter in 1997 and another 28 lambs went to slaughter in 1998. The meat from these lambs, approximately 2,000 lbs., was sold to consumers in the Greensboro, VT, area. All the lamb meat was sold in the state of Vermont. No lamb product was ever exported or sold by mail. Q: Do genetics influence or contribute to the transmission of TSEs? A: Research has demonstrated links between genetic variations in sheep and the development of scrapie. Genetic variations among different breeds of sheep may play a role in whether sheep will become infected with scrapie and how quickly clinical signs may appear. At this time, it is not known whether genetics contributes to the development of BSE in cattle. Preliminary research involving BSE in sheep indicate that genetics may play a role in the development of clinical disease. Research into all of these subjects is ongoing. Q: What are the testing methods for TSEs? A: Histopathology: Bilaterally symmetrical degenerative changes are usually seen in the gray matter of the brain stem when a TSE is present. These changes are characterized by vacuolation or microcavitation of nerve cells in the brain stem nuclei. The neural perikarya and axons of certain brain stem nuclei contain intracytoplasmic vacuoles of various sizes, giving the impression of a spongy brain. Hypertrophy of astrocytes (astrocytosis) often accompanies the vacuolation. Electron Microscopy: A TSE diagnosis may also be made when scrapie-associated fibrils (SAF) are detected using negative stain electron microscopy. Supplemental tests: Supplemental tests are available to enhance the diagnostic capabilities for TSEs. Research shows the partially protease-resistant form of the prion protein (PrPres) is found in the brain of TSE-infected animals. Two tests that have been used routinely to detect PrPres in animals showing clinical signs of a TSE are immunohistochemistry and a Western-blot technique. In the past, if the brain tissue was not harvested shortly after the animal’s death, autolysis might make it very difficult to confirm a diagnosis by histopathology, but these tests permit a diagnosis of a TSE based on finding PrPres even if the brain has been frozen or if autolysis has occurred. Last year, the European Commission published a preliminary report on the evaluation of four companies’ tests for the diagnosis of TSE in cattle brain samples. These included a modified Western-blot test developed by Prionics A.G. of Switzerland; a chemiluminescent ELISA test using a polyclonalanti PrP antibody for detection developed by Enfer Technology, Ltd., of Ireland; a sandwich immunoassay for PrPres developed by Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA) of France; and a two-site noncompetitive immunometric procedure using monoclonal antibodies and DELFIA technology to generate a signal developed by E. G. & G.Wallace, Ltd., of the United Kingdom. The Prionics test is currently being used in Switzerland to test “fallen stock.” Other countries, such as Germany and France, are going to start using the Prionics test or one of the other three tests to increase surveillance for BSE in cattle. A number of tests have been proposed and are in the initial process of being validated for the preclinical diagnosis of TSEs in sheep. These include 1) immunohistochemistry testing of eyelid associated lymphoid tissue and tonsil biopsies, 2) use of capillary electrophoresis and fluorescent labeled peptides to detect PrPres in the blood of animals infected with a TSE, and 3) improved Western-blotting techniques with very good sensitivity to detect PrPres in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or small pieces of biopsied tissues. Agent Isolation: As the agents that cause TSEs have not been fully characterized or isolated, one method used to detect infectivity in an animal is to inoculate laboratory animals with brain material from the affected animal and monitor them for evidence of disease. This method may take more than 2 years to produce results; hence, it is not practical for routine testing. The most common animal used for this type of bioassay is the mouse. Another problem with the mouse bioassay method when testing cattle or sheep samples is that the species barrier may prevent detection of low levels of infectivity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Safeguarding American Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • United States Department of Agriculture •
http://www.llamaresource.com/LR/acrobat/APHIS/APHIS.vtsheepherd.pdf
NEWS UPDATES
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USDA continues testing Vermont sheep
The Department of Agriculture recently announced that tests have confirmed that two of the 125 sheep confiscated from a Vermont farm last year tested positive for an atypical undifferentiated transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of foreign origin.
The flock of 125 sheep was confiscated in March 2001 after four related animals from another flock tested positive for TSE in July 2000. All the sheep were the progeny of 65 sheep imported from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996.
"These tests confirm our previous conclusions were correct and that we took the appropriate preventative actions in confiscating these animals," said Bobby Acord, administrator of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "USDA's actions to confiscate, sample, and destroy these sheep were on target. As a result of our vigilance, none of these animals entered the animal or human food supply."
The agency is conducting additional tests to determine the type of TSE in these sheep. Agency officials said those tests could take two to three years to complete.
Three Vermont flocks, mostly East Friesian milk sheep imported from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996, were quarantined in 1998 after the European Union's Scientific Steering Committee declared it was highly likely that European sheep had been exposed to BSE-contaminated feed. The sheep had been closely monitored since their arrival in the United States as part of the USDA's scrapie control efforts.
After four sheep from the flocks tested positive for a TSE in July 2000, the USDA took measures to purchase and euthanatize all three flocks. The owner of one flock of 21 sheep sold them to the USDA voluntarily; however, owners of the other two flocks—which, combined, totaled more than 350 sheep—took legal action to stop the USDA.
A federal court judge ruled in favor of the USDA, and the Second Circuit Court denied the flock owners' appeal for a stay. In March 2001, the USDA confiscated the sheep and transported them to the agency's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa where they were euthanatized and tissues samples were collected.
"Our goal continues to be to prevent, detect, and eradicate foreign animal diseases to protect American agriculture, natural resources, and consumers," Acord said. "We will continue to utilize the scientific results of these and other tests conducted during the last several years to strengthen our extensive surveillance, monitoring and prevention efforts."
For more information, visit www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/tse/index.html
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http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jul02/020701n.asp
I do not understand this process of waiting almost 4 years to start the testing that was said to have started almost 4 years ago?
These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete.
SO, we must now start over and wait another 2 to 3 years, some 3+ years later?
I have herd of filibustering before, but this takes the cake.
WE are speaking of human health here!
WHAT about UK BSE being in the USA (and other Countries) from exporting UK sheep?
https://lists.aegee.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=BSE-L
Subject: Sheep test positive for form of mad cow From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
######## Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Sheep test positive for form of mad cow
By Marcella S. Kreiter UPI Regional Editor From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk Published 4/11/2002 4:23 PM
Tests on 125 sheep confiscated from a Vermont farm one year ago indicate two of the animals may have been suffering from a form of mad cow disease, but further tests will be required to confirm the results, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday.
USDA officials seized 125 East Fresian sheep from Linda and Larry Faillace of Warren, Vt., and Houghton Freeman of Stowe, Vt., in March 2001 because it was believed they had been exposed to feed that had been contaminated with bone meal from animals afflicted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, before they were imported from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996.
The USDA said two of the sheep tested positive for atypical undifferentiated transmissible spongiform encephalopathy but it could not immediately be determined whether the disease was the more common scrapie or mad cow. Further tests were to be conducted and expected to take as long as another year.
Neither the Faillaces nor their attorney returned phone calls seeking comment.
"These results confirm our previous conclusions were correct and that we took the appropriate preventative actions in confiscating these animals," said Bobby Acord, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "USDA's actions to confiscate, sample and destroy these sheep were on target. As a result of our vigilance, none of these confiscated animals entered the animal or human food supply."
The sheep had been under quarantine for two years before they were seized. Four had died in July 2000 and senior USDA veterinarian Linda Detwiler said two had tested positive for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, prompting the USDA to seek an emergency order to seize the rest of the sheep.
Both scrapie and mad cow are neurological disorders that cause infected animals to waste away and die. Mad cow devastated the British cattle industry during the 1990s.
Scrapie has no known human variant while mad cow disease is suspected of causing a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which has affected about 100 people in Europe.
Long prevalent in Europe, scrapie was first reported in the United States in 1947 in a Michigan flock. It creates lesions in a sheep's brain that are believed spread by an abnormal form of a prion protein. The incubation period can last five years or longer. Finally, the central nervous system of the infected animal degenerates into dementia and the animal dies.
Scientists are not sure how scrapie is transmitted. One theory holds the scrapie agent spreads from a ewe to its offspring through the placenta or placenta fluids. Unlike mad cow disease, scrapie is not considered a human health risk.
Another related malady is chronic wasting disease in deer and elk. It was first recognized in 1967 in northern Colorado and has since been detected in Wyoming and Nebraska. It is not believed that the wasting disease spreads to other animals.
In addition to Britain, mad cow has been detected in native cattle in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. While there is a decline in the number of cases of BSE in the United Kingdom, confirmed cases of BSE have risen in other European countries. Oman, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Italy, and the Azores have also detected BSE in cattle imports from other countries.
There have been no cases of BSE in native cattle in North America. The one case of BSE in a single cow in Canada in 1993 imported from Great Britain was dealt with by destroying the affected cow and the rest of the herd, as well as other cattle determined to be at risk by animal health officials in Canada.
No treatment exists for either mad cow disease or scrapie and there is no way to test live animals for either disease. The only way to verify mad cow disease or scrapie is a postmortem examination of the animal's brain tissue.
The government began taking precautionary measures against mad cow in 1989, banning the import of live cattle from Britain. In 1997, the government outlawed meat and bone meal from countries affected by the disease and last year declared some 1 million Americans who lived in Britain during the mad cow crisis could not donate blood.
In addition, the government kept careful track of more than 300 cattle imported from Europe since 1996. As of March 8, only five -- two each in Minnesota and Texas and one in Illinois -- remained alive. None of the dead animals exhibited any signs of mad cow.
Copyright © 2002 United Press International
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=11042002-040516-1769r
Greetings List Members,
none of these confiscated animals entered
the animal or human food supply."
again, this is strange to me. if the USDA is going to confiscate and slaughter the Fallice's sheep, then what about the many other scrapie infected flocks in the USA? why do they not confiscate and slaughter them? and what about the land? why not condem it, instead of repopulating? scrapie infected sheep have entered the food chain for many years in the USA. sCJDs in OHIO very high, OHIO full of Scrapies, and other states infected with Scrapies, documented Scrapies transmitting to primates. why aren't more folks concerned by this? sure, no _documented_ case of CJD by one of the 20+ strains of Scrapie, but there was no documented case of BSE transmitting to humans, until they documented one. and what about that work in France and the one strain of Scrapie's identical to the sporadic CJD case? i think by the USDA/APHIS and others ignoring these facts, they have missed the boat, and the disease will continue to spread (my opinion)...
kind regards, Terry S. Singeltary Sr., Bacliff, Texas USA
########### http://mailhost.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/warc/bse-l.html ############
https://lists.aegee.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=BSE-L
Subject: Vermont sheep get all-clear from England From: tom
######### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Until Monday, the government said the cheese and milk was safe. Yesterday US marshalls seized 17 wheels of chees at the farmhouse as Level III biohazard. CDC issued some nonsensical statement without checking the scientific literature that was soon contradicted by something from FDA. Vermont Dept of Health issued a chilling warning yesterday, naming the brands and plant manufacturing it. But now "As of today, there is no recall," their official said. "This is intended as a recommendation for the public".
The USDA is says below additional tests of an unspecified nature were run at an unspecified lab in England, saying "the British experts concluded there was evidence that the lesions could have TSE."
But I was told an hour ago by a well-known laboratory in England that "the lab here has not yet received samples from these Vermont sheep but molecular strain typing would be very interesting and quick."
A respected individual at the second of the three well-known facilities in England did in fact examine the slides of sheep brain. His report to USDA (received _after_ the USDA had concluded an atypical for of TSE likely BSE had been found) says, 'no vacuoles, no Prp-res, but maybe a proliferation of glial cells, suggesting a neurological condition that might or might not develop later into neurological disease and might or might not be infectious but that did not resemble any case of BSE in sheep or TSE in sheep that anyone there had ever seen.'
USDA is welcome to read this as saying "British experts concluded there was evidence that the lesions could have TSE" but in my opinion it is strongly contra-indicative of a diagnosis of any TSE in the Vermont sheep, reducing the USDA claim to reliance on a single uncontrolled, unblinded western blot from a hay mite lab.
The sheep have already been on the ground for 4 years (208 weeks). In 4 weeks (total 212 weeks), responsible testing could be completed and repeated. There has been a rush to judgement here. It is not fair to the sheep nor to the farmers.
Let's take the time to find out what is really going on with these sheep. America has had far too many lynching parties already.
tom
=-=-=- Sheep cheese seized at farmhouse but left on shelves By John Dillon TIMES ARGUS STAFF 19 Jul 00
WARREN - State health officials are warning the public not to eat cheese made from the milk of sheep the federal government claims are infected with a form of mad cow disease.
Health Commissioner Dr. Jan Carney issued the warning notice Tuesday after consulting with the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta about the safety of milk from the infected animals.
The Health Department warning is the latest move in an ongoing battle over the fate of 376 sheep on two Vermont farms. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced it would seize and destroy the animals because a test had shown four were infected with a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, or TSE.
TSE is a class of degenerative, always fatal, brain diseases that includes mad cow disease, a mysterious ailment that ravaged the British beef industry and led to 53 deaths in the United Kingdom. The USDA is concerned that the Vermont sheep or their forebears were exposed to the disease before they were imported from Europe in the mid-1990s.
Federal officials had maintained until Monday that the cheese made from the Vermont sheep's milk was safe to consume. However, the CDC has now told Carney there is a risk that humans could contract the disease from eating the cheese, she said.
Carney noted, however, that the risk is very slight because studies have not shown that people contracted the illness through eating dairy products during an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United Kingdom.
"The emphasis is on the word precaution," Carney said. The CDC "characterized the risk (of eating the cheese) as theoretical, meaning to date no one has ever become ill from eating milk or milk products from cows exposed" to the disease.
The Health Department warning applies to cheese sold under the name Three Shepherds of the Mad River Valley and Northeast Kingdom Sheep Milk Cheese.
Carney said officials - despite Tuesday's warning - are not ordering the cheese to be taken off store shelves.
"As of today, there is no recall," she said. "This is intended as a recommendation for the public."
At the Warren farm where the Three Shepherds cheese is made, owners Larry and Linda Faillace handed out cheese to friends and neighbors Tuesday. The Faillaces maintain the cheese is safe to eat and are considering going to court to block the federal seizure of their flock.
"This (Health Department warning) is just another example of pseudo-science. It's another example of them trying to put us out of business," Linda Faillace said.
In addition to the Warren flock, about 200 sheep owned by Stowe philanthropist Houghton Freeman is also subject to the seizure order and state Health Department warning. Freeman's Greensboro farm produces the Northeast Kingdom Sheep Milk Cheese.
Freeman's attorney, Thomas Amidon of Stowe, said he will likely use a two-fold argument against the seizure. "We will discuss whether the USDA followed its own rules and regulations, and whether this extraordinary measure is justified given that it is based on results from one test," he said.
However, Dr. Linda Detwiler, a USDA veterinarian dealing with the Faillace case, said two lab tests have shown the Greensboro flock has TSE. She said the tests are scientifically valid and must be taken seriously. Both the Warren and Greensboro sheep may have been exposed to TSE through the placenta material at birth, she said.
Detwiler said Tuesday the tests found an abnormal protein used as a marker that indicates a form of TSE. "This is what prompted this action," she said. "We actually had a confirmatory test in these animals."
She said the tests cannot differentiate whether the sheep have a form of scrapie - a fairly common TSE sheep disease - or a version of mad cow disease. "We can say now there is infection (in the animals)," she said. "This marker would indicate an infectious agent in sheep."
But Thomas Pringle, an Oregon molecular biologist and TSE expert, said the USDA should have done a double-blind study - one in which the samples were not identified - before condemning the sheep. He said instead the samples were labeled as coming from the controversial Vermont herd, which could have prejudiced the results.
"This is high-school science fair stuff," he said.
Pringle noted that the Vermont sheep do not display any outward signs of illness. He said there would be no harm to the public or to the U.S. livestock industry if the government waited while the tests on the Vermont sheep were compared to tissue slides of TSE in British sheep. But the USDA is rushing to judgment, he said, because it wants to impress the European Union - which has banned imports of U.S. beef - that it is doing everything possible to curb the spread of mad cow disease.
"From the point of view of the U.S. beef industry, these Vermont sheep farms had to go. They were pawns in a larger game," he said. "This is high profile image-buffing to demonstrate our resolve to deal with any whiff of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in American livestock. The intended target is not the American consumer. The intended target is European authorities" who control U.S. beef imports.
-=-=-= X-From_: stauber@compuserve.com Wed Jul 19 11:50:24 2000 Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:49:44 -0400 From: "John C. Stauber"
--------------- Forwarded Story ---------------
Headline: Vermont farmers go to court in mad sheep dispute Wire Service: RTbr (Reuters Business Report) Date: Wed, Jul 19, 2000
Copyright 2000 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.
By Randy Fabi WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgruntled Vermont farmers went to court on Wednesday in an attempt to prevent the U.S. Agriculture Department from destroying their sheep because they may carry an ailment similar to "mad cow" disease in cattle. The USDA, which has been closely monitoring all American livestock since the 1996 outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe, wants to destroy sheep on three Vermont farms as a precaution. Four of the sheep on farms near Warren, Vermont tested positive earlier this month for a disease known as TSE or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, according to USDA officials. TSE can cause scrapie, a fatal disease in sheep that leads to a progressive degeneration of the central nervous system. It is part of a family of diseases that includes the deadly BSE, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. The federal government wants to purchase all 376 sheep on the three farms and incinerate them as a safety measure. No cases of BSE or mad cow disease have ever been found in the United States. "In the interest of protecting other livestock, we have to act," said Andy Solomon, a USDA spokesman. "I know this is extremely difficult for farmers involved, but we are working with independent appraisers on how to fairly compensate them." All the animals are offspring of sheep imported from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996, before the outbreak of mad cow disease swept Europe and claimed at least 75 lives in Britain. Britain's outbreak dating back to 1986 may have been caused by feeding meat-and-bonemeal made from scrapie-infected sheep to cattle. Lawyers for the farmers went to court in Montpelier, Vermont on Wednesday to try and get a restraining order stopping the USDA.
FARMERS SEEK SECOND OPINION "This is going to ruin us if the USDA goes through with this," Heather Faillace, a spokeswoman and member of one of the farming families, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "We are going to have to start a whole new business over again." Faillace said her family was trying to bring Belgian scientists to Vermont to get a second opinion on the flock of sheep. In Brussels, EU officials said they were watching developments with the Vermont sheep. "We will be monitoring developments very closely," said Beate Gminder, spokeswoman for EU Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne. She said it was possible that EU scientists would be involved at some stage. EU officials said BSE had never been found in sheep living in the wild. But under laboratory conditions, it has been shown that sheep can carry the disease if they are injected with it. All tests on diseased animals in the wild have eventually shown them to be suffering from scrapie. The four sheep that tested positive for TSE were not located at the 30-acre Faillace farm, Faillace said. But, some animals in their flock of 150 sheep were among those imported from Belgium. The USDA has informed the three farms that they must sell their sheep to the department, or the government will declare a state of emergency for the area, Faillace said. "They also threatened to take away our cheese license and only pay for the sheep by market value," Faillace said. Owners of the two biggest flocks said they deserved millions of dollars for the loss of their livelihood.
LOCAL RESIDENTS OFFER SUPPORT Three U.S. Marshalls, two independent appraisers, two USDA veterinarians and several health specialists from the U.S. and Canada were at the Faillace farm on Wednesday to examine the animals. Area residents, who support the three farmers, have threatened to hold a demonstration at the farms and block the USDA from taking the sheep to be incinerated. The USDA asked British scientists to examine samples from the four sheep suspected of carrying TSE. The British experts concluded there was evidence that the lesions could have TSE, Solomon said. "We have done very thorough and comprehensive testing," said the USDA's Solomon. "We hope most farmers in the area understand that we are taking this action to protect American livestock." Mad cow disease or BSE in England was spread through contaminated animal feed, and resulted in a worldwide ban on British beef exports in 1996. The ban was lifted last year. There is no known cure for the disease, which is known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, that slowly eats holes in the brain.
############ http://mailhost.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/warc/bse-l.html ############
https://lists.aegee.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=BSE-L
017941 2007-11-13 16:45 87 FOIA MAD SHEEP MAD RIVER VALLEY UPDATE NOVEMBER 13, 2007
017940 2007-11-13 15:15 620 Re: FOIA APPEAL 07-566 DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
017839 2007-08-12 11:23 1813 Re: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
017839 2007-08-12 11:23 1813 Re: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
017799 2007-07-11 16:11 1610 Re: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
017798 2007-07-10 15:43 1066 Re: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
017788 2007-07-02 09:48 921 FOIA, MAD COW DISEASE, AND OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S SECRECY
017672 2007-04-02 14:37 2129 Re: FOIA REQUEST FOR ATYPICAL TSE INFORMATION ON VERMONT SHEEP
2008
Research article
A descriptive study of the prevalence of atypical and classical scrapie in sheep in 20 European countries
Alexandre Fediaevsky , Sue C Tongue , Maria Noremark , Didier Calavas , Giuseppe Ru and Petter Hopp
BMC Veterinary Research 2008, 4:19doi:10.1186/1746-6148-4-19
Published: 10 June 2008
Abstract (provisional) Background The development of active surveillance programmes for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies of small ruminants across Europe has led to the recent identification of a previously undetected form of ovine prion disease, 'atypical' scrapie. Knowledge of the epidemiology of this disease is still limited, as is whether it represents a risk for animal and/or public health. The detection of atypical scrapie has been related to the use of only some of the EU agreed rapid tests. Information about the rapid tests used is not, as yet, available from public reports on the surveillance of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in small ruminants. We collected detailed results of active surveillance from European countries to estimate and to compare the prevalence of atypical scrapie and classical scrapie in sheep for each country stratified by each surveillance stream; healthy slaughtered and found dead adult sheep.
Results From the 20 participating countries, it appeared that atypical scrapie was detected in Europe wherever the conditions necessary for its diagnosis were present. In most countries, atypical scrapie and classical scrapie occurred at low prevalence level. The classical scrapie prevalence estimates were more variable than those for atypical scrapie, which appeared remarkably homogeneous across countries, surveillance streams and calendar years of surveillance. Differences were observed in the age and genotype of atypical scrapie and classical scrapie cases that are consistent with previous published findings.
Conclusions This work suggests that atypical scrapie is not rare compared to classical scrapie. The homogeneity of its prevalence, whatever the country, stream of surveillance or year of detection, contrasts with the epidemiological pattern of classical scrapie. This suggests that the aetiology of atypical scrapie differs from that of classical scrapie.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1746-6148/4/19/abstract
full text ;
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1746-6148-4-19.pdf
INFECTED AND SOURCE FLOCKS
There were 20 scrapie infected and source flocks with open statuses (Figure 3) as of April, 30, 2008. Twenty eight new infected and source flocks have been designated in FY 2008 (Figure 4); three source flocks were reported in April. ...snip
POSITIVE SCRAPIE CASES
As of April 30, 2008, 122 new scrapie cases have been confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in FY 2008 (Figure 6). Of these, 103 were field cases and 19* were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases (collected in FY 2008 and reported by May 20, 2008). Positive cases reported for April 2008 are depicted in Figure 7. Eighteen cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 8). The most recent positive goat case was confirmed in February 2008 and originated from the same herd in Michigan as the other FY 2008 goat cases.
...snip
CAPRINE SCRAPIE PREVALENCE STUDY (CSPS)
snip...
However, four positive goats have been identified this fiscal year through field investigations. One was a clinical suspect submitted for testing and the other three originated from the birth herd of the clinical case.
ANIMALS SAMPLED FOR SCRAPIE TESTING
As of April 30, 2008, 26,703 animals have been sampled for scrapie testing: 23,378 RSSS, 1,517 goats for the CSPS study, 1,466 regulatory field cases, 270 regulatory third eyelid biopsies, and 72 regulatory rectal biopsies (chart 8).
TESTING OF LYMPHOID TISSUE OBTAINED BY RECTAL BIOPSY WAS APPROVED BY USDA AS AN OFFICIAL LIVE-ANIMAL TEST ON JANUARY 11, 2008. ...
PLEASE NOTE, (FIGURE 6), Scrapie Confirmed Cases in FY 2008 MAP, PA 3, 1**, Two cases-state of ID UNKNOWN, 1 case Nor98-like**
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/monthly_scrapie_rpt.pps
NOT to forget the 5 cases of the NOR-98 atypical scrapie documented in the USA in 2007, in five different states. WHICH pathologically looks like some sub-types of sporadic CJD, of which Stanely Prusiner warns of a public health risk ;
***The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion%20Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf
Here we report that both Nor98 and discordant cases, including three sheep homozygous for the resistant PrPARR allele (A136R154R171), efficiently transmitted the disease to transgenic mice expressing ovine PrP, and that they shared unique biological and biochemical features upon propagation in mice. These observations support the view that a truly infectious TSE agent, unrecognized until recently, infects sheep and goat flocks and may have important implications in terms of scrapie control and public health.
Edited by Stanley B. Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco, CA, and approved September 12, 2005 (received for review March 21, 2005)
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0502296102v1
Tuesday, June 3, 2008 SCRAPIE USA UPDATE JUNE 2008 NOR-98 REPORTED PA
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/06/scrapie-usa-update-june-2008-nor-98.html
NOR-98 ATYPICAL SCRAPIE 5 cases documented in USA in 5 different states USA 007
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/04/seac-spongiform-encephalopathy-advisory.html
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/
SCRAPIE USA
http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 15, 2008
A descriptive study of the prevalence of atypical and classical scrapie in sheep in 20 European countries
Research article
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/06/descriptive-study-of-prevalence-of.html
TSS
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