Succorso wrote:

Ken Kubos wrote:
=20
"Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites=
=20
and diseases like Mad Cow," he said. "We believe humans evolved to res=
ist=20
these kinds of things. Mad Cow disease - which probably goes back mill=
ions of
years - would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed
meat-tolerant genes."

Er... rubbish. BSE (Mad Cow) was a man-made condition caused by farmers=
=20
feeding material containing sheeps brains to cows. Cows are not=20
carnivores - but we forced them to be; and got our just desserts.

Oversimplified. Scrapie existed long before this and was transmitted=20
with no human agency. And Chronic Wasting Disease in ungulates, as=20
well. CJD and kuru in humans. Nothing new that they exist. New only=20
that they were spread as they were. If the prions that cause the=20
various forms of spongiform encephalopathy didn't exist before the=20
whole furor, the condition wouldn't have emerged at all.

The FDA web site says:
"What causes BSE?

"The exact cause of BSE is not known but it is generally accepted by=20
the scientific community that infectious forms of a type of protein,=20
prions, normally found in animals cause BSE."

It goes on to say:
"BSE is a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE), a family of=20
similar diseases that may infect certain species of animals and people=20
such as scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy=20
(BSE) in cattle, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk, and=20
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) in people."

In humans, Kuru (q.v.) is also a prion disease, caused by cannibalism.=20
One site says, "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease displays striking=20
similarities to kuru in regards to symptoms displayed and organ damage=20
(mostly to the brain). Comparisons and parallels are evident between=20
these two prion diseases."
http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/McGrath/McGrath.htm

As ever, love of the $$ (or in this case =A3=A3) drove out all common s=
ense.

Farmers trying to bring you cheaper food and food processors trying to=20
create cheaper food for the critters so the farmers could bring you=20
cheaper, etc. were working together to try to do something good for=20
all. Oh, well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Pastorio