- To: agsec@usda.gov
- Cc: john.clifford@aphis.usda.gov; usaha@usaha.org; jmeng@cpfbeef.com;LAVET22@aol.com
Phyllis.Fong@usda.gov
- Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 2:07 PM
- Subject: USDA VS CREEKSTONE BSE/BASE/TSE TESTING Civil
Action No. 06-0544
- (JR)
-
-
- May 27, 2007
-
- Honorable Michael Johanns
- Secretary of Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Room 200 Jamie Whitten Federal Building
- Washington, D.C. 20250
-
- CC
-
- Honorable Judge James Robertson
- U.S. District Court
- 333 Constitution Ave. North West
- Washington, D. C. 20001
-
- Subject: Request to let the Creekstone vs. USDA court
decision stand.
-
- Ref: Letter from United States Animal Health Association,
dated May 22,
- 2007
-
- Dear Mr. Secretary et al :
-
- I am requesting that you allow the court decision in
the Creekstone vs. USDA to stand so that Creekstone may begin testing the
beef they process for BSE and or BASE and or any other TSE phenotype there
of. WE must let them test since the USDA et al refuse to do so properly.
This is not to say that there should be no strict TSE testing protocols.
IF testing is to take place privately, there must be strict TSE testing
protocol to assure the most up to date, sensitive, and validated tests
are used, and used properly. These tests must be announced to the public
in a timely manner at every step of the way, validated and confirmed by
the federal government, Weybridge, and an independent third party consumer
organization and there TSE expert of choice, in my opinion.
-
- My mother died from a exceedingly rare strain of sporadic
CJD i.e. the Heidenhain Variant of CJD. My neighbors mother also lost his
mother to a form of sporadic CJD exactly one year previously from the day
my mother died. BOTH cases were confirmed by autopsy. There is new data
out about the BASE atypical BSE, which pathologically is more related to
a phenotype of sporadic CJD, than the nvCJD in humans from the UK. To continue
to ignore these scientific findings with the old UKBSEnvCJD only theory
is not justified by science anymore. It is not logical.
-
- The logic behind the reasons not to let test for TSE
in the USA because of The Virus Serum Toxin Act of 1913 and or because
of the recent letter from the USAHA (see letter below) bring forth, are
totally bogus. NO one could screw the testing up any worse than the USDA
has done in the past. The OIG and the GAO has shown this time and time
again. The 2004 Enhanced BSE surveillance program where some 275,000+ cattle
were tested for BSE was proven to be terribly flawed from the beginning.
This documented time and time again. Even Paul Brown, known and respected
TSE scientist, former TSE expert for the CDC said he had ''absolutely no
confidence in USDA tests before one year ago'', and this was on March 15,
2006 ;
-
- "The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly
implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown,
former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory
for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases,
told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and
we still can't answer that."
-
- Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the
latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows
that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence
in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance
to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive.
-
- USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed
it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's
inspector general.
-
- "Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything
USDA did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end
-
- http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r
-
- CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt
... Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central
Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36,
Room 4A-05, ...
-
- http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm
-
- PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE
-
- Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM
-
- "Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA
handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and
others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the
USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."
-
- OR, what the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG found
;
-
-
- Audit Report
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program
Phase II
- and
- Food Safety and Inspection Service
-
- Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials,
and Advanced Meat
- Recovery Products - Phase III
-
- Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006
-
- Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing
High-Risk Cattle
- Still Remain
-
- http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf
-
- Mr. Johanns,
-
- The August 4, 1997 FDA BSE ruminant to ruminant feed
ban was nothing more than ink on paper. In 2007 alone, 10 MILLION plus
pounds of banned blood laced MBM has already gone out into commerce for
the feeding of banned product to cattle. yes, were still feeding cows banned
BSE/BASE product in 2007, almost 10 years after the voluntary ban was put
in place. guess what, it aint working.
-
- YOU and this Administration have failed terribly in protecting
not only the consumer, but your precious commodity that you speak so highly
of i.e. the beef industry. In your continued efforts to cover up the real
mad cow problem in the USA, you have in fact only amplified it and continued
it's spread, and in doing so, you have needlessly exposed millions to the
TSE agent, from many different proven routes and sources. The only saving
grace you have is the incubation period has been on your side. It will
catch up. When it does, when the people finally figure all this out, when
some of the millions you have needlessly exposed to this agent become clinical
in the future, rest assured I will stand in line to see that you and your
administration are convicted for murder.
-
- What you and this administration have done over the past
8 years is criminal, in my opinion. I have watched not only you, but the
Bush administration thumb there nose to science for almost 8 years, all
to protect the beef industry. The science was there, but you chose to ignore
it, and even manipulated science with the bogus BSE MRR policy, all the
while your were implementing that, you were covering up another mad cow
in Texas. But thanks to the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG, and an act
of Congress, that mad cow was finally proven positive, unlike the other
stumbling and staggering mad cow that was rendered without any test at
all in Texas, but by then you had succeeded in the BSE MRR policy, the
legal trading of all strains of TSE globally. You and this administration
have done the same thing the UK did when they poisoned the globe with there
exporting of BSE, except you made it legal now with the BSE MRR policy,
and now we are dealing with BASE, a strain that is more virulent to humans.
what happens when it mutates again?
-
- When cwd deer and elk and there different phenotypes
have all been rendered into feed, along with scrapie infected sheep in
the USA, and a few TME to top that off, it will be a most interesting recipe
will it not, and an interesting case study for humans for decades to come.
sadly though, with the recent pet food scandal, and the deaths there of,
we have learned a few things. one, that the elderly are expendable, but
cats, dogs, and adolescents are not. and that the problem of our feeding
of food producing animals has been tainted for decades. and with the melamine
scandal, as with the mad cow feed scandal, it's the same old song and dance
by you and the Bush administration, everything is o.k., will not hurt you,
cover-up and protect the industry at all cost, and this will be another
part of your sad legacy in History Sir.
-
- To not allow BSE/TSE testing in the USA, testing that
will find, only proves our point, you have and will continue to cover up
the real mad cow problem in the USA. and the world knows this. ...
-
- Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
- P.O. Box 42
- Bacliff, Texas USA 77519
-
- UNITED STATES ANIMAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
- 8100 Three Chopt Road, Suite 203
- P. O. BOX K227
- RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23288
- 804- 285-3210 FAX 804-285-3367
- E-Mail: usaha@usaha.org
- Web Site: www.usaha.org
-
- May 22, 2007
- Honorable Michael Johanns
- Secretary of Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Room 200 Jamie Whitten Federal Building
- Washington, D.C. 20250
-
- Dear Mr. Secretary:
-
- The United States Animal Health Association (USAHA),
wishes to express its encouragement to you and the Department of Agriculture
to appeal the litigation surrounding private testing for Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy. We hope you will strongly consider this as you work with
the Office of General Counsel on this suit.
-
- To support this appeal, we offer that this sets a detrimental
precedence on USDA's ability to regulate disease and testing processes
in animal agriculture. As we appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit of Creekstone,
the larger scale implications could lead to devastating impacts for food
animal production in this country as itrelates to animal health. We do
feel that private testing could hamper animal health officials' ability
to locate disease occurrences, and exercise proper practices to trace,
control and eliminate them. As you are aware, there are a number of factors
that raise concern among animal health leaders and diagnosticians. We encourage
you to thoroughly consider those upon your decision to appeal. We do recognize
this is now a matter of the courts, and trust that our ability to safeguard
animal health is not compromised as a result of this litigation. Please
let us know if there is any further support we can provide.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Lee M. Myers
- President, U.S. Animal Health Association
- Cc: Dr. John Clifford
-
- ===============================
-
-
- USA MAD COW STRAIN MORE VIRULENT TO HUMANS THAN UK STRAIN
-
- 18 January 2007 - Draft minutes of the SEAC 95 meeting
(426 KB) held on 7 December 2006 are now available.
-
- snip...
-
- 64. A member noted that at the recent Neuroprion meeting,
a study was presented showing that in transgenic mice BSE passaged in sheep
may be more virulent and infectious to a wider range of species than bovine
derived BSE.
-
- Other work presented suggested that BSE and bovine amyloidotic
spongiform encephalopathy (BASE) MAY BE RELATED. A mutation had been identified
in the prion protein gene in an AMERICAN BASE CASE THAT WAS SIMILAR IN
NATURE TO A MUTATION FOUND IN CASES OF SPORADIC CJD.
-
- snip...
-
- http://www.seac.gov.uk/minutes/95.pdf
-
- 3:30 Transmission of the Italian Atypical BSE (BASE)
in Humanized Mouse
-
- Models Qingzhong Kong, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pathology,
Case Western Reserve University
-
- Bovine Amyloid Spongiform Encephalopathy (BASE) is an
atypical BSE strain discovered recently in Italy, and similar or different
atypical BSE cases were also reported in other countries. The infectivity
and phenotypes of these atypical BSE strains in humans are unknown. In
collaboration with Pierluigi Gambetti, as well as Maria Caramelli and her
co-workers, we have inoculated transgenic mice expressing human prion protein
with brain homogenates from BASE or BSE infected cattle. Our data shows
that about half of the BASE-inoculated mice became infected with an average
incubation time of about 19 months; in contrast, none of the BSE-inoculated
mice appear to be infected after more than 2 years.
-
- ***These results indicate that BASE is transmissible
to humans and suggest that BASE is more virulent than classical BSE in
humans.***
-
- 6:30 Close of Day One
-
-
- http://www.healthtech.com/2007/tse/day1.asp
-
- Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
- Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734.
-
- http://jama.ama-assn.org/http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535
-
- BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL
- BMJ
- vCJD in the USA * BSE in U.S.
- 15 November 1999
-
- http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/319/7220/1312/b#5406
-
- BMJ
-
- U.S. Scientist should be concerned with a CJD epidemic
in the U.S., as
- well...
-
- 2 January 2000
-
- http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/320/7226/8/b#6117
-
- JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
- MARCH 26, 2003
-
- RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease in the United States
-
- Email Terry S. Singeltary:
- flounder@wt.net
-
- I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I
would like to comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of
emerging forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE
transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype
that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD.
However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable nationally. CJD and
all human TSEs must be made reportable in every state and internationally.
I hope that the CDC does not continue to expect us to still believe that
the 85%+ of all CJD cases which ar sporadic are all spontaneous, without
route/source. We have many TSEs i the USA in both animal and man. CWD in
deer/elk is spreading rapidly and CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle,
and squirrel monkey by intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation
periods in other TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer.
Every victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source
of this agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly
exposeothers. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there
should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena
from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic
CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?
-
- http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535
-
- doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00715-1
- Copyright © 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
- Newsdesk
-
- Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America
- Xavier Bosch
- Available online 29 July 2003.
- Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2003, Page 463
-
-
- "My name is Terry S Singeltary Sr, and I live in
Bacliff, Texas. I lost my mom to hvCJD (Heidenhain variant CJD) and have
been searching for answers ever since. What I have found is that we have
not been told the truth. CWD in deer and elk is a small portion of a much
bigger problem."
-
- ............................
-
-
- http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473309903007151/fulltext
-
- http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/1473-3099/PIIS1473309903007151.pdf
-
- SEE STEADY INCREASE IN SPORADIC CJD IN THE USA FROM 1997
TO 2006. SPORADIC CJD CASES TRIPLED, with phenotype of 'UNKNOWN' strain
growing. ...
-
- http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/resources-casereport.html
-
- There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they
were presented last
- week in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD
surveillance
- collection.
-
- He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which
display selectively
- SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.
-
- http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/1006-4240t1.htm
-
- http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4240t1.pdf
-
- [Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment
of Bovine
- Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
-
- http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
-
- [Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of
Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition
of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle
-
- 03-025IFA
- 03-025IFA-2
-
- http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf
-
- THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT ***
-
- http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/02n0273/02n-0273-EC244-Attach-1.pdf
-
-
- Sporadic creutzfeldt-jakob disease in two adolescents
(sCJD, the big lie)
- Date: May 28, 2007 at 7:58 am PST
-
- http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0705&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=25276
-
- IN A NUT SHELL ;
-
- (Adopted by the International Committee of the OIE on
23 May 2006)
-
- 11. Information published by the OIE is derived from
appropriate declarations made by the official Veterinary Services of Member
Countries. The OIE is not responsible for inaccurate publication of country
disease status based on inaccurate information or changes in epidemiological
status or other significant events that were not promptly reported to then
Central Bureau............
-
- http://www.oie.int/eng/Session2007/RF2006.pdf
-
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