Mad Cow Disease - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Sciences > Agriculture >Mad Cow Disease

Government Responses - United States

United States Dept. of Agriculture

• Veneman Announces Additional Protection Measures to Guard Against BSE (December 30, 2003)
• BSE Information and Resources
  Includes daily statements, technical briefings, and transcripts of Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Venemans's Interviews on various talk shows.
• Background Data on U.S. Beef Industry
• Dissecting the Challenges of Mad Cow and Foot-and-Mouth Disease [.pdf]
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
  Sections include: Recent News ; Current BSE Situation ; Trade Initiatives ; General BSE Information.

• Harvard BSE Risk Assessment Study (November 2001)
  "A landmark study shows the risk of BSE occurring in the U.S. to be extremely low."

Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) Sections include: Overview ; Program Areas ; Special Interest Areas ; Interacting with the Center

Foreign Agricultural Service

• Dairy, Livestock and Poultry Division

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
  "The purpose of this page is to provide sources of information on the effects on trade of the current BSE crisis in the European Union. Provided are links to main BSE pages for various government and organization sites, as well as links to related documents such as special reports, regulations, and announcements."

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - (dead link)

• Preliminary Investigation Suggests BSE-Infected Cow in Washington State Was Likely Imported from Canada - (dead link) (December 29, 2003)
• Q&A Regarding Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) - (dead link) (December 29, 2003)
• Fact Sheet: New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - (dead link) (Updated December 24, 2003)

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns. Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal (EID), January-February 2001.
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Associated with Cadaveric Dura Mater Grafts. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), November 14, 1997;46(45):1066-1069.
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the United States, 1979-1994: Using National Mortality Data to Assess the Possible Occurrence of Variant Cases. Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal (EID), October-December 1996;2(4):333-337.
• Surveillance for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), August 9, 1996;45(31):665-668.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

• Statement on Rendered Products Derived From BSE Cow in Washington State (December 27, 2003)
• Statement of Probable Case of BSE in Washington State (December 24, 2003)
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
• Sections include: General Background ; Recent Actions ; What's New ; Consumer Information ; Industry/Veterinary Information ; Bovine-Based Vaccines ; Blood Safety.
• Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Washington State Dept. of Agriculture

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Information or "Mad Cow Disease"
  Sections include: Preventing Spread of BSE ; BSE and Food Safety ; BSE and Livestock Feed ; BSE and Human Health ; BSE in Canada ; Protecting Pets from BSE ; FAQ about BSE ; Other BSE Resources.

Washington State Beef Commission

United Kingdom

The BSE Inquiry
No longer updated.

• The BSE Inquiry: The Report
  The inquiry in BSE and variant CJD in the United Kingdom

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF)

• Animal Health and Welfare

• Disease Surveillance and Control

Canada

Health Canada - Diseases - Mad Cow Disease
Includes latest statements, information on Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), Fact Sheets, government actions on specified risk material, Mad Cow Disease (BSE) Investigation in Western Canada.

• Statement by The Honourable Bob Speller Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister Responsible for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency regarding imports of U.S. beef (24 December 2003)

Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

• Statements Made by the USDA May Have Been Premature - (dead link) (27 December 2003)
• Interim Import Restrictions - Products eligible to be imported from the U.S.

Alberta - Agriculture, Food and Rural Development

• Beef News

NGOs

 

United Nations

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

• "Handbook for Defining and Setting up a Food Security Information and Early Warning System"

World Health Organization

• BSE
  Includes latest texts and news.

Academic & General Resources

British Medical Journal - BSE - CJD Home Page
"This is the extensive, table-of-contents-style guide maintained by the British Medical Journal, with the intent of providing references to the reliable and substantive information concerning BSE currently posted on the Web."
May no longer be updated.

Earth Island Journal

• Mad Cow and Oprah
  "The following is an edited transcript of the April 16, 1996 Oprah Winfrey television show"

Illustration of Prion Replication and Spread at the Cellular Level
"Prions are implicated in BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease) and its human counterpart nvCJD (new variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease). These and similar diseases are known as TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies). TSEs afflict other species, most famously sheep (scrapie).
By Russell Kightley

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National Academy Press (free online versions)

• 2003

• Scientific Criteria to Ensure Safe Food
  Committee on the Review of the Use of Scientific Criteria and Performance Standards for Safe Food, National Research Council, 2003.
• Advancing Prion Science: Guidance for the National Prion Research Program
  Rick Erdtmann and Laura Sivitz, Editors, Committee on Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathies: Assessment of Relevant Science, 2003.

National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center
- Division of Neuropathology, Case Western Reserve University

Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page
"7,651+ articles on mad cow and new variantCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease, prions, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, BSE, CJD, CWD, TME, and TSE."

PBS - NOVA - The Brain Eater
Companion web site to the television broadcast.
"The program retraces the scientific sleuthing that linked mad cow disease to cattle to a related brain disease in humans."