Brain TrustChapters 13-15
To-Vi Nguyen
Vicky Rimmer- 15 yr old girl Was in a coma within half a year “Human Mad Cow Disease”- CJD unheard of
in someone so young 1993- BSE already killed 120,000 cows in
Great Britain Caught public’s attention
Chapter 13
1995- discovery of BSE in a young cow after they announced that BSE cases would not emerge after 1988
Tried to persuade German government to accept BSE-free cattle born after 1992
Hid the latest cases of CJD from the public because they knew they couldn’t contain the epidemic
Ministry Embarrassment
Memo: “The cumulative prion load in an animal outside the brain was probably about equal to that in the brain”
Launched nationwide survey of slaughterhouse practices
Inspectors discovered that 309 out of 392 plants did not follow mandated procedures
Found that BSE-infected tissue was constantly being circulated back into animal feed
Ministry Investigation
Summer 1995◦ Documentary “CJD in Teenagers”◦ Article on a woman who prepared meat pies
suffering from CJD◦ Cattleman with CJD – 4th case◦ Newspapers announced that “human mad cow
diseases were all at all time high in Britain
Spread of Public Knowledge
Oct. 1995 Ministry news flash:◦ “CJD is a disease in humans. The incidence of CJD in dairy
farmers is no higher in Britain than in any other European countries. BSE is an animal disease”
No conciliatory statements to the public about how understandable public concern was
Nov. memo: ◦ “Our usual line is such cases is appropriate:
‘We are aware of these cases. The necessary investigations are underway and we cannot comment further at this stage.’ ”
Do you think the public continued to put their faith in the government’s reassurances or do you think they were concerned by the media’s coverage of CJD?
Ministry Defensiveness
Warned ministry of dangers of eating contaminated beef for years
Action was “too expensive” and ministry too preoccupied with protecting the cattle industry
Ministries orchestrated a campaign of deception, misinformation and manipulation of cowardly scientists
Government top class Already infected consumer (experimental class)
bottom
Dr. Richard Lacey
November 19, 1995 – British Ministry of Health press release◦ “Beef is beef is beef. Be it prime cuts, mince,
burgers, pies or sausages. All play a key role in providing the nation with a healthy balanced diet. Enjoy it. Just as you have always done.”
Prime Minister John Major denied any link between BSE and CJD in front of the House of Commons
Ministry Defense
Dr. Eileen Rubery- experienced policy maker who advised ministers in Whitehall for more than 15 years◦ Atypical CJD nvCJD (new variant) VCJD◦ New amyloid-plaque rich type of CJD occurring in
under-forty-year-olds◦ More “florid” plaques in the brain as well as
evidence of neural degeneration in the spinal cord◦ Much younger than traditional CJD patients◦ Took longer to die
New variant CJD
If the 2 new cases they were working on were confirmed CJD cases, it would prove the link between BSE and CJD
Hypothesis- “Atypical CJD is caused by the BSE agent jumping species barrier from animal products to humans via food or a parenteral (intravenous) route.”
Asked minister to wait 4-5 weeks to inform the public so she could publish her paper
Many young people on whom their conclusions were based on died in 1995
Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee didn’t come out with this info until March 1996
Someone accumulated the data and how these new cases differed from “sporadic” CJD◦ What took so long?
What Took So Long?
Almost 11 years passed between when Jonquil’s symptoms first became noticeable until March 1996 when the memo appeared
Memo came 4 months after chief medical officer claimed “British Beef is Perfectly Safe to Eat”
Rubery’s memo supported Lacey’s ignored predictions made over the last 5 years
Rubery’s Support for Lacey
March 1996- Health Minister Stephen Dorrell announced that there was a new CJD variant connected to BSE found in young people
Public reaction rapid and angry◦ Those whose loved ones developed CJD were
furious at being misinformed◦ Livid about the deliberate cover-up to avoid
tarnishing the reputation of British beef
Dorrell complained that “It isn’t the cows who are mad, it’s people who are going mad, what all of us have to do is step back from the hysteria and believe the facts.”
Government tried to persuade parents of CJD victims to keep quiet◦ Physician investigator: “Think about the economy”
Was the government was right to try to protect the beef industry and the economy at the risk of a select few young people’s health?
More Ministry Denial
Figures from early 2004 show that vCJD annual death rate no longer decreasing
Kuru incubation periods of several decades indicate that we may be seeing just the tip of the iceberg
Rise from fewer than 10 cases in 1970 to more than 50 cases in 2002 ◦ Can’t be spontaneous or random
CJD surveillance unit: “This may be attributed to improved case ascertainment”
CJD Not Decreasing
Significant number of cases are slipping through undetected
Data may be misleading or inaccurate◦ Highly underrepresented◦ Hidden in Alzheimer’s disease
Underrepresented
Richard Marsh- Wisconsin veterinarian, part of the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA’s committee
Committee completely dominated by meat industry, rendering industry, sheep industry, and dairy industry
Marsh warned committee they needed to stop the practice of feeding animals back to same species◦ Ignored and ridiculed
Chapter 14 Prime Cuts
Large amount of meat-and-bone meal fed to American cattle
Gave data on mink outbreak caused by cattle feed◦ Fell on deaf ears
Cattle industry vilified Marsh National Renderers Association said his data
was “anecdotal” Grant proposals to test more cattle
continuously rejected by government
Marsh Shut Down
Collected circumstantial evidence that was overwhelming in its implications
Data belittled in favor of “maintaining the status quo” and protecting the economy
1993 Symposium- tore him apart◦ Couldn’t stand up against the pressure and
criticism
Reporter Van Smith wrote an article on a local rendering plant in 1995◦ Public horrified to learn that cows rendered along
with roadkill◦ Pets were also being rendered and fed back to
their own pets as pet food Would this be allowed to happen today? Do
you think people today would feel the same outrage?
Van Smith Article
April 1996- Oprah Winfrey◦ Retired rancher Marsh Lyman declared that cows
that died from sickness were rounded up, ground up, and fed to other cows
◦ Oprah and the public outraged that “placid, docile” cows, naturally herbivores, were being forced to become not only carnivores, but cannibals
Oprah Winfrey segment
Cattle industry saw cattle futures plummet Oprah forced to schedule a show the
following week◦ Gritted out half hearted apologies◦ 6 years of litigation and lawsuits followed
Should Oprah have recanted the statements from her show?
Forced to Amend
Centers for Disease Control stated that only one in a million people get CJD in the US
Only 4,751 CJD deaths in the US between 1979 and 1998
Department of Agriculture- the true measure of the transmission of prions from cattle to humans is a supposedly different disease, variant CJD◦ Has nothing to do with tainted beef
Chapter 15 The Alzheimer’s Nightmare
No mandatory reporting of CJD cases in many states
“One in a million” – they have no idea how many CJD cases there are because no one has searched for them
Data gathering mostly done by volunteer who lost a loved one to CJD
More Widespread than Previously Thought
Overlapping symptoms in CJD and Alzheimer’s◦ Dementia◦ Muscle jerking/spasm◦ Initial memory loss
Physicians have difficulty distinguishing between dementia cases and CJD
More familiar with Alzheimer’s
Difficulty in Diagnosing CJD
No definitive way to diagnose CJD without an autopsy ◦ Reluctance to conduct autopsies because CJD can
be passed from surgical instruments to people Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies◦ The only way to determine a prion disease is to
examine brain tissue◦ At least half the estimated deaths caused by prion
diseases in the US are not autopsied and confirmed
Health insurance doesn’t cover CJD
Diagnosing CJD
1989- Laura Manuelidis and husband Elias discovered that after examining brains, 6 our of 46 Alzheimer’s disease patients had CJD◦ 13% misdiagnosed
Further studies show 5.5-13% of Alzheimer’s patients actually have CJD
Misdiagnoses
CDC stats-◦ 1979- 653 Alzheimer’s deaths in the US◦ 1991- 13,768◦ 2002- 58,785
Over 24 years, there’s been an 8,902% increase in deaths from Alzheimer’s disease in the US
CDC says the increase is due to improvements in diagnosis, awareness of the condition, and “other unidentified factors”
4.5 million people in the US have Alzheimer’s and will die from it◦ Extrapolate the data- this figure will more than double by
2020
Alzheimer’s on the Rise
Professor of psychiatry at University of Indiana◦ Compared rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s
disease between elderly people in Ibadan, Nigeria, with an equivalent group in Indianapolis, Indiana
◦ Suggests environmental factors play a role
Dr. Hugh Hendrie
Nigeria IndianaDementia prevalence
2.29% 8.24%
Alzheimer’s prevalence
1.41% 6.24%
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