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CNN Saturday Morning News
"Weekend House Call"
Aired January 10, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Weekend House Call with Holly Firfer begins right now.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to Weekend House Call.
I'm Holly Firfer.
And today we're talking about mad cow disease.
For weeks now, people have been asking all kinds of questions about how safe it is to eat American beef. And just yesterday, the USDA announced it was going to destroy more than 100 additional cattle in Washington State because officials think they may have eaten the same contaminated feed as the cow diagnosed with mad cow disease.
Now, before we dive into all your questions about food safety, let's take a look at how this whole thing got started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FIRFER (voice-over): On December 9, 2003, Vern's Moses Lake Meats in Washington State slaughters a cow that was injured while giving birth. Tests are done on the so-called downer cow for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. All central nervous tissue is removed and the carcass sold to Midway Meats.
On December 12, the infected Holstein's meat is sold to two processors in Oregon.
December 22, preliminary tests are positive for BSE, or mad cow disease, and more testing is done.
On December 23, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.
ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: ... hast tested as presumptive positive for BSE, or what is widely known as mad cow disease.
FIRFER: Many countries temporarily banned U.S. meat imports. A quarantine is placed on the farm where the sick cow came from.
December 24, the USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service, or FSIS, recalls a little over 10,000 pounds of meat from a group of 20 animals that were slaughtered with the infected cow. And the USDA finds two of the three known calves born to the diseased cow. The third calf was determined to have died shortly after birth.
December 25, a British lab confirms the mad cow diagnosis.
December 27, USDA officials trace the sick cow to Canada through an ear tag to a farm in Alberta. The FSIS says meat from the cattle, including the infected cow, went to four other states -- Alaska, Montana, Hawaii and Idaho, as well as Guam.
Further information shows some of the product in California and Nevada, as well. The USDA continues to track the other cows that came into the U.S. from Canada with the infected cow.
December 30, Agriculture Secretary Veneman announces additional safeguards to protect against mad cow disease. She says downer or sick cows will be banned from the human food chain. And any normal cow targeted for BSE surveillance testing at slaughter will not be sent to the processing plant until negative test results are confirmed. Also, the air injection stunning of cattle is prohibited and the advanced meat recovery system, or the machines that debone the animal, are banned.
January 2, the USDA can now account for 11 of the 81 cows that came across the border from Canada with the infected Holstein. Another farm with a cow from that original herd is quarantined.
January 6, the DNA tests confirm the infected cow was, indeed, from Alberta, Canada. The sick cow's bull calf and 449 other calves on the farm are killed and disposed of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FIRFER: Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is thought to be caused by an abnormal form of a cell protein called a prion. Now, this prion is not a bacteria or a parasite or even a virus, so normal treatments do not work. And scientists have already determined the disease cannot be spread cow to cow, but seems to be spread by cows eating feed that includes meat and bone from cattle.
Now, this type of feed was banned in the United States in 1997 after Great Britain's mad cow epidemic.
So how could this disease have shown up in the U.S. and what, if anything, do you need to know to stay safe?
Well, give us a call at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com. We have an expert here to answer all of your questions.
Dr. Will Hueston, a veterinarian and director of the Center for Animal Health & Food Safety at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine joins us now this morning from New York.
Good morning, doctor.
Welcome.
DR. WILL HUESTON, VETERINARIAN: Good morning.
FIRFER: Now, a question many people have been asking us, with all the precautions taken in the U.S. since the British epidemic, how did an infected cattle make it into the system here in the U.S.?
HUESTON: Great question. We knew years ago -- remember, there were cattle and feed that moved back and forth between countries, and so there were cows that came into the United States in the early '80s, prior to this disease even being identified. And so it's most likely the cattle that came into North America, the U.S. or Canada, prior to the discovery of this disease that led to the problem.
FIRFER: OK, doctor, we have a lot of calls and e-mails lined up on this topic, so let's start with this e-mail from Joe in Arizona, who wants to know, "How much testing is done right now to look for BSE in the cattle population? Is it random? Are the ill cows targeted?"
It's a good question, because although cows are visually checked out, not all cows are actually tested.
So how do they know?
HUESTON: It's a great question, Joe, and a really appropriate question. What the surveillance does, what they are testing, they target the testing at those animals they're most worried about having the disease. In other words, if you're from Arizona, you don't look for ducks in the desert. You know, we don't go out and look for pregnant animals by testing males.
So in this disease, we don't -- we focus the testing on the animals that might be ill. So you don't test young animals because they're never going to prove or never going to test positive for the animals. You test the older animals and you look for those animals that might be showing some sign of brain disease or might be stumbling or falling or not able to rise because if you have the disease in the country, those are the animals that are most likely to show the disease.
FIRFER: Well, Dr. Hueston, another e-mail. Meryl from New Jersey says, "Since these cows take several years to develop symptoms, is it possible that some cows might test negative for mad cow when they might really be positive?"
HUESTON: Well, it does take several years for this disease to develop and thankfully the disease, the agent, this BSE agent that we're concerned about develops very, very slowly. So young animals, even if they're exposed, don't accumulate very much of that agent. Our real, real focus is on the older animals that accumulate large amounts of this agent in the brain and spinal cord. That's the real focus.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, you mentioned the age of a cow. And Marsha in Texas writes, "Why is 30 months considered important in determining whether that cow is at risk for BSE?"
Would the meat from a calf or cow that's exposed to or carrying BSE from a young age, as you mentioned, not so much of those contaminants, be contaminated if it's butchered while under 30 months old? So, could there be a difference in the age of the cow in the health of the animal and possibly transmitting a disease?
HUESTON: Marsha, you've got a great thought process there and I really, really applaud you. This disease takes a long time to develop. So even if a young animal is exposed, you don't find a great accumulation of the BSE agent until very old in life.
The second point is the agent accumulates in the brain and the spinal cord and a small section of the intestines. There is 15 years of research that have detected no accumulation of the agent in meat, in muscle meat. So that's the key point to remember. So muscle meat, regardless of the age, appears not to accumulate any of the agent, and that's good news.
FIRFER: It is good news.
OK, well, mad cow disease is not an easy thing to contract.
When Weekend House Call continues, we'll tell you what the odds are of you getting it and should you be protecting Fido and Fluffy, as well? Stay tuned to find out what your pet needs for protection.
Give us a call with your questions at 1-800-807-2620, or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com.
We'll be right back.
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: Welcome back.
We're talking about mad cow disease, a disease which humans technically can't get. If we were infected with prions from a sick cow, we would get VCJD. That stands for Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Now, only one person has been diagnosed with this fatal disease in the United States and it's believed that this young woman contracted it while living with her family in England.
Now, we're talking with Dr. Will Hueston.
He's the director for -- of the Center for Animal Health & Food Safety at the University of Minnesota.
And let's just get right to what everyone wants to know, Dr. Hueston.
Michael from Ohio sums it up in an e-mail. He asks, "What are the real odds of contracting this disease, the human form of the disease?"
HUESTON: Well, the odds are very, very low. So the human disease, Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, is an extremely rare disease. There have been about 155 cases in the world so far. And all but about 10 of those cases have occurred in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, where -- which is the focus of most of this disease. So most of the cattle disease occurred in Great Britain and that's where most of the human disease.
But it's a very, very rare disease.
FIRFER: And Nikki in Oregon asks, "What is the incubation period for humans if they get mad cow disease, the human form, after eating infected beef?"
I know this is a rare disease and that it has a very long incubation period. Isn't that right, even in animals, but even longer in humans?
HUESTON: Well, Nikki, the first thing to remember is that beef, this muscle meat does not -- we can't detect any of the agent in the beef. So the beef itself, while World Health Organization and the CDC all have reached the conclusion that as far as the muscle meat beef itself, that appears to be safe.
But if you were to eat the brain tissue from an adult cow that had BSE, so a spongy brain from an adult cow with BSE, the incubation is estimated at about 10 years. These are long diseases to develop. It's, in humans, the range of diseases, it can be five to 40 years before the disease shows up.
FIRFER: Dr. Hueston, we have a phone call from Maria in Georgia.
Welcome to House Call.
Maria, what's your question?
MARIA: Yes, thank you for taking my call.
Doctor, what are the symptoms of BSE and is there a cure?
HUESTON: A great question. Thank you.
The symptoms -- the cow, the symptoms, you know, this is spongy brain disease. So the symptoms in the cow relate to the brain stopping to function. In general in cows, they appear more confused, more anxious. They startle more easily to touch or to sound. You clap your hands and the cow goes through the roof.
Also, they lose their coordination and start stumbling some more. And these are gradually onset, so it's the gradual onset of this anxiety and confusion, stumbling in the cattle, and it gets worse and worse. Unfortunately, there's no treatment for this.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, is that the same symptoms for humans, as well? I know it's a degenerative disease.
HUESTON: It is a degenerative disease. In humans, typically the humans present with psychiatric concerns like depression. And then the disease progresses slowly, usually over the period of more than a year. FIRFER: OK, Brent from California in an e-mail wants to know, "Besides abstaining from eating beef, what other precautions should I take to ensure I don't get infected?"
Do you really need to abstain from beef?
HUESTON: Well, remember, Brent, that the key is that beef muscle meat, muscle meat there's no detectable infectivity. So if we go to the -- by the recommendations that are put out by the public health organizations around the world, that muscle meat, they all feel, is safe.
Now, you can take your attention or focus on getting high quality products and focusing on muscle meat. And if you're going to eat meat, that is the way or those are the safe tissues. Avoid those brains and spinal cords from older animals. That's the real key.
FIRFER: Which we can't eat. It's not legal to eat, anyway, here now.
HUESTON: Well, now. Right, now in the United States, as of the here a week ago, the Department of Agriculture has announced that the brain, the spinal cord, the intestine, all the tissues in animals that have shown to accumulate infectivity, so these tissues in older animals are going to be taken out of the food supply altogether. And that's good news for the public health.
FIRFER: Good to know.
Dean from Florida is on the phone and he has a question.
Dean, welcome to House Call.
What's your question for Dr. Hueston?
DEAN: Yes, good morning, folks.
As a pet owner, I'm actually just about to go feed my cat and my question leads to that. What can pet owners do for precautions to prevent cats and other animals from getting the BSE, since they are susceptible to the disease?
HUESTON: Well, Dean, I empathize. I've got three Labradors at home, three Labrador Retrievers, and certainly their healthy is of extreme importance in my life and myself. The first thing to recognize is that dogs, dogs do not appear to be susceptible to this disease. Monitoring the dog population in England for, throughout the epidemic of BSE, there have been no cases in dogs, even in dogs that were fed, potentially fed these brains and spinal cords of these older animals.
So for dogs, we have a -- they appear to be resistant.
On the other hand, cats did show some disease in England. There were about 87 cats or 87 cats that developed the disease, domestic cats. And so pet food manufacturers have generally been very proactive. In England they stopped using or incorporating brain and spinal cord, these tissues that accumulate the BSE agents, stopped using them in pet foods. And I'm happy to say that pet food manufacturers in the United States, by and large, have been very forward looking on this. I know because they've called and talked to me for over 10 years now and I know that a lot of the companies have put in place a series of protections to make sure that their foods are wholesome and safe, as it relates to pets.
FIRFER: And as a pet owner myself, that's good news to hear.
All right, we'll be back with Dr. Hueston in a moment.
But if you wondered about how safe it is to drink milk, if so, you're not alone.
When we come back, do we need to be worried about all products coming from a cow, everything from milk to broth and perhaps beef jerky?
Stay with us for those answers.
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: Welcome back.
We're talking with veterinarian Dr. Will Hueston of the University of Minnesota and we're still getting a lot of calls and e- mails, so let's start with Patricia in Kansas, who asks, "If beef from a diseased cow is fully cooked, is there still a danger of becoming ill?"
And, doctor, since we've already determined BSE is not found in the actual meat of the cow, what about if you were cooking something that might have remnants of tissue or something that had that defective protein in it?
HUESTON: Well, you're absolutely right, we don't find the BSE agent in muscle meat itself. But if you cooked a brain, for instance, that had the agent, the cooking, the cooking temperatures that we use to prepare our food will not completely destroy that agent. But don't forget that cooking is the single most important strategy you can use for all of those much more common agents like salmonella and E. coli. Cooking is critical for tackling the viruses and bacteria. But the cooking is not sufficient to destroy this agent.
FIRFER: It's a great reminder.
Rua in California is on the phone and she has a question.
Rua, welcome to House Call.
What's your question today?
RUA: Thank you.
I want to know, does it affect our milk, even if it's organic? HUESTON: Thanks, Rua.
That's a very insightful question.
We have a tremendous amount of research, knowledge about milk. And for about 15 years now, experiments looking at the possibility, looking at cows with BSE and addressing the milk and the scientists have found again and again and again no detection of the BSE agent in milk. So the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control all concur that milk appears -- is safe, that there is no agent, no detectable BSE agent in milk or any dairy products.
FIRFER: OK, Matt from Texas writes in an e-mail, "I've heard that brains and spinal cords from cows are rendered into feed for chickens and pigs. Is it safe to eat chicken and pork?"
Thanks, Matt.
And just quickly, doctor, for those who don't know what rendering is let me give everyone a little primer. After the cows are slaughtered, the remains are separated and what are called the inedible remains are taken to special plants, where they are put through a process called rendering. That means they're cooked at high temperatures and broken down into two groups -- fat and meal. And the fat products can be used in anything from soap to lipstick and glue. Meat and bone meal is a powdery high protein supplement often added into animal feeds.
Now, doctor, to answer Matt's question, are chicken and pork safe if they've eaten this feed?
HUESTON: Well, Matt, I've got a place for you as a research student of mine. The researchers in England asked that same question, again, about 15 years ago. And so what they did is they exposed pigs and chickens. They actually fed them brains from BSE affected cattle. And none of the pigs and none of the chickens got sick after being fed brain from BSE cattle. Then they went ahead and they checked all the tissues in the pigs and the chickens, and even when they were exposed to brain from BSE affected cattle, those pigs and chickens did not develop any BSE agent in any of their tissues.
So that's good news for the pork and the poultry industries.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, last week, or two weeks ago, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman set up some new guidelines, some restrictions. And one of them is not being able to use any of the rendered material from an infected cow in anything. They will dispose of that. Is that correct?
HUESTON: Well, they've taken this cow that occurred in Washington and put a hold on all that material so that doesn't go into any type of animal feeds. The most important thing that they've done that Secretary Veneman announced is they've taken all these tissues out of the human food supply, and that's the most important, the most efficient, the most cost-effective way we can protect public health in the nation. FIRFER: Terrific.
OK, Marilyn in Colorado asks a question we've gotten a lot from other people, too, "How safe are beef byproducts like packaged beef broth used for making soups or perhaps beef jerky?"
HUESTON: Marilyn, you remind me -- you know, I grew up in a household with a household full of sisters and my youngest sister Agnes was always asking 20 questions. And you just reminded me of that. What I can tell you is that around the world in Europe and in the U.S., there are research committees and advisory committees to the government that are asking those questions. So I served on the Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee and they were looking at all types of products and saying is there a chance that BSE might be transmitted here, because if there is a chance, we want to take the actions to keep that agent out of the food supply.
And so there are a number of people looking at it and actions specifically taken to assure that those food supplies are safe.
FIRFER: And Debra from North Carolina is joining us on the phone.
Good morning, Debra.
What's your question for Dr. Hueston?
DEBRA: Good morning.
My question is can you get the mad cow from makeup like lipstick?
HUESTON: Well, remember that this is an agent that accumulates in the brain and the spinal cord and what we're doing is trying -- working to keep that material out of any type of human product that might represent a risk. So that's what government agencies like FDA are focusing on, to assure that all of the uses, the cosmetics, the makeup that come out from, that are developed using these tissues or byproducts from cattle, that they're safe to be used.
FIRFER: All right, we'll be back with you in a second, Dr. Hueston.
First, we're going to take a break.
And before we do, think about this. Did you spend time in Europe during Britain's epidemic? If so, blood donation could be a problem for you. We're talking about that just after the break.
But first, here's this week's edition of For Your Health.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Research shows four out of five adults will experience at least one bout of back pain at some time in their life. Back pain can occur for no apparent reason and at any point on your spine. The most common site for pain is your lower back because it bears the most weight and stress. Most back problems can be prevented with simple steps such as exercise and adopting new ways to sit and stand. Rest is one of the best ways to get rid of back pain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: If you've still got questions about mad cow disease or BSE, check out www.usda.gov. With all of the news on mad cow, the Department of Agriculture's front page is covered with all the latest news and information. And if that's not enough, click on www.fda.gov. That's the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site, where you can find specifics about the safety of products containing rendered cow.
Welcome back to House Call.
Dr. Hueston, we have time for one more question and it was one we got several e-mails about. Here's just one them. Patrice from New Jersey writes, "My son was in Europe for one year during the mad cow outbreak overseas. Since that time, he's been informed by the Red Cross that he's not able to donate blood. Is there a time frame for when he will be able to donate?"
And, Dr. Hueston, what's the concern there?
HUESTON: Well, Patrice, I lived in England in 1991, working with the British government on this disease, mad cow, this BSE. And I can't donate blood either. So here's the concern, or here's the reason. When humans become affected with this very, very rare disease, this Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the agent can be found in more tissues in people than BSE is found in tissues in cattle. So the concern is, is there a possibility that humans with human blood transmission can transmit the disease from person to person?
So the government agencies and the Red Cross have said let's be extra cautious, let's control or prevent people that have lived in the U.K. and areas with a lot of this disease from preventing -- from trans -- or giving blood.
FIRFER: Giving blood.
Dr. Hueston, some great information there.
I hate to cut you off. I know so many people have a lot of questions. But we're out of time for today.
Thank you so much, Dr. Will Hueston, for all of that information and thank you to everyone for calling e-mailing us. We sure appreciate it.
Make sure to watch tomorrow's Weekend House Call.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta will track five people's progress in their new year's resolution, 8:30 a.m. Sunday. I'm Holly Firfer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 10, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Weekend House Call with Holly Firfer begins right now.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to Weekend House Call.
I'm Holly Firfer.
And today we're talking about mad cow disease.
For weeks now, people have been asking all kinds of questions about how safe it is to eat American beef. And just yesterday, the USDA announced it was going to destroy more than 100 additional cattle in Washington State because officials think they may have eaten the same contaminated feed as the cow diagnosed with mad cow disease.
Now, before we dive into all your questions about food safety, let's take a look at how this whole thing got started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FIRFER (voice-over): On December 9, 2003, Vern's Moses Lake Meats in Washington State slaughters a cow that was injured while giving birth. Tests are done on the so-called downer cow for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. All central nervous tissue is removed and the carcass sold to Midway Meats.
On December 12, the infected Holstein's meat is sold to two processors in Oregon.
December 22, preliminary tests are positive for BSE, or mad cow disease, and more testing is done.
On December 23, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.
ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: ... hast tested as presumptive positive for BSE, or what is widely known as mad cow disease.
FIRFER: Many countries temporarily banned U.S. meat imports. A quarantine is placed on the farm where the sick cow came from.
December 24, the USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service, or FSIS, recalls a little over 10,000 pounds of meat from a group of 20 animals that were slaughtered with the infected cow. And the USDA finds two of the three known calves born to the diseased cow. The third calf was determined to have died shortly after birth.
December 25, a British lab confirms the mad cow diagnosis.
December 27, USDA officials trace the sick cow to Canada through an ear tag to a farm in Alberta. The FSIS says meat from the cattle, including the infected cow, went to four other states -- Alaska, Montana, Hawaii and Idaho, as well as Guam.
Further information shows some of the product in California and Nevada, as well. The USDA continues to track the other cows that came into the U.S. from Canada with the infected cow.
December 30, Agriculture Secretary Veneman announces additional safeguards to protect against mad cow disease. She says downer or sick cows will be banned from the human food chain. And any normal cow targeted for BSE surveillance testing at slaughter will not be sent to the processing plant until negative test results are confirmed. Also, the air injection stunning of cattle is prohibited and the advanced meat recovery system, or the machines that debone the animal, are banned.
January 2, the USDA can now account for 11 of the 81 cows that came across the border from Canada with the infected Holstein. Another farm with a cow from that original herd is quarantined.
January 6, the DNA tests confirm the infected cow was, indeed, from Alberta, Canada. The sick cow's bull calf and 449 other calves on the farm are killed and disposed of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FIRFER: Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is thought to be caused by an abnormal form of a cell protein called a prion. Now, this prion is not a bacteria or a parasite or even a virus, so normal treatments do not work. And scientists have already determined the disease cannot be spread cow to cow, but seems to be spread by cows eating feed that includes meat and bone from cattle.
Now, this type of feed was banned in the United States in 1997 after Great Britain's mad cow epidemic.
So how could this disease have shown up in the U.S. and what, if anything, do you need to know to stay safe?
Well, give us a call at 1-800-807-2620 or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com. We have an expert here to answer all of your questions.
Dr. Will Hueston, a veterinarian and director of the Center for Animal Health & Food Safety at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine joins us now this morning from New York.
Good morning, doctor.
Welcome.
DR. WILL HUESTON, VETERINARIAN: Good morning.
FIRFER: Now, a question many people have been asking us, with all the precautions taken in the U.S. since the British epidemic, how did an infected cattle make it into the system here in the U.S.?
HUESTON: Great question. We knew years ago -- remember, there were cattle and feed that moved back and forth between countries, and so there were cows that came into the United States in the early '80s, prior to this disease even being identified. And so it's most likely the cattle that came into North America, the U.S. or Canada, prior to the discovery of this disease that led to the problem.
FIRFER: OK, doctor, we have a lot of calls and e-mails lined up on this topic, so let's start with this e-mail from Joe in Arizona, who wants to know, "How much testing is done right now to look for BSE in the cattle population? Is it random? Are the ill cows targeted?"
It's a good question, because although cows are visually checked out, not all cows are actually tested.
So how do they know?
HUESTON: It's a great question, Joe, and a really appropriate question. What the surveillance does, what they are testing, they target the testing at those animals they're most worried about having the disease. In other words, if you're from Arizona, you don't look for ducks in the desert. You know, we don't go out and look for pregnant animals by testing males.
So in this disease, we don't -- we focus the testing on the animals that might be ill. So you don't test young animals because they're never going to prove or never going to test positive for the animals. You test the older animals and you look for those animals that might be showing some sign of brain disease or might be stumbling or falling or not able to rise because if you have the disease in the country, those are the animals that are most likely to show the disease.
FIRFER: Well, Dr. Hueston, another e-mail. Meryl from New Jersey says, "Since these cows take several years to develop symptoms, is it possible that some cows might test negative for mad cow when they might really be positive?"
HUESTON: Well, it does take several years for this disease to develop and thankfully the disease, the agent, this BSE agent that we're concerned about develops very, very slowly. So young animals, even if they're exposed, don't accumulate very much of that agent. Our real, real focus is on the older animals that accumulate large amounts of this agent in the brain and spinal cord. That's the real focus.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, you mentioned the age of a cow. And Marsha in Texas writes, "Why is 30 months considered important in determining whether that cow is at risk for BSE?"
Would the meat from a calf or cow that's exposed to or carrying BSE from a young age, as you mentioned, not so much of those contaminants, be contaminated if it's butchered while under 30 months old? So, could there be a difference in the age of the cow in the health of the animal and possibly transmitting a disease?
HUESTON: Marsha, you've got a great thought process there and I really, really applaud you. This disease takes a long time to develop. So even if a young animal is exposed, you don't find a great accumulation of the BSE agent until very old in life.
The second point is the agent accumulates in the brain and the spinal cord and a small section of the intestines. There is 15 years of research that have detected no accumulation of the agent in meat, in muscle meat. So that's the key point to remember. So muscle meat, regardless of the age, appears not to accumulate any of the agent, and that's good news.
FIRFER: It is good news.
OK, well, mad cow disease is not an easy thing to contract.
When Weekend House Call continues, we'll tell you what the odds are of you getting it and should you be protecting Fido and Fluffy, as well? Stay tuned to find out what your pet needs for protection.
Give us a call with your questions at 1-800-807-2620, or e-mail us at housecall@cnn.com.
We'll be right back.
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: Welcome back.
We're talking about mad cow disease, a disease which humans technically can't get. If we were infected with prions from a sick cow, we would get VCJD. That stands for Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Now, only one person has been diagnosed with this fatal disease in the United States and it's believed that this young woman contracted it while living with her family in England.
Now, we're talking with Dr. Will Hueston.
He's the director for -- of the Center for Animal Health & Food Safety at the University of Minnesota.
And let's just get right to what everyone wants to know, Dr. Hueston.
Michael from Ohio sums it up in an e-mail. He asks, "What are the real odds of contracting this disease, the human form of the disease?"
HUESTON: Well, the odds are very, very low. So the human disease, Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, is an extremely rare disease. There have been about 155 cases in the world so far. And all but about 10 of those cases have occurred in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, where -- which is the focus of most of this disease. So most of the cattle disease occurred in Great Britain and that's where most of the human disease.
But it's a very, very rare disease.
FIRFER: And Nikki in Oregon asks, "What is the incubation period for humans if they get mad cow disease, the human form, after eating infected beef?"
I know this is a rare disease and that it has a very long incubation period. Isn't that right, even in animals, but even longer in humans?
HUESTON: Well, Nikki, the first thing to remember is that beef, this muscle meat does not -- we can't detect any of the agent in the beef. So the beef itself, while World Health Organization and the CDC all have reached the conclusion that as far as the muscle meat beef itself, that appears to be safe.
But if you were to eat the brain tissue from an adult cow that had BSE, so a spongy brain from an adult cow with BSE, the incubation is estimated at about 10 years. These are long diseases to develop. It's, in humans, the range of diseases, it can be five to 40 years before the disease shows up.
FIRFER: Dr. Hueston, we have a phone call from Maria in Georgia.
Welcome to House Call.
Maria, what's your question?
MARIA: Yes, thank you for taking my call.
Doctor, what are the symptoms of BSE and is there a cure?
HUESTON: A great question. Thank you.
The symptoms -- the cow, the symptoms, you know, this is spongy brain disease. So the symptoms in the cow relate to the brain stopping to function. In general in cows, they appear more confused, more anxious. They startle more easily to touch or to sound. You clap your hands and the cow goes through the roof.
Also, they lose their coordination and start stumbling some more. And these are gradually onset, so it's the gradual onset of this anxiety and confusion, stumbling in the cattle, and it gets worse and worse. Unfortunately, there's no treatment for this.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, is that the same symptoms for humans, as well? I know it's a degenerative disease.
HUESTON: It is a degenerative disease. In humans, typically the humans present with psychiatric concerns like depression. And then the disease progresses slowly, usually over the period of more than a year. FIRFER: OK, Brent from California in an e-mail wants to know, "Besides abstaining from eating beef, what other precautions should I take to ensure I don't get infected?"
Do you really need to abstain from beef?
HUESTON: Well, remember, Brent, that the key is that beef muscle meat, muscle meat there's no detectable infectivity. So if we go to the -- by the recommendations that are put out by the public health organizations around the world, that muscle meat, they all feel, is safe.
Now, you can take your attention or focus on getting high quality products and focusing on muscle meat. And if you're going to eat meat, that is the way or those are the safe tissues. Avoid those brains and spinal cords from older animals. That's the real key.
FIRFER: Which we can't eat. It's not legal to eat, anyway, here now.
HUESTON: Well, now. Right, now in the United States, as of the here a week ago, the Department of Agriculture has announced that the brain, the spinal cord, the intestine, all the tissues in animals that have shown to accumulate infectivity, so these tissues in older animals are going to be taken out of the food supply altogether. And that's good news for the public health.
FIRFER: Good to know.
Dean from Florida is on the phone and he has a question.
Dean, welcome to House Call.
What's your question for Dr. Hueston?
DEAN: Yes, good morning, folks.
As a pet owner, I'm actually just about to go feed my cat and my question leads to that. What can pet owners do for precautions to prevent cats and other animals from getting the BSE, since they are susceptible to the disease?
HUESTON: Well, Dean, I empathize. I've got three Labradors at home, three Labrador Retrievers, and certainly their healthy is of extreme importance in my life and myself. The first thing to recognize is that dogs, dogs do not appear to be susceptible to this disease. Monitoring the dog population in England for, throughout the epidemic of BSE, there have been no cases in dogs, even in dogs that were fed, potentially fed these brains and spinal cords of these older animals.
So for dogs, we have a -- they appear to be resistant.
On the other hand, cats did show some disease in England. There were about 87 cats or 87 cats that developed the disease, domestic cats. And so pet food manufacturers have generally been very proactive. In England they stopped using or incorporating brain and spinal cord, these tissues that accumulate the BSE agents, stopped using them in pet foods. And I'm happy to say that pet food manufacturers in the United States, by and large, have been very forward looking on this. I know because they've called and talked to me for over 10 years now and I know that a lot of the companies have put in place a series of protections to make sure that their foods are wholesome and safe, as it relates to pets.
FIRFER: And as a pet owner myself, that's good news to hear.
All right, we'll be back with Dr. Hueston in a moment.
But if you wondered about how safe it is to drink milk, if so, you're not alone.
When we come back, do we need to be worried about all products coming from a cow, everything from milk to broth and perhaps beef jerky?
Stay with us for those answers.
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: Welcome back.
We're talking with veterinarian Dr. Will Hueston of the University of Minnesota and we're still getting a lot of calls and e- mails, so let's start with Patricia in Kansas, who asks, "If beef from a diseased cow is fully cooked, is there still a danger of becoming ill?"
And, doctor, since we've already determined BSE is not found in the actual meat of the cow, what about if you were cooking something that might have remnants of tissue or something that had that defective protein in it?
HUESTON: Well, you're absolutely right, we don't find the BSE agent in muscle meat itself. But if you cooked a brain, for instance, that had the agent, the cooking, the cooking temperatures that we use to prepare our food will not completely destroy that agent. But don't forget that cooking is the single most important strategy you can use for all of those much more common agents like salmonella and E. coli. Cooking is critical for tackling the viruses and bacteria. But the cooking is not sufficient to destroy this agent.
FIRFER: It's a great reminder.
Rua in California is on the phone and she has a question.
Rua, welcome to House Call.
What's your question today?
RUA: Thank you.
I want to know, does it affect our milk, even if it's organic? HUESTON: Thanks, Rua.
That's a very insightful question.
We have a tremendous amount of research, knowledge about milk. And for about 15 years now, experiments looking at the possibility, looking at cows with BSE and addressing the milk and the scientists have found again and again and again no detection of the BSE agent in milk. So the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control all concur that milk appears -- is safe, that there is no agent, no detectable BSE agent in milk or any dairy products.
FIRFER: OK, Matt from Texas writes in an e-mail, "I've heard that brains and spinal cords from cows are rendered into feed for chickens and pigs. Is it safe to eat chicken and pork?"
Thanks, Matt.
And just quickly, doctor, for those who don't know what rendering is let me give everyone a little primer. After the cows are slaughtered, the remains are separated and what are called the inedible remains are taken to special plants, where they are put through a process called rendering. That means they're cooked at high temperatures and broken down into two groups -- fat and meal. And the fat products can be used in anything from soap to lipstick and glue. Meat and bone meal is a powdery high protein supplement often added into animal feeds.
Now, doctor, to answer Matt's question, are chicken and pork safe if they've eaten this feed?
HUESTON: Well, Matt, I've got a place for you as a research student of mine. The researchers in England asked that same question, again, about 15 years ago. And so what they did is they exposed pigs and chickens. They actually fed them brains from BSE affected cattle. And none of the pigs and none of the chickens got sick after being fed brain from BSE cattle. Then they went ahead and they checked all the tissues in the pigs and the chickens, and even when they were exposed to brain from BSE affected cattle, those pigs and chickens did not develop any BSE agent in any of their tissues.
So that's good news for the pork and the poultry industries.
FIRFER: And Dr. Hueston, last week, or two weeks ago, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman set up some new guidelines, some restrictions. And one of them is not being able to use any of the rendered material from an infected cow in anything. They will dispose of that. Is that correct?
HUESTON: Well, they've taken this cow that occurred in Washington and put a hold on all that material so that doesn't go into any type of animal feeds. The most important thing that they've done that Secretary Veneman announced is they've taken all these tissues out of the human food supply, and that's the most important, the most efficient, the most cost-effective way we can protect public health in the nation. FIRFER: Terrific.
OK, Marilyn in Colorado asks a question we've gotten a lot from other people, too, "How safe are beef byproducts like packaged beef broth used for making soups or perhaps beef jerky?"
HUESTON: Marilyn, you remind me -- you know, I grew up in a household with a household full of sisters and my youngest sister Agnes was always asking 20 questions. And you just reminded me of that. What I can tell you is that around the world in Europe and in the U.S., there are research committees and advisory committees to the government that are asking those questions. So I served on the Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee and they were looking at all types of products and saying is there a chance that BSE might be transmitted here, because if there is a chance, we want to take the actions to keep that agent out of the food supply.
And so there are a number of people looking at it and actions specifically taken to assure that those food supplies are safe.
FIRFER: And Debra from North Carolina is joining us on the phone.
Good morning, Debra.
What's your question for Dr. Hueston?
DEBRA: Good morning.
My question is can you get the mad cow from makeup like lipstick?
HUESTON: Well, remember that this is an agent that accumulates in the brain and the spinal cord and what we're doing is trying -- working to keep that material out of any type of human product that might represent a risk. So that's what government agencies like FDA are focusing on, to assure that all of the uses, the cosmetics, the makeup that come out from, that are developed using these tissues or byproducts from cattle, that they're safe to be used.
FIRFER: All right, we'll be back with you in a second, Dr. Hueston.
First, we're going to take a break.
And before we do, think about this. Did you spend time in Europe during Britain's epidemic? If so, blood donation could be a problem for you. We're talking about that just after the break.
But first, here's this week's edition of For Your Health.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Research shows four out of five adults will experience at least one bout of back pain at some time in their life. Back pain can occur for no apparent reason and at any point on your spine. The most common site for pain is your lower back because it bears the most weight and stress. Most back problems can be prevented with simple steps such as exercise and adopting new ways to sit and stand. Rest is one of the best ways to get rid of back pain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COMMERCIAL
FIRFER: If you've still got questions about mad cow disease or BSE, check out www.usda.gov. With all of the news on mad cow, the Department of Agriculture's front page is covered with all the latest news and information. And if that's not enough, click on www.fda.gov. That's the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site, where you can find specifics about the safety of products containing rendered cow.
Welcome back to House Call.
Dr. Hueston, we have time for one more question and it was one we got several e-mails about. Here's just one them. Patrice from New Jersey writes, "My son was in Europe for one year during the mad cow outbreak overseas. Since that time, he's been informed by the Red Cross that he's not able to donate blood. Is there a time frame for when he will be able to donate?"
And, Dr. Hueston, what's the concern there?
HUESTON: Well, Patrice, I lived in England in 1991, working with the British government on this disease, mad cow, this BSE. And I can't donate blood either. So here's the concern, or here's the reason. When humans become affected with this very, very rare disease, this Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the agent can be found in more tissues in people than BSE is found in tissues in cattle. So the concern is, is there a possibility that humans with human blood transmission can transmit the disease from person to person?
So the government agencies and the Red Cross have said let's be extra cautious, let's control or prevent people that have lived in the U.K. and areas with a lot of this disease from preventing -- from trans -- or giving blood.
FIRFER: Giving blood.
Dr. Hueston, some great information there.
I hate to cut you off. I know so many people have a lot of questions. But we're out of time for today.
Thank you so much, Dr. Will Hueston, for all of that information and thank you to everyone for calling e-mailing us. We sure appreciate it.
Make sure to watch tomorrow's Weekend House Call.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta will track five people's progress in their new year's resolution, 8:30 a.m. Sunday. I'm Holly Firfer.
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