BSE Meat Could Still Be slipping Into Food Chain
EDINBURGH - Mad cow disease may not be caused by rogue proteins – called prions – in the brain as previously believed, they say. The prions show that the animal is infected but researchers fear they may only be symptoms – not the cause of the disease.
25 October 2007
1 minute read
Experiments on mice deliberately infected with BSE – which can cause variant Cruetzfeldt Jakob Disease in humans – found little or no trace of abnormal prions.
It means some cattle could have been given the all-clear because the prions were not in their brain, but could still be infected.
Dr Rona Barron, who led the research at the Roslin Institute, in Edinburgh, said: 'The accepted theory is the abnormal protein is infectious.
'What we're questioning now is whether the large amount you usually see is the infectious agent itself or something produced by the disease.'
