According to the <a href="http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_557_,00.html#trav" title="American Red Cross">American Red Cross</a>, “persons who have spent long periods of time in countries where ‘mad cow disease’ is found are not eligible to donate [blood].” <a href="http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/blood/supply/cjdv.html" title="In-Depth Discussion of Variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease and Blood Donation">Specifically</a>, “you are not eligible to donate if, since 1980, you… spent a total time of 3 months or more in… England… or spent a total time of 6 months or more in… Germany.” Well, that covers me on all counts. It has been more than ten years and I have not shown any symptoms, but clearly the Red Cross thinks there is cause for concern. I do not believe I have variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (vCJD) and I was exposed at the height of the crisis in Europe. Obviously the chances I would get it in Europe when I was there in the Eighties were much higher than the chances I will get it now, here in the United States. Also, I agree with the pundits who say that there is “no scientific evidence” of a connection between Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and vCJD. However, there were many people who were irreparably harmed by their lead plumbing and lead based paint (and lead enhanced fuels) before there was scientific evidence of lead’s effects on the nervous system and infant development. In addition, there were many people who died from infection’s received during surgery before there was scientific evidence of the existence of germs and bacteria. Just because there is no scientific evidence proving a link between feeding cows byproducts of BSE infected beef and the development of BSE in those cows does not mean that it is not true. Just because there is no scientific evidence proving a link between the eating of BSE infected beef and the development of vCJD does not mean that it is not true.
There is an old saying that goes something like, “Crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different to happen.“
If our own experience tells us that people who eat BSE infected beef seem to get vCJD and we do not want to get vCJD then the obvious thing to do is to stop eating BSE infected beef. If our own experience tells us that cows that are fed byproducts of BSE infected beef seem to get BSE and we do not want the cows to get BSE then the obvious thing to do is to stop feeding byproducts of BSE infected beef to cows.
Now I am all for personal responsibility, and trust me, I am personally going to be very suspicious of the beef I eat from now on. So, I am probably going to be eating only organic beef for the rare occasions when I eat beef for the foreseeable future. However, if the beef industry wants to get out from under this they will embrace change, they will actually call for government regulation. If they want anyone to trust them, ever again, they will not wait for scientific proof of a link.
No fixed plans. Not intent upon arriving.