EATING LAMB COULD KILL YOU

Thousands of people could die from eating lamb products contaminated with BSE, warned a report published this week. Sheep can catch BSE by eating infected feed, and they carry the infection in more edible tissue than do cattle - which means that eating mutton is potentially much riskier than eating beef. As yet, there is no hard evidence that sheep have been infected with the disease, but scientists believe there is no hard evidence that sheep have been infected with the disease, but scientists believe there is a strong likelihood that it has occurred. With this in mind, researcher at Imperial College London assessed the likely risk to human health - and come up with a worst-case scenario in which 150,000 people could die. The scientists also calculated that the risk could be reduced by 90% if sheep offal were banned from human consumption. British sheep are known to have eaten infected feed in the Eighties, but no one knows whether they actually got BSE because it's symptoms are similar to scrapie, a well-established disease in sheep which does not affect humans.
The Week 19th January 2002

CTM Comment: This type of non-scientific, scare-mongering rubbish is what the media is great at accomplishing, more's the pity. To get the proper perspective on what mad cow disease is, and its links with excess phosphorus given to farm animals, obtain a copy of "Plague, Pestilence and the Pursuit of Power" by Steven Ransom, available at www.credence.org