Mad Cow facts

While investigating facts about Mad Cow Disease and Mad Cow Disease In Humans, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 2008, a Mad Cow Disease beef recall was impelled by a whistleblower who took illegal, undercover footage of the sick cows.

how mad cow disease started?

Cannibalism puts you at risk for prion disease (similar to mad cow), particularly if you eat human brains and bone marrow.

What mad cow disease does to humans?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what causes mad cow disease. Here are 36 of the best facts about Mad Cow Disease Uk and Mad Cow Disease Symptoms I managed to collect.

what's mad cow disease?

The consumption of red meat has been linked to health concerns including cancer, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, and mad cow disease.
Researchers have genetically engineered cattle to lack the protein which causes mad cow disease.
An official inquiry into Mad Cow disease concluded that the main cause was live cows being fed the remains of dead ones
There is a US Beef farm that wants to test all of its cows for Mad Cow Disease, and the US Government will not allow them to.
Prions, which are responsible for neurodegenerative diseases such as Mad Cow Disease, are not alive. They are misfolded proteins that induce other proteins to misfold in a similar fashion when they come in contact.
In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture threatened to sue farmers who tested their cattle for Mad Cow Disease on the grounds that it "might create the false impression that beef that is not tested is unsafe."
If you spent more than 3-6 months in the UK in the years 1980-1996 you cannot donate blood in the US, Australia, France, Germany and multiple other countries because of the possibility of passing on the human form of "mad cow disease". Also know as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD)
In 1990, the British Minister of Agriculture, John Gummer, fed his daughter a burger in front of the press to try to dispel growing fears about 'mad cow disease', BSE. 177 Brits went on to die from the human form of the disease, CJD.
Some restaurants in St. Louis serve fried brain sandwiches, and switched from beef to pork brains after Mad Cow Disease scares

mad cow facts — What is mad cow disease in humans?

Why is it called mad cow disease?

You can easily fact check why did mad cow disease start by examining the linked well-known sources.

1 in 2000 people in the UK have prions in their blood, which is what causes mad cow disease, in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and are at a high risk of getting said disease.

If you lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 you can’t give blood in Australia because of mad cow disease! - source

"researchers believe one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier of the disease linked to eating contaminated beef (vCJD)" aka, mad cow disease. - source

Prions are transmittable through air. Prions are responsible for mad cow and chronic wasting disease in animals, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, Kuru, and familial fatal insomnia in humans.

Because of Mad Cow Disease, you cannot donate blood if you spent 3 months or more in the UK between 1980 and 1996 - source

When mad cow disease started?

We feed cows to chickens to cows and that this is the way Mad Cow disease spreads.

How mad cow disease spreads?

There is a deadly prion (what Mad Cow Disease is) that is transmitted almost exclusively through funeral cannibalism. The last know person to be afflicted died in 2005, but the mean incubation period is 14 years,which leaves open the possibility that it may still exist.

Anyone who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 for 6 months or more is not allowed to donate blood in most other countries. This is due to no test being available for Creutzfeldt-Jakob (or 'Mad Cow') disease.

People who spent more than 3 months in the UK in the 80s or 90s are banned from donating blood in many countries like the US, Canada, and Ireland - in case the blood is tainted with Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad-cow) disease.

Certain misfolded proteins, called prions, can act as infectious agents, causing an incurable, always fatal neurodegenerative disease. It is spread mostly via cannibalism, and is responsible for both Mad Cow disease in bovine, as well as Kuru disease in humans.

Cats can be effected by the Mad Cow prion

When was mad cow disease?

The human form of mad cow disease, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), causes the brain to develop a texture similar to that of a kitchen sponge.

The US only tests 40,000 cattle out of 34 million slaughtered per year for mad cow, despite there being a positive test as recent as 2012.

People who lived in the U.K., France, Saudi Arabia and Western Europe over certain periods of time can't donate blood due to Mad-Cow Disease outbreaks

The USDA blocked a farm from testing their own cattle for Mad Cow Disease, allegedly to protect other producers from being forced to conduct the same tests to stay competitive. They then cut their own testing budget by 90%

How mad cow disease is caused?

About John Gummer: UK minister of agriculture (89-93), who refuted the links between beef and ‘mad-cow disease’ (vCJD). To counter the growing evidence he fed his 4-year old daughter a burger in front of the press. The link was confirmed within 6 years; vCJD is still being diagnosed today

Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease or Mad Cow Disease can have an incubation period of 20-50 years.

About John Gummer: UK Minister of Agriculture (89-93), who refuted the links between beef and ‘mad-cow disease’ (vCJD). To counter the growing evidence he fed his 4-year old daughter a burger in front of the press. The link was confirmed within 6 years; vCJD is still being diagnosed today.

Beef producers once sued Oprah Winfrey for causing $11 million in damages for simply for mentioning that she stopped eating burgers during a show about mad cow disease.

Beef prices tanked when Oprah Winfrey did a show about "Mad Cow Disease", where she claimed she would never eat another burger again. The Beef industry sued her but Oprah was acquitted. Oprah's lawyer was Phil McGraw who would later earn his own show called the "Dr. Phil show".

As a Brit living in Australia I can't give blood as they're worried I might have latent mad cow disease.

The French use the expression "The English have landed(Les Anglais ont debarqué)" to say a woman is on her period and Finns use "Hullum lechman tauti" (Mad cow disease).

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Mad Cow. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Mad Cow so important!