Carine Klein wrote:
>
> How dangerous do you consider the threat of "mad cow Disease"in Elk and
> venison.These have been a staple of mine in the Paleo diet.

Check out this article: http://www.mercola.com/2002/aug/28/mad_cow.htm

It says you have a one-in-a-million chance of getting mad cow or CJD.
But on the other hand, the three young men who have died of it *may*
have all eaten elk from Colorado or Wyoming, and the disease is
spreading rapidly eastward. Now in Wisconsin. It doesn't seem to be
spreading in the way they think mad cow was spreading--by feeding ground
up animals to livestock--because deer don't eat each other. They don't
know how it's being transmitted. Where I live in Vermont, the Fish and
Wildlife department says we have a very health deer population. But by
the time I hear about it having spread as far east as Ohio I'm going to
stay away from local venison, sadly.