On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, Christy ten Broeke wrote:
>
> Last night it was on tv that in the UK, where 70 deadly victims of CJD
> fell, there had been a cover-up by the government.  In order not to
> create panic amongst the public and keep sales of beef high, the
> government agreed to present the dangers of eating BSE contaminated beef
> as low.  Also no real actions were taken to keep contaminated beef out
> of the consumptionline.
> Since in the early 60's a cannibal tribe in NewGuinnea had had 'Kuru' (
> CJD) it was well established how the disease occured and could be
> prevented.


CJD, BSE, and Kuru share a common heritage, and are thought to be
caused by
abnormal proteins known as prions. Due to the transport of live
animals around
the world, BSE is now found in both Europe and the USA. The disease is
well
known in the UK, but other countries may not be as aware as they ought
to be
about it. The USA has two other versions of its own,  CWD (Chronic
Wasting
Disease) which affects wild deer, and MED (Mad Elk Disease) affecting
the moose
population.

[snip]

> Supermarket fruits contained far higher doses of pestcontrols that had
> been sprayed on them than was allowed.  GMF were not always mentioned
> and quantities of vitamines were misleading.

A classic case of deliberately misleading the public has been exposed
here in the
UK. There is a very popular brand of orange drink called 'Sunny D'
which is
heavily promoted to mothers as a source of goodness for their
offspring,
even though it is made of the usual rubbish (water, sugar, flavoring
and the
smallest possible amount of real orange). The twist is that it is
always sold
from a chiller cabinet in the supermarkets, implying some sort of
threat of
spoilage. An employee of the company has revealed that the product can
be
stored for months on an ordinary shelf with no ill effects, and that
the
chiller cabinet is simply a form of advertising ploy to suggest that
the
product is some how 'fresh' ! I wonder how many other examples there
are like
this.


Andy