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Lamebrained Denial: What I Have Learned About Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease)
The leading theory is that Mad Cow disease originates from feeding cattle the rendered remains of Scrapie-infected sheep and other dead animal byproducts. A human disease of unknown origin but very similar to Mad Cow is called Creutzfeldt-Jacobs Disease (CJD). The autopsied brain tissue of a person with CJD looks like the brain tissue of a cow with Mad Cow, and vice versa -- full of small holes. When Mad Cow is transmitted to humans, a shorter incubation can apply, and the disease is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jacobs Disease (vCJD). What is a consumer to do? Know where and how your meat is raised and slaughtered. Avoid the madness and eat grass-fed, organically raised animals. As John Stauber says, there is no need to become a vegetarian, but the animals you eat must be vegetarian.