Brain Trust. Chapters 19 - 21

1. Brain Trust

Chapters 19 - 21

2. Chapter 19

The Monitors

3.

1964: Gaylord Hartsough provided evidence of a
scrapie-like disease in cows at a NIH conference
Late 1960s: Ranchers began finding their cattle dead
with their organs surgically removed
Occurred in 15 states including South Dakota, Montana, New
Mexico and Texas
Correlation between the spread of CWD and the number of
reports of mutilated cattle in Colorado and Wyoming
1974: A mutilated buck deer was found with removed
sex organs 85 miles south of Twin Cities, Minnesota

4.

1975: Governor Richard D. Lamm of Colorado called
the mass mutilations “one of the greatest outrages in
the history of the western cattle industry” and the press
began to take notice
Rewards for $10,000+ were offered for information leading to
the mutilators and their potential arrest
1980s: A series of investigations were launched but
nobody was caught or charged
The idea became a joking matter due to media hype and the
idea that aliens in UFOs were responsible for the mutilations

5. Cow Mutilations

The most common organs that were found missing were the
reproductive organs, anus/large intestine, eye and tongue
This makes sense because when a cow ingests
contaminated feed, the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small
intestine, large intestine, and then internal organs become
prion-infected
A study in January 2003 showed high levels of prions in hamster
tongues after initial prion infection
Prions can accumulate in the lens of the eyes of CJD patients
Also, the prion disease could be spread to offspring and the
area surrounding the site of childbirth

6. Evidence

Kelleher discovered formaldehyde in the eye of a mutilated
cow, which could be used to prevent local wildlife from
eating the infected tissue of the mutilated cows
Tranquilizers and sedative chemicals (oxindole, ketamine
and succinylcholine) were also found, most likely to
immobilize and euthanize the cows
Succinylcholine is especially hard to find because its byproducts
resemble normal bodily byproducts
In a case 20 miles from Great Falls, Minnesota, a largegauge needle was found under a carcass
Could have been used to drain the entire cow in 30 minutes

7. Potential Explanations

Veterinarians often explained the cause of mutilations as
“predators and scavengers”
Kelleher predicts that the mutilations were a technique for
tracking an infected organism and monitoring its spread via
helicopter
This technique was used in 1993 when anthrax was causing
high wildlife mortality rates
Ranchers suggest their cows are lifted into the aircraft and then
returned after the mutilation
Who do you think is responsible for the mutilations and
why are they so secretive? Is this a good technique?

8. Chapter 20

Hot Zone

9. Canada

May 2003: The provincial government of Alberta released a
news report about the quarantine of an Alberta farm for an
investigation of a BSE case
Still encourage people to consume beef
The United States appeared to have shut out Canadian beef
Secretly allowed the importation of millions of tons of Canadian
beef while telling the American public otherwise
How did the government’s response to the BSE case in
Alberta affect other ranchers? Do you think there was
really only one case?

10.

The BSE-positive cow was traced back to
Saskatchewan where potentially CWD-infected elk
could have entered the cow feed
Scrapie-positive sheep along with nine cases of CWD
in elk were found in the same area between 1996 and
2003
Alberta and Saskatchewan were also subject to several
cattle mutilations in 1979 and a man died from CJD
Are the three separate outbreaks of prion disease a
coincidence or are they connected?

11. Chapter 21

U.S. Mad Cow

12.

December 2003: The first official case of mad cow
disease in the US was announced in Washington State
USDA announced that the cow was from Canada
Mad mink inoculations from the 1990s occurred 12 miles
from the location of this case
USDA recalled beef in many western states and
announced restrictions regarding the contents of
ground beef
A 2003 USDA survey found that 35% of randomly sampled
ground beef contained “unacceptable level of brain tissue”
Richard Marsh and other BSE experts were finally
given credit and taken seriously

13.

FDA announced that they would work to close three
loopholes created by the USDA regarding feeding
cattle to other cattle:
Feeding poultry excrement to cattle since poultry feed
includes cattle remains
Feeding restaurant waste including beef to cattle
Feeding cattle and sheep blood to cattle and calves to bulk
them
The FDAs proposal never reached the Federal
Register so no regulation to fill the loopholes ever
actually took place until summer of 2004
NVSL, a central testing facility in Ames, Iowa was
relocated due to limited security and close proximity to
other businesses

14. Falsified Records?

USDA position stated that the cow was killed for being
a downer and follow up inspections discovered BSE
Dave Louthan and three other witnesses say the cow
could walk and appeared healthy on the day of
slaughter
What do you think is the truth? What motive does
the lying party have to falsify the information?

15.

The USDA and the cattle industry continue to tell
Americans that eating beef is safe

16.

The USDA announces that it would test 120,000 of the
nation’s slaughtered animals
Meanwhile, 58 countries refused American beef,
especially Japan who tested 100% of the cows that the
public ate
The USDA refused to allow Creekstone Farms
Premium Beef of Kentucky to test every cow because
that would not be “scientifically warranted”
Why do you think the government refused such a
precautionary measure?

17.

The USDA announces that it would test 120,000 of the
nation’s slaughtered animals
Meanwhile, 58 countries refused American beef,
especially Japan who tested 100% of the cows that the
public ate
The USDA refused to allow Creekstone Farms
Premium Beef of Kentucky to test every cow because
that would not be “scientifically warranted”
Why do you think the government refused such a
precautionary measure?

18.

May 2004: A second mad cow case popped up in Texas but
the USDA quickly covered it up
A downer cow that was “unfit for human consumption” was sent
to a rendering plant
Led to an investigation of the USDA that found that only 3 of the
350,000 cattle that had been slaughtered at Lone Star Beef
facility between 2002 and 2003 were actually tested for BSE
June 2004: USDA initiated a plan to implement a 4-hour
rapid screening test on 220,000 downer cows in 18 months
2 animals tested BSE-positive but the IHC “gold standard”
assay reported these animals negative
Meanwhile, an unnoticed epidemic in the 1980s affecting an
estimated 50,000 cows was discovered to have occurred in
France and a 7th person died of variant CJD