Mad Cow Disease The Great British Beef Scandal.

[HelenaDove]

Is anyone else watching?

[HelenaDove]

Apparently the incubation period for this disease depends on your gene type. MM MV or VV are the 3 types ALL the people who died in the first wave were MM

[catchyjem]

Just watched this. Now sort of wish I hadn't! I shudder when I remember all the cheap hamburgers I ate for school lunch everyday in the late 80's.

[HelenaDove]

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/is-mad-cow-disease-set-to-strike-again-its-been-20-years-since-cjd-claimed-almost-180-victims-but-scientists-believe-we-may-be-on-the-verge-of-a-new-epidemic/ar-AAE8Fzd?ocid=st

[HelenaDove]

@catchyjem as a teen i pretty much ate anything including hamburgers from the van at local markets. Ditto school as you said

[justasking111]

I wonder if folk aren`t dying at the moment and because they are old autopsies are not carried out.

[BedraggledBlitz]

Horrific. I remember it, I was a kid and was really worried at the time. The documentary said it was in blood transfusions too, so not just beef.

Those poor families losing their children.

There aren't many diseases that are unquestionably terminal these days. How worrying.

[GalactiCat]

I think a lot more people died than 180. My husband's father had CJD. He had a secondary infection in the hospital due to all the tubes (pneumonia) which is what they put on the death certificate as killing him.

[justasking111]

I think you are right Cat. It is a very specific autopsy I seem to recall involving brain tissue being checked.

[HelenaDove]

Excellent point @justasking111

[HelenaDove]

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/11/mad-cow-disease-the-great-british-beef-scandal-review-is-it-really-gone-for-good?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[HelenaDove]

"Nobody who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 is allowed to donate blood in any other country because they may be incubating vCJD"

[Faultymain5]

Watched this with my husband. He says it was scarier than The Ring. We're sitting here thinking about how someone decided that cannibalism for cows would work out well for us. And the first place they decide to poison is schools.

How on earth people trust the government and big business to look after is beyond me. The food is not safe, sweeteners are not safe, what else do they say is safe, that we really dont know? How exactly can we trust them?

[HelenaDove]

it was bloody horrifying. Thatcher brought those changes to school dinners in in early 80s

[GirlRaisedInTheSouth]

It's terrifying, isn't it? We just don't know what is in meat. Processed meat has also since been classified as a carcinogen. Cases of people dying from Salmonella and other meat-based diseases are on the rise, too.

I went vegan after the horse meat scandal. At the time people were like "GRITS, why are vegan? You're not a hippie." To which my response was: "I want to live."

[HelenaDove]

I do on rare occasions eat white meat but havent ate red meat for decades.

[HelenaDove]

*eaten

[justasking111]

It has an incubation period of up to fifty years

[HelenaDove]

Yes and going by the programme its pre determined by your gene type

I probably need to watch the last fifteen mins again to get all the sciency bits.

[TurquoiseDress]

I only caught bits of this towards the end- it's pretty horrifying

It does make sense that the genetic variants determine when the disease "shows itself" and all those who died were the same profile

The footage from Papua New Guinea was eerie....the story of how they ate parts of deceased relatives including brain matter.

I remember all the scandal in the 90s- it made me definitely want to have packed lunch at school and it put me off burgers/red meat for years

Very interesting program and with a large amount of foreboding for what might be round the corner for the UK

[TurquoiseDress]

I'm going to try and watch it again on catch up/whatever it's called

[cushioncovers]

Watching it now.

[MadamePompadour]

It's still possible it's in blood transfusions today.

I believe it's also possible for it to be transferred in an operation from previously used instruments. I read the prions aren't killed by standard autoclaving?

[HelenaDove]

Yes you dont have to be a meat eater to possibly be affected.

[HelenaDove]

Then there is all the talk about the deregulation of food after Brexit.

[BertieBotts]

I don't know if I should watch it or not - it scares the crap out of me. I was only little so I have no idea if I was eating this stuff or not - but probably. My parents aren't the type to be overly cautious about such things

There was a question ages ago on ask reddit which was something about what stuff sounds like science fiction but is actually reality and is fucking terrifying? Prions was one of the answers.