Scientists are worried that people who eat farmed fish that are fed cattle byproducts could get mad cow disease, according to an article in the new issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) is known as Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. It is untreatable and always fatal.
Most nations have outlawed feeding cattle byproducts to other cattle because the disease spreads easily within the same species.
But neurologist Dr. Robert P. Friedland of the University of Louisville in Kentucky also wants the government to ban feeding cow meat or bone meal to farm-raised fish until the safety of this widespread practice can be established.
Friedland and his colleagues contend that it is theoretically possible for a disease to spread if someone eats a carrier (such as a farm-raised fish) that is not infected but might be carrying disease-causing elements from an infected animal.
“The fact that no cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease have been linked to eating farmed fish does not assure that feeding rendered cow parts to fish is safe," Friedland said. "The incubation period of these diseases may last for decades, which makes the association between feeding practices and infection difficult. Enhanced safeguards need to be put in place to protect the public.”
In the United Kingdom, 163 deaths from Creutzfeldt Jakob disease have been linked to eating beef infected with mad cow disease. In Canada, the disease has been found in nine cows, and in the United States, three.
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