bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent
BSE agent

In theory, the modified mice would mimic human response to the BSE agent.

Once the host-range of the BSE agent was found to be beyond that of cattle, the Southwood Committee should have been immediately recon-vened.

"This is being accurate. . . . If a pregnant woman gets an infectious virus, for example the BSE agent, you have two people to think about.

And yet, as the Quantitative Risk Assessment stated in its conclusion, "the entire risk assess-ment considers scrapie infected sheep as the only source of the BSE agent."

The USA has only recently banned the feeding of scrapie-infected sheep to cattle, and furthermore has no animal carcass disposal plants operating to the standards required to destroy the BSE agent.

Although we might consider that there is now virtually no risk as regards AIDS, it is vital that we take all known measures to eradicate all risks of transmitting the BSE agent.

"This study provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that the BSE agent is responsible for the emergence of the new form of CJD in humans," the researchers wrote.11 One experiment in progress seemed to offer a ray of hope.

The report noted that "the United States produces 8 times more animal rendered product than the United Kingdom, but concluded that the "risk of introducing the BSE agent through sheep meat and bone meal is more acute in both relative and absolute terms in the United Kingdom."