Subject: Re: slow viruses and organic fertilizers
From: William D Hulet <whulet@uoguelph.ca>
Organization: University of Guelph
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 22:19:23 -0400
Message-ID: <MOD$970811.6930@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970809.15352@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
On Sat, 9 Aug 1997, Tonymsrad wrote:
>
> I know that slow viruses (such as "mad cow"disease, etc.,) are not killed
> at temperatures lower than about 250 degrees. Are bone meal, blood meal,
> etc., heated during processing?
>
Mad cow disease isn't caused by a virus but by something else (I
think it's called a "prion"). The bad news is that heat doesn't hurt
these puppies. Not only will cooking your steak well-done not protect
you, even if you auto-clave it (ie: how they sterilize surgical tools)
they still survive and can infect you! Which just goes to show that we
probably shouldn't be feeding sheep guts to cows. Thanks for adding to my
anxiety quota. Even though I'm a vegetarian now I have to worry about the
bloodmeal I'm putting on my tulips to keep the squirrels from digging up
the bulbs!