Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease International Support Alliance (CJDISA) Urges Immediate Repair of Damaged Firewall Leading to US Meat Recall

Washington, DC – March 3, 2008 – In response to the USDA’s recently announced meat recall after the discovery of Westland/Hallmark’s practice of processing “downer cows,” the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease International Support Alliance (CJDISA) announced that present day meat inspection must be overhauled. Members of the CJDISA include The CJD Support Group Network of Australia, The CJD Support Network of Japan, The CJD Alliance of the U.K, The U.K CJD Support Network, The Associazone Italiana Encefalopatie da Prione of Italy, CJD Insight of the United States and The United States CJD Foundation.

”Ensuring a safe U.S. food supply is the responsibility of the U.S. Government, and must not be crisis driven,” says Florence Kranitz, president of the U.S. CJD Foundation and co-chairman of the CJD International Support Alliance.

According to Ms. Kranitz, the members of the CJDISA denounce the negligent practices uncovered at Westland/Hallmark that have possibly exposed the entire U.S. meat-eating population to pathogenic diseases, the most lethal being the human form of "mad cow" disease or variant CJD (vCJD). “This form of the 100% fatal brain disease is one that humans can be protected against through stringent BSE inspection practices," says Ms. Kranitz. "We urge the U.S. government to take all possible measures to reinforce the firewalls, which appear to have collapsed between the cattle industry's special interests and those of unsuspecting consumers.”

The recent events surrounding the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company highlight many of the problems inherent in the USDA’s BSE surveillance policy, the CJDISA believes. In response to the public statement issued by the USDA that the risk from the recalled meat is “negligible,” the CJDISA believes a more appropriate reply would be to say that the risk is “unknown." This can be clearly evidenced by the tragic consequences of the United Kingdom’s BSE surveillance practices in the mid 1990’s. By allowing BSE infected meat to enter their food chain, British meat inspectors put the entire country at risk for contracting a variant of CJD (vCJD). One hundred and fifty young adults to date have subsequently fallen victim to this new form of CJD suspected to have been contracted by ingesting contaminated beef through school lunch programs. The CJDISA additionally points to the long incubation period (up to 40 years) of CJD, leaving the reality unknown of exactly how many individual lives will be affected. This form of CJD is now also recognized to be contracted through ingesting BSE contaminated meat products, baby food, and medicinal compounds and as recently discovered, through the U.K. blood bank supply.

The CJD International Support Alliance was founded in 2006 by a group of grassroots nonprofit organizations who share a vital commitment to prion disease victims, their families and those at risk for prion disease and to support prion disease research in hopes of finding a cure for this 100% fatal brain disease. They also act together as a watchdog organization.

As an international organization, we implore the U.S. Congress to undertake a rigorous investigation of the current meat inspection processes and to take strong action to correct the exposed unsafe practices in order to regain public trust.

Contact Information:
Florence Kranitz
330-665-5590
florence@cjdfoundation.org
www.cjdfoundation.org