Mad Deer/Elk Disease Is Spreading

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The Denver Post reports that "Sixty-three elk exposed to chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a Del Norte ranch were exported to at least five states and three other Colorado ranches... Chronic wasting disease is ... related to mad cow disease. Unlike that disease, it has not been shown to infect humans." That's one spin to put on this issue, but the fact is that there is also no proof that CWD cannot infect humans, and laboratory evidence indicates that it might. There have also been a number of deaths of young people in the US from the human equivalent of mad cow disease and suspicions remain that they may have contracted the disease from the deer or elk they consumed. Unfortunately government officials and the US livestock industry are repeating many of the disastrous mistakes made in Britain with mad cow disease, such as assuming that people cannot contract it. We report on this issue in our book Mad Cow USA.