Vegan Health ArticlesThe British Government Moves to Protect the Blood Supply from Mad Cow Disease
A look at potential trans-species prion and gene-splicing problems, and the moral and ethical aspects of what we are doing.
A Vegan Health Article from All-Creatures.org

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By: Frank L. Hoffman

On 17 July 1998 the British Government announced that it was instituting new measures to reduce the risk of spreading the human form of Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), according to an Associated Press report.   Following a report that three of the twenty-five British victims of CJD were also blood donors, the British Government moved to implement new blood purification methods, which would utilize a system known as leukodepletion, which involves removing white blood cells from the blood supply used for human transfusions.  One government official reported that they estimate that one in 250 blood donors may have blood contaminated with the prion that causes CJD, the trans-species form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease.

From what we have come to understand about the reaction of the prion that causes CJD is that it alters the normal cell growth structures, much in the same way as could be found in gene-splicing experiments.  The questions remain: Is the prion that causes CJD only contained in the white blood cells?  Has there also been some gene alteration within the body of the host that is being passed on to others through blood donation transfusions in ways we don't yet understand?

In Genesis chapter 1, we are told that God created the plants and animals after their kind, and we know from experimentations that it is very difficult to cross species lines.  God created them with a natural protection.  What we seem to have done, by feeding animals to vegetarian animals, has caused a trans-species migration of disease.  What about the animal genes we are splicing into vegetables?   What about the human genes we are splicing into other animals?  Are these experiments also going to cause some form of trans-species migration of diseases?  We simply don't know the answers, and we are moving head-long into the use of such products without fully understanding the long term effect.  God knew what He was doing when He created the earth and all it contains.  Now we are saying we can do a better job.   We can play at being God, too.  Satan thought he could be God, and he failed, but in his failing he led a third of the host of heaven into the destruction he caused.   Are we who play at being God likewise going to lead others into destruction, as one of the plagues of the tribulation period described in Revelation?  This is an ethical and moral problem that needs our immediate and careful attention.


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All-Creatures.org Health Position and Disclaimer

We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a whole food vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.