Mad cows were more than what they said

2002/10/09 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Abeltzaintza
• Albaitaritza
• Nekazaritza
• Osasuna

Scientists at Imperial College London have explained that the mad cow epidemic in Britain was twice as much as it was then said.

Experts say that since the onset of mad cow disease 2 million became ill. For the calculation of the new figure, biochemical studies have been carried out to 14,000 heads of livestock killed in 1999 and 2000, comparing the data obtained with the number of livestock heads that existed in Britain at the time.

Data published in previous years only took into account cows with clear symptoms of disease development. But because mad cow disease develops very slowly, no more than one sick cow may be detected. To this must be added all cases hidden by ranchers and veterinarians.

However, according to experts, that the number of sick cows is double that declared does not mean that it occurs in humans.