대만 국민들이 유럽인이나 미국인들보다 더 광우병에 민감하여, 유전적으로 광우병에 걸릴 위험이 높다(Genetically, Taiwanese people are a high-risk group for vCJD)는 대만과학자
金克寧(Klim King)의 언론(타이페이타임즈) 기고문입니다.
대만 국민들 중 98%가 프리온 단백질 129번 코돈이 MM형이라는 2007년의 연구결과((Wang et al, 2007)를 인용하고 있습니다.
대만은 광우병 비발생국이지만 미국산 쇠고기가 수입될 경우 광우병 위험이 높아지며, 쿠루의 경우 잠복기가 50년이나 된다는 점도 강조하고 있습니다.
또한 소의 내장( innards)을 먹는 대만 국민의 식습관에 대해서도 언급하고 있습니다.
이 기고문에 보면, “일단 병원성 프리온이 대만에 들어온다면, 대만은 세계의 어느 지역보다도 인간광우병이 전파되는 가장 민감한 곳이 될 것이다.Once the infectious prion reaches Taiwan, Taiwan will be more susceptible than perhaps anywhere else in the world to the spread of vCJD in humans.” 고 주장하고 있습니다.
金克寧(Klim King)의 기고문은 대만 국민이 인간광우병 유전자에 가장 취약한 유전형을 가지고 있고, 대만 국민들은 내장까지 먹는 식습관을 가지고 있으므로 병원성 프리온에 노출될 경우 세계에서 가장 광우병에 걸릴 확률이 높은 민족이다는 주장을 한 것으로 볼 수 있습니다.
따라서 이 내용은 PD수첩의 방송 내용과 거의 유사합니다. PD수첩은 과학적 사실에 입각한 정직한 방송을 했을 뿐인데 검찰에 체포된 바 있고, 지금은 정운천 전 농식품부장관과 민동석 전 농식품부 통상정책관이 자신들의 명예를 훼손했다고 검찰에 형사고발하여 현재 재판을 받고 있습니다.
과연 이러한 주장을 한 대만과학자 金克寧(Klim King)은 허위사실 유포나 명예훼손으로 대만 검찰의 조사를 받거나 대만 법원에 기소된 사실이 있을까요?
대한민국과 대만의 언론의 자유, 국민의 알권리, 민주화 정도를 직접적으로 비교하기 힘들겠지만, 이번 사례는 2009년 대한민국의 언론의 자유, 국민의 알권리, 민주화를 가늠해보는 시금석이 될 수 있다고 생각합니다.
==========================
Stop risky beef before it’s too late
By Klim King 金克寧
출처 : [타이페이타임즈] Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009, Page 8
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/11/17/2003458629
No matter whether one views the outcry over US beef imports as a scientific, political or diplomatic problem, it is a matter of keeping mad cow disease out of Taiwan, which has so far been free of it.
Unlike Europe, the US and Japan, Taiwan has had no cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, or its human equivalent — the transmissible variant of Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, variant CJD or vCJD for short.
However, objective medical evidence shows that Taiwan is more vulnerable than Europe and the US to the spread of vCJD. For the sake of this and future generations, we should resolve to keep Taiwan free of the illness, even if doing so is more costly for us than for other places.
Genetically, Taiwanese people are a high-risk group for vCJD. When scanning the gene sequences of vCJD patients, European and US scientists found three polymorphic subtypes of the prion protein gene (PRNP) at codon 129 — MM, MV and VV, referring to the pairing of amino acids methionine and valine. All patients infected with vCJD from bovine protein were found to have the MM genotype.
This finding clearly shows that people with the MM genotype are a high-risk group for infection with vCJD from cows with BSE.
In Britain, which has had more vCJD cases than any other country, only 38 percent of the population has this genotype, yet 100 percent of British vCJD patients had the MM-type gene. According to the work of Taiwanese researchers (Wang et al, 2007), as many as 98 percent of Taiwanese people have the MM genotype. It can therefore be said that almost everyone in Taiwan is a member of the high-risk group for vCJD.
UK scientists studying a 1950 outbreak of cannibalism-related human spongiform encephalopathy in Papua New Guinea, where the illness was called Kuru, found that when the disease was spread by the prion from human flesh, it could incubate in the human body for as long as 50 years (Collinge J et al, 2006).
In the Kuru case there was no species barrier to infection, since the disease-causing prion was passed from one member of the human species to another. In the case of beef prions, when they are passed from one species (cows) to another (humans), thereby crossing a species barrier, the incubation period may be even longer.
Research on the history of vCJD in the UK has shown that blood transfusions are one way in which the illness can be passed from one person to another. The scary thing is that blood donors may pass on the disease during the incubation period.
Clinical cases show that the blood of vCJD carriers is infectious for three-and-a-half years before the onset of symptoms. The vCJD prion can lurk within the human body for a long time, and at present there is no way of detecting it.
Potentially, it could be transferred through blood transfusions for up to 50 years, making the spread of the illness very hard to control.
A 2004 study revealed that in a UK survey of 12,700 surgically removed appendixes, three appendixes stained positively for prion protein accumulation. This indicates a higher-than-expected rate of CJD infection, equivalent at a national level to thousands of infected individuals (Hilton DA et al, J Pathol. 2004 Jul;203(3):733-9).
Taiwan is very densely populated and Taiwanese are accustomed to eating beef innards. These factors make it easier for mad cow disease to spread in Taiwan than in Europe and the US.
Once the infectious prion reaches Taiwan, Taiwan will be more susceptible than perhaps anywhere else in the world to the spread of vCJD in humans.
Mad cow disease has been documented in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan, but not in Taiwan. Although very few cows have been affected by the disease in the US, it is undeniable that eating imported organs and ground beef from US cattle would increase the chances of people getting vCJD in Taiwan.
To date there is no vaccine to prevent mad cow disease, and no cure for those infected. The only way to protect oneself from the illness is to avoid eating suspect beef products. Should we not, as ordinary members of the public, do what we can to keep Taiwan free of mad cow disease by refusing to eat suspect beef products?
The government and related research establishments, for their part, must fulfill their duty to inform the public. They should explain frankly that Taiwanese people are more susceptible to vCJD infection than people in other parts of the world.
Knowledge of the facts will help ordinary people understand why we should say no to products that could carry mad cow disease.
This will strengthen the public’s resolve to keep Taiwan free of the illness.
Klim King is chief executive officer of drug discovery at Viogene BioTek Corp
