마이클 그래거 박사가 캘리포니아 광우병 확인과 관련하여 2012년 4월 25일자 허핑턴 포스트지에 <캘리포니아 광우병 : 젖뗀 송아지에게 소 피를 먹이지 말라>는 제목으로 기고한 글입니다.
송아지에게 소피를 원료로 만든 먹이는 동종식육에 해당된다는 내용입니다.
Mad Cow California: Stop Weaning Calves on Cattle Blood
- By Michael Greger
Huffington Post, April 25, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-greger-md/california-mad-cow-disease_b_1450984.html
I was still in medical training when I was called to testify in defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous “meat defamation” trial. If you remember, Oprah swore she would never eat another burger again after hearing that cows were being fed the remains of other cattle. After she tried to remind the audience that cows were supposed to be herbivores, the meat industry representative defended the practice by stating, “Now keep in mind, before you view the ruminant animal, the cow, as simply a vegetarian — remember that they drink milk.” The absurdity of the statement aside, it’s not even entirely accurate. In modern agribusiness, humans drink the milk. Calves typically get milk “replacer.”
Like all mammals, cows can produce milk only after they’ve had a baby. Most newborn calves in the United States are separated from their mothers within 12 hours — many immediately after birth — so the mother’s milk can be marketed for human consumption. Though some dairy farmers still wean calves on whole milk, the majority of producers use milk replacer, which too often contains spray-dried cattle blood as a cheap source of protein.
According to the American Protein Corporation, which boasts to be the world’s largest spray-dryer of blood, the chief disadvantage of blood-based milk replacer is simply its “different color.” Milk replacer containing blood concentrate typically has a “chocolate brown” color, which can leave a dark residue on the bottles, buckets, and utensils used to feed the liquid. “For some producers,” a company official remarked, “the difference is difficult to accept at first, since the product does not look ‘like milk.’” But the “[c]alves don’t care,” he was quick to add.
The calves may not care, but Stanley Prusiner does. Prusiner won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of prions, the infectious proteins that cause mad cow disease. He was quoted in the New York Times as calling the practice of feeding cattle blood to young calves “a really stupid idea,” because it could complete the “cannibalistic” circuit blamed for the spread of the disease.
The European Commission also recommended against the practice of “intraspecies recycling of ruminant blood and blood products” — the practice of suckling calves on cows’ blood protein. Even excluding the fact that brain matter may pass into the trough that collects the blood once an animal’s throat is slit, the Commission report concluded a decade ago that “[a]s far as ruminant blood is concerned, it is considered that the best approach to protect public health at present is to assume that it could contain low levels of infectivity.” Since then, evidence that blood can be infectious has only grown, yet dairy calves in the United States are still drinking up to three cups of “red blood cell protein” concentrate every day.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration initially proposed to ban the feeding of blood and blood products to livestock, the agency ended up reneging on their much touted promise. Let’s hope that the newly reported case of mad cow disease in a California dairy cow will renew interest in closing the loopholes in feed regulations that continue to allow the feeding of slaughterhouse waste, blood and manure to farm animals in the United States.
“소 피를 먹고 자라는 송아지가 문제”소의 혈액으로 만든 인공우유로 송아지 사육…광우병 전파 우려
2012-04-26 05:13 | 워싱턴=CBS이기범 특파원
http://www.nocutnews.co.kr/show.asp?idx=2126282
광우병 파동을 계기로 미국내에서는 동물성 사료를 이용해 소를 사육하는 것이 금지됐지만 일부 목장은 소의 혈액으로 만든 ‘인공우유’로 송아지를 키우고 있어 광우병 위험을 키우고 있다고 미국의 허핑턴포스트가 25일(한국시각) 보도했다.
‘인공우유’는 소의 인후를 절제해 혈액을 추출한 뒤 이를 고압으로 분사,건조시켜 만드는데 진짜 우유의 단백질 성분을 대신할 수 있다.
미국의 목장에서는 송아지가 출산하면 12시간 내에 어미소와 격리시킨 뒤 인공 우유로 사육한다. 대신 어미소의 우유는 상품으로 팔린다.
문제는 ‘광우병’에 감염된 소의 혈액이 인공우유로 만들어져 송아지들에게 대량으로 공급될 가능성이 있다는 것.
이 때문에 유럽연합은 이미 10년전부터 반추동물의 혈액과 부산물을 반추동물에 사용하는 것을 자제하도록 했다.
광우병을 일으키는 프리온 단백질을 발견해 노벨의학상을 수상한 스텐리 프러시너 박사 역시 뉴욕타임즈와 인터뷰에서 “소의 혈액을 이용한 인공우유는 매우 바보같은 생각”이라며 이는 광우병 전파의 경로를 완성할 수 있다고 비판했다.
미 식품의약품안전청(FDA) 역시 인공우유를 이용한 가축사육 금지안을 한때 제안했으나 슬그머니 없던 일로 했다고 허핑턴포스트는 전했다.
