The Warsaw Voice / Robert Szymczak
In Poland there is precious little risk of becoming infected with Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD), according to the Polish Chief Sanitary Inspector Pawel Policzkiewicz. The government is doing all it can to avoid public panic. "The chance of illnesses deriving from BSE is quite low in Poland," said Policzkiewicz at a press conference Jan. 31. For two months there has been a total ban on importing beef from countries where there have been cases of BSE, the so-called mad cows disease. Sanitary inspectors have been withdrawing all products containing beef protein imported from these countries from shops.
Between Nov. 28, 2000 and Jan. 26, 2001, around 40,000 stores of varying sizes were inspected. Inspectors withdrew around 1,000 kg of canned meat, 7,000 kg of cold cuts, 8,000 kg of gelatin, 400 kg of frozen meat and 800 kg of raw meat and other meat products.
Policzkiewicz said that most of the stores accepted the decisions and helped carry out the inspections. There were only sporadic cases of intentional illegal behavior. The inspectors have reported that there is less and less of these types of meat products on store shelves. "This means our borders are tight," said Policzkiewicz. "We frequently withdraw products that are then re-admitted for sale, because they are found to be safe."
Policzkiewicz described as "insignificant" the possibility of becoming infected with CJD through the consumption of sweets and yogurts, which contain gelatin made of bone meal. Products such as chewing gum and yogurt were checked. However, experts point out that pork-based gelatin can have up to 15 percent beef additives--which does not show up in the tests.
Policzkiewicz repeatedly claimed that Poland is a country with low BSE risk, since Polish farmers generally avoid using meat and bone meal to feed their animals. Only 2 percent of bone meal imported or produced in Poland is added to animal fodder. There is also virtually no chance that the protein in question could have found its way into medicine or vaccines. The European Union requires certificates of safety for source material used in the production of medical products. As a result, such products are mainly made from fish and pork protein. Any beef protein used comes from specially controlled herds, kept in isolation. In spite of this, the registration of medical products has begun again in Poland. According to Policzkiewicz, customs and veterinary services are functioning satisfactorily, which reduces the risk of BSE breaking out.
"Knowledge of BSE is constantly evolving," said Prof. Pawel Liberski from the Academy of Medicine in Poznan, during the press conference. "Until recently, it was believed that cattle less than 30 months old was free of the disease, but recently a case of BSE was discovered in a 28-month-old animal." Liberski also said that the number of people suffering from variant CJD caused by BSE prions will probably be lower than previously estimated. In Britain, where just a few months ago there was talk of millions of sufferers, the number is now estimated as 150,000 at most. "However, these are just estimates, we still don't know a lot about the illness," said Liberski. "We don't know how long the incubation period is, we only know that the shortest recorded was 13 years, and the longest 40 years. We also do not know the dose of prions needed to become infected."
CJD can be detected by testing the palatine glands and appendix, and such tests have already been carried out in the Britain. The disease was not found in any of the 3,000 people tested. In Britain, the cattle variant of CJD has been discovered in 88 people, in France in three, and in Ireland in one person.
The Polish government has decided to implement "Plan A," testing all cattle that have died or been sent to be slaughtered suffering from neurological symptoms. In addition, a randomly-chosen 3 percent sample of EU cattle over 30 months old is being tested. This activity already costs zl.9 million annually.
However, it may be necessary to institute stronger measures. Only one Polish cow dead from BSE, or an EU demand for proof that Poland is free from the disease and the government will implement "Plan B," the testing of all slaughtered cattle in Poland--around half a million annually. The cost of this would be around zl.170 million annually.
In Poland there has only been one laboratory specializing in BSE detection until now. Testing one sample takes around seven or eight hours, plus the time it takes to transport the sample. There is a need for at least four more such laboratories, in different regions of the country, to broaden the possibility of testing for BSE. The cost of equipping one laboratory is around zl.9 million--the amount the government currently spends annually to fight BSE.
