Amancister Farming, Saturday, July 15.1995
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Pennsylvania milk haul
ers are now exempt from the
80.000- weight limit, and
can enjoy a new cap of 95,000
pounds, consistent with surround
ing New York state, thanks to
legislation signed into law this
week by Gov. Tom Ridge.
“Passage of this measure was
made possible through a combined
effort of dairy industry leaders and
legislators,” said Charles Brosius,
state secretary of agriculture.
“The exemption will translate
into increased profits for Pennsyl
vania’s dairy farmers by allowing
them to be competitive with New
York state which already has a
95.000- weight limit for
trucks.
“It impacts every cooperative,
milk hauler and dairy farmer in the
commonwealth.”
The new law allows milk haul
ers to carry 60,000 pounds of milk,
plus the 33,000 pound weight of
the truck, which means haulers
really are to enjoy a 45,000-pound
increase.
Milk being hauled from Pen
nsylvania farms to New York City
costs as much as 12.5 cents per
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) There have been some
carefull, if not hesitant, public
reports about the cause of Scrapie
Disease in sheep and similar dis
eases in other mammals.
That’s because, exactly what
causes these diseases is not known.
Most published reports refer to
it at an agent, andthough some dif
fering theories abound, what
seems the most logical so far is that
the agent is an especially small
virus-like pathogen that cloaks
itself in protein from the brain.
The immune system of the host
animal apparently doesn’t recog
nize the agent as foreign because
no antibodies are produced, which
would seem to support the theory
that the agent assimilates proteins
from the host
According to a scientific paper
authored by R.H. Kimberlin, it is
possible that the disease is caused
by a virus-like agent, although
Kimberlin said it is probably
smaller than any known virus.
In the paper, Kimberlin wrote
that the pathogen that causes Scra
pie disease in sheep is quick to
mutate and that there is apparently
a “family” of the disease.
The exact method of how it is
transmitted isn’t exactly known,
but there seems to be strong evi
dence that it is transmitted mostly
from the mother to the young
through placental fluids, and into
flock-members and other animals
through the consumption of
infected tissue such as placental
materials and brain tissue.
The disease causes a “spongi
form encephalopathy” it liter
ally creates small holes throughout
the brain so that the brain, micro
scopically, resembles a sponge.
It is fatal. There is no cure.
There is yet no test nor indication
that the disease has been con
tracted until symptoms occur.
From the time die disease is con
tracted, it can take up to 60 months
for symptoms to occur. Some
sheep, apparently due to a natural
genetic difference, may serve as
carriers and never exhibit the dis
ease. But it is not a genetic disease,
such as BLAD in catde.
With Scrapies, animals exhibit
ing symptoms may live from one
Milk Haulers Exempt From 80,000 Lb. Limit
hundredweight more than milk
shipped within New York State.
Similarly, loads of New York
milk shipped to Pennsylvania
plants must be downsized, signif
icantly increasing hauling costs.
Representatives of the state
Department of Agriculture,
Dairylea Cooperative Inc., Atlan
tic Dairy Cooperative, the Pen
nsylvania Motor Truck Associa
tion and the Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Transportation were
instrumental in securing passage
of the law.
Secretary Brosius also recog
nized the help.of House Transpor
tation Committee Chairman Rick
Geist (R-Blair County) and Senate
Transportation Chairman Doyle
Corman (R-Centre County), as
well as state Rep. John Barley (R-
Lancaster County) and Sen. Roger
Madigan (R-Bradford County) for
providing leadership in the pas
sage of the legislation.
The secretary said, “Gov, Ridge
and I are both committed to
increasing the profitability of all
Pennsylvania farmers, and the pas
sage of this legislation represents a
savings to dairy farmers, coopera
tives and haulers.”
Scrapie Disease Is Serious
week to six months.
Those who still practice eating
sheep brains would probably be
well advised to stop, although
there is currendy no direct evi
dence that humans are susceptible
to the Scrapie strain of the disease.
There are known human varia
tions of the disease.
And, it has also been shown, for
example, that the form of the agent
associated with Scrapie Disease is
able to cross over to other species.
Thus, some associate an unneces
sary risk in consuming sheep
brains.
For some time, sheep carcasses
have been used for rendering into
protein feeds for livestock, farm
minks, and pets.
It is believed, but not absolutely
known, that bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) was caused
by feeding rendered sheep carcas
ses to catde.
BSE is also known as Mad Cow
Disease, because of the neurologi
cal destruction and the behavior
that’s symptomatic of the disease.
According to a January 1995
factsheet from the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS), on BSE, “There are dif
ferent scientific hypotheses con
cerning the origins of BSE.
“One theory is that BSE had
existed in undetectable levels in
the British catde population prior
to 1986.
“Another theory stems from
epidemiological data that suggest
that BSE in England may have
been caused by feeding catde
rendered protein produced from
the carcasses of scrapie-infected
sheep.
“The practice of using products
such as meat and bonemeal in
catde rations as a source of protein
has been common for several
decades.... Changes in rendering
operations in the early 1980 s (in
Britian) particularly the
removal of a solvent-extraction
process and the elimination of a
second steam-heat treatment
may have played a part in the
appearance of the disease and the
large number of cases that
developed.”
In cattle, according to the
APHIS, “There is no evidence that
BSE spreads from unrelated catde
From the left, at the table, Sen. Barry Stout sits with Gov. Tom Ridge at the signing
of law to increase the weight allowance for Pennsylvania milk haulers. Supporters of
the measure, from the left standing are, Bob Junk, Pennsylvania Farmers Union; Rep.
Raymond Bunt; Phyllis Brown with the House Transportation Committee; Rep.
Richard Geist; Diane Salerno, with the Pa. Motor Trucks Association; Cheryl Hicks,
staff aide to Sen. Stout; Brenda Shambaugh, Pa. State Grange; Agriculture Secretary
Charles Brosius; John Nikoloff, with Capital Associates; Gwen Bower, PDA; and Eric
Coolidge, June Diebold, and Raymond Diebold with Dairylea Co-op Inc.
to catde, or from catde to other
species by contact Moreover,
researchers have not gathered suf
ficient ... evidence or experimental
data to determine if maternal trans
mission of BSE occurs.”
However. “In an experimental
study of the disease’s biological
route of development in catde,
traces of the BSE agent were
detected in the small intestines of
calves that had been fed large
doses of material from BSE
infected animals.”
A spongiform encephalopathy
disease is also known within the
mink industry, but only after mink
were fed sheep protein and bone
meal. It has been found in captive
deer and elk in the West, where the
disease is called, “Chronic Wast
ing Disease.”
It has also been discovered in
cats.
In humans, the diseases called
“kuru,” “Creutzfeldt-Jakob Dis
ease,” and “Gerstmann-Straussler
syndrome” have been known for
some time.
Kuru is a fatal disease found
among a group of primitive people
in New Guinea.
According to reports, it is
believed that kuru was kept within
the tribes because of a practice
they had of consuming the brains
of their elders. Apparently, this
was thought to be a way of trans
mitting knowledge from the older
generation to the younger
generation.
According to Dr. Tom Drake, a
mammalian diagnostician at the
Penn State Diagnostic Laboratory
in State College, the apparent com
mon factor of the disease being
transmitted is consumption of
infected tissue.
Drake is also a member of the
Scrapie Committee that oversees
the state’s voluntary Scrapie-Free
certification program.
According to Drake, Scrapie
Disease is not rare in Pennsylvani
a, though it is probably more com
mon in some other states.
‘There are sporadic cases in
sheep all the time,” Drake said this
week. “It is not a rare disease. I
think it’s on the rise.”
The disease has been observed
in sheep in Britian and parts of
Europe since the 18th century,
according to Kimberlin. Further,
introductions of sheep to other
parts of the world has resulted in
the disease being observed in
almost every area except in Aus
tralia and New Zealand, where
strict controls over introduced
sheep have prevented the disease
from taking hold.
Further, according to Kimber
lin, research on sheep and Scrapie
Disease suggests that the disease is
such that individual animals appa
rently are affected according to a
genetic susceptibility. Some ani
mals may be carriers and not
express the disease.
Eradication efforts in United
States have mostly failed because
of cost and lack of cooperation.
Nationwide, since 1992, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
has been attempting to get sheep
producers to voluntarily partici
pate in a Scrapie Disease contain
ment and eradication program, but
success has been limited
The program is designed so that
sheep producers may elect to work
toward certifying their flock
Scrapie-free.
States are independent in adopt
ing such a certification program
and Pennsylvania has opted to car
ry it out. However, sheep produc
ers apparently have not been quick
to sign up.
In Pennsylvania, less than a
dozen sheep producers are current
ly participating, even though the
size of the flock is not a factor in
participation.
The program is designed so that
a producer desiring Scrapie-free
certification is to identify all ani
mals and keep records. If after five
years there is no evidence of Scra
pie disease being exhibited in the
flock, that flock can be certified
Scrapie-free.
(Electronic identification in the
ear is encouraged, though tatooes
are allowable, but '•more time
consuming.)
Also, in order to participate, the
owner of the flock must agree to
report suspected Scrapie animals
immediately and not sell them for
slaughter or breeding stock.
If after gaining certification or
being in the program for several
years, a flock owner finds that one
of his animals shows up with Scra
pies, then tissue samples from
every dead animal from the flock
(over 18 months) must be submit
ted for testing.
There is perhaps one drawback
to the program for the producer
who gains certification in order
to keep certification, that producer
may not introduce into or expose
his flock to an animal coming from
a flock that has not achieved such
status.
The benefit for achieving such
statuses that the offspring can be
sold as certified Scrapie-free and
can be sold to anyone.
In the recent past, some produc
ers have suggested that the stigma
that may come from participating
in such a program could hurt their
business, especially if they are
selling breeding stock and'testing
of dead animals reveals Scrapie
Disease.
Further, the state’s sheep pro
duction business has been margi
nally profitable in recent years,
mostly from pressure from wool
imports and limited demand for
meat.
However, others have said that
when more people learn of the pos-,
sible ramifications of allowing
Scrapie Disease to continue to be
spread through breeding stock,
those with certified Scrapie
Disease-free status should enjoy
greater demand for their offspring
and breeding stock.
Because of the state’s develop
ing tripartite animal diagnostic
system. Pennsylvania sheep pro
ducers have a good opportunity to
gain certification for their own
economic benefit and help rid
everyone of the possibility of hav
ing this agent become more of a
problem.
In order to participate, contact
Dr. Maher Rizk, vetinary medical
officer with the USDA located in
Pittsburgh at (412) 241-4650.
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