SASKATOON (Staff) – The Manitoba government is gagging its officials so they don’t talk about an elk disease similar to mad cow disease, says Vicky Burns, the executive director of the Winnipeg Humane Society.
But Manitoba agriculture officials say there is no truth to Burns’s allegations of a coverup about trans-missible spongiform encephalopathy, which was detected in one Saskatchewan elk in January.
“Nobody’s gagged that we know of,” said Manitoba Agriculture assistant deputy minister Dave Donaghy. “That’s not our approach in agriculture. We are open to communication.”
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A spokesperson for the cabinet also said there was no truth to the claim.
Although Burns said there doesn’t appear to be evidence the disease could affect people the same way some suggest bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans, she says people should be worried.
“Why would we not be equally as concerned about humans consuming elk products that may possibly be infected with that disease as we would be about humans consuming beef products (infected with BSE)?” she said.
“I’m not making any claims…. I’m just raising questions and I don’t know why these questions shouldn’t be raised.”
Burns, whose organization is fighting Manitoba’s recent decision to allow elk farming, said she found out about the Saskatchewan case when she contacted TSE experts in Wyoming, where the disease has been active for years.
Animal dies
TSE is also known as chronic wasting disease. Infected elk become emaciated and die. One case was diagnosed in Saskatchewan in January. The American-born animal was destroyed and the rest of the herd is quarantined.
But Burns said when she called provincial and federal agriculture officials to ask about the disease, she was stonewalled.
“The message I got was that basically they had been instructed not to talk about this issue,” she said. “They’re trying to keep a lid on it.”
Donaghy said if people called Manitoba Agriculture about technical aspects of the disease they might have been encouraged to call George Luterbach at Agriculture Canada because he is the best informed expert. However, he said the provincial department is willing to talk about the issue.
“It’s in everybody’s best interests that the right information is out there and not misinterpreted.”
While TSE is in the same grouping of diseases that contains the sheep disease scrapie and the cattle disease BSE, experts say it is different and has been among wild populations for decades.
They say there is little information about how it is spread.
