too bad Uday isn't alive to see this thing!
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/01/12/madcow.digester.reut/index.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The bodies of dead cattle infected with mad cow disease are usually burned to destroy the misshapen proteins suspected of causing the brain-wasting ailment -- although there are doubts whether this is safe, cost-effective or environmentally sound.
But an Indiana-based company, set up by two professors from Albany Medical College, now claims to have an effective alternative. You don't have to go further than your kitchen sink to understand the science.
Their company, Waste Reduction by Waste Reduction Inc., says that by using the kinds of chemicals that go into a drain-clearing product such as Drano, they can safely break down the suspected disease-causing proteins, known as prions.
Prions are misshaped proteins believed to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. They eat at the brain tissue of cattle by forcing proteins performing other jobs to take their shape, resulting in a chain reaction.
Incineration has been the popular method to destroy the carcasses of afflicted cattle. But researchers say tests have revealed that the prions -- like the mythical phoenix -- survive and can emerge from the ashes.
Waste Reduction claims its pressure cooker-like machine, dubbed a digester, not only breaks prions into harmless amino acids but emits no toxic gases and operates at a fraction of the cost of an incinerator.
(more on site)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/01/12/madcow.digester.reut/index.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The bodies of dead cattle infected with mad cow disease are usually burned to destroy the misshapen proteins suspected of causing the brain-wasting ailment -- although there are doubts whether this is safe, cost-effective or environmentally sound.
But an Indiana-based company, set up by two professors from Albany Medical College, now claims to have an effective alternative. You don't have to go further than your kitchen sink to understand the science.
Their company, Waste Reduction by Waste Reduction Inc., says that by using the kinds of chemicals that go into a drain-clearing product such as Drano, they can safely break down the suspected disease-causing proteins, known as prions.
Prions are misshaped proteins believed to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. They eat at the brain tissue of cattle by forcing proteins performing other jobs to take their shape, resulting in a chain reaction.
Incineration has been the popular method to destroy the carcasses of afflicted cattle. But researchers say tests have revealed that the prions -- like the mythical phoenix -- survive and can emerge from the ashes.
Waste Reduction claims its pressure cooker-like machine, dubbed a digester, not only breaks prions into harmless amino acids but emits no toxic gases and operates at a fraction of the cost of an incinerator.
(more on site)
