DISE discloses business model, bankrolls some Vital research.
Press Release
SOURCE: Disease Sciences, Inc.
Disease Sciences to Fund Vital Research; Dr. Paul W. Brown Is Principal Investigator
BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Disease Sciences, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DISE - news) announced today that it has agreed to fund a research grant for studies on the efficacy of incineration to inactive scrapie prions. The research will mimic incineration conditions and study the survival of infectivity, not only of the ashed tissue specimens, but also the flue gases emitted during incineration. Any survival of the infected prions will compel a rethinking of tissue disposal methods by incinerated slaughterhouse materials (animal TSE's) as well as medical wastes (CJD).
Dr. Paul W. Brown will be chief investigator in this project, along with Dr. Edward H. Rau, Environmental Health Officer, Environmental Protection Branch, Division of Safety, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Brown is a member of Disease Sciences' Scientific Advisory Committee, and a senior research scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Brown has done extensive research on virtually all aspects of the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE's), including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (or mad cow disease) and the human form of the disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, during his long, distinguished career.
``In countries afflicted with BSE, disposal of infected cattle carcasses has caused numerous problems and led to the storage of vast amounts of rendered material for eventual incineration or other uses, such as fuel, or even mixed with road asphalt. Incineration has been the method of choice, based on confidence that exposure to standard incineration temperatures would insure sterility. In view of the remarkable heat resistance of the TSE agents, this confidence may be premature; we have shown some survival in scrapie infected brain tissue ash exposed to 600 degrees Celsius, and no one until now has considered the possibility of infectivity in flue gases vented during incineration,'' commented Dr. Brown.
Dr. Wayne Goldstein, Disease Sciences' CEO, stated, ``Incineration has been a preferred method of BSE-infected carcass disposal, but incineration has never been proven to be totally effective. The research we are sponsoring is designed to answer the question as to whether incineration-like conditions fully destroy infectivity in specimens exposed to certain temperatures, and also whether any infectivity might escape in vented flue gases during the procedure. The results will have obvious implications for rendering and livestock tissue disposal methods.'' |
