Activities to overcome the BSE crisis

As soon as the first BSE-reports were published and the BSE has occurred (1985/86), the author engaged in “BSE research”, especially concerning filtration technique to eliminate infectious material and experiments to find a method to detect BSE in body fluids.

Immediate action regarding BSE was a must so as to avoid interrupting or even discontinuing the export of the Serex preparation made of calf serum the author had developed. The importing companies in Asia demanded experimental evidence that Serex was free of BSE. Serex had been processed to Cellryl3 in the medical field and to Evangil for cosmetic purposes in Japan.

Since the author was forbidden to work with infectious material at his university, the FU in Berlin, he sought help in Brazil where he had also been a member of the faculty of UFSM (Universidade Federal de Santa Maria) in S. Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, since 1973.

In Brazil he worked with:

  • Professor Dr. J. Mariano da Roche Filho, former rector of UFSM, who gave him the opportunity to conduct experiments with infected cattle at his FAZENZA in Rio Grande do Sul. As far as chemical issues were concerned, the author was able to work in the Chemical Central Institute of UFSM which he had built up over 10 years and at which he was "Diretor Coordinator",
  • CONSULTING DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERING under Dr. M. M. Faria, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
  • BRASTONE Company under Dr. F. R. Pesserl, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

The author had been friends with the gentlemen Mariano, Pesserl and Faria since 1961.

In Germany, the author could develop chemical activities in patent writing based on trials carried out in Labs of Berlin Industry (1985-1997) and at the Free University of Berlin (for only 2 years until his emeritation in 1987).

The author also found help in Japan, where proof that the products were free of BSE was required before granting an import licence for cosmetic and medical products, namely at YAMAKAWA and Company, Ltd., under Chairman T. Aikawa, Tokyo.

BSE-detection - ante-mortem diagnosis of BSE-infected cattle: urine test - ultrafiltrations technique - BSE free countries
 
As mentioned above the author received the possibility to experiment with infectious BSE material at the fazenda of Professor Dr.José Mariano da Rocha Filho, former rector of UFSM. Mariano took care of all necessary safety measures which the intended experiments with BSE-infected cattle called for; as physician he was very familiar with all steps to be taken…..