What is fact or fiction about Mad Cow?

What is fact or fiction about the mad cow disease? Listed below are several claims listed on different web sights.

The disease originated in New Guinea when the natives practiced cannibalism.

Heat does not kill mad cow. You can catch the mad cow disease even though the meat was subjected to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

The incubation period lasts up to 80 years so how do you know when the disease is eradicated?
If we eat a cow infected with this disease before the disease has developed can we get it?

You can get mad cow by eating brains, blood, and even drinking milk.

Deer wasting disease and mad cow are the same. According to an article in Outdoor Life magazine conservation authorities trying to make deer larger and stronger by giving the deer protein supplements made from dead animal carcasses started life the deer wasting disease. How it is passed from deer to deer is not fully known.

Our government wants to error on the side of money and not protect the public. They test less than 1% of the cattle population, we have detected one or perhaps two cases of mad cow where as Japan has detected 14 cases. Our officials claimed that the last cow did not have mad cow. Then what did it have? The test we use and what Japan uses are not the same therefore method of testing is in question. Is the US using the correct test?

The number cases in England are escalating. Is this because of the mad cow incubation period?

Ok! The US has stopped feeding protein supplements from dead animals to cattle but one web sight says that they are feeding these supplements to chickens, and turkeys, and even hogs. Is it possible to get this disease through other meats? Some of these animals are usually slaughtered before they are a year old long before the gestation period. Is not feeding these protein supplements waiting for a disaster to happen?

Are government test officials a bunch of cronies protecting the meat industry and not the consumer? Likely! Time will tell whether or not the above statements are true. Perhaps the last question is are you going to play Russian roulette to get mad cow, which is always fatal, by continuing to eat meat and especially beef products?