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Article: The birth of BSE
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- March 31, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SEVENTY-three years ago, in a lecture he gave in the small
Swiss town of Dornach, Rudolf Steiner posed the question: "What
would happen if the ox were to eat meat directly instead of
plants?"
The philosopher and teacher, who was also an early advocate of
organic farming, propounded to his audience his theory about unused
energy in the animal's body and the consequent build-up of harmful
acids. By modern standards this might not count as good science,
but Steiner's conclusion on that day in 1923 remains prophetic, for
he argued that eventually these harmful acids would attack the
nervous system and the brain of the host animal. "If an ox were to
consume meat directly," he declared, "the ox ...