Safer Means Of Disposing Of Mad Cows

MissMarvel writes "A company claims to have a safer way to dispose of cows infected with Mad Cow Disease. It 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. The bodies of infected dead cattle are usually burned to destroy proteins these brain-wasting compounds."

Comments

Sodium hypochlorite would be safer

[dacarr]

While sound, the problem with sodium hydroxide (lye) is that it doesn't readily break down. It will definitely work on the proteins, but it won't readily break down before hitting water. So now you have all this toxic waste.

So why not a concentrated form of common household clorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite)? Yes, I know, it's toxic, but read on. Straight from the bottle, it dissolves hair in ten minutes, and will likewise break down other organic proteins. It's one of the ingredients in liquid drain opener products, in fact, along with lye. So in a concentrated form (remember, Clorox and its ilk is maybe 4% Na HypoCl), while it would produce fumes that would need to be contained, in the end the proteins could simply be flushed, and the bleach would eventually break down into salt water.