Mad Cow Disease

Australia Continues to be Clinically Free From TSEs Affecting Animals and All OIE List A Diseases of Cattle

. Los Angeles, CA, June 4, 2001 - Jarrow Formulas announces that, according to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS), Australia has been, and continues to be, free from Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) affecting animals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie. Furthermore, Australia is clinically free of all OIE List A diseases of cattle, including Foot and Mouth disease.

. For this reason, Jarrow Formulas' Bone Up® has never been affected by any circumstances surrounding BSE or Mad Cow disease. The outbreak of BSE that has recently occurred in England and other parts of Europe has not occurred in Australia, the country of origin for the Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite (MCHA) calcium in Bone Up®.

. In fact, Australian law forbids the agricultural practice believed to transmit BSE. Moreover, Australia's trading partners have declared Australia a BSE free zone, which was reinforced by the European Commission who gave Australia "the most favorable 'Level 1' rating" in August 2000.

. The practice of feeding meat byproducts to cows had become commonplace in the United Kingdom. Diseased sheep parts, tainted with scrapie, were fed to cows. Those cows were slaughtered and fed to other cows, resulting in the Transmissible Spongiform Encephilopathy jumping species in an even more lethal form.

. Along with New Zealand, Australia is considered to have the safest cattle in the world. Australia was the first to ban the importation of live cattle, as well as any beef products into the country. The Australian government has also undertaken a surveillance and monitoring program that is "in accordance with the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) International Health Code Chapter on BSE."

. In Australia, cows feed mostly in the Australian open range where they graze across an area so vast that they must be herded by helicopter. The cows are never fed meat byproducts and rarely even feed grain. Given Australia's thin topsoil and vast area, open range grazing is the most practical way to raise cattle. These practices prevent the occurrences of BSE in Australia.

. "In addition to being a clean, safe product, Jarrow Formulas' Bone Up® is the best formulated bone building product on the market," says Sid Shastri, Vice President, Product Development at Jarrow Formulas, Inc. "Bone Up® contains the form of calcium that has demonstrated an ability to increase bone mass. This fact, along with the comprehensive list of supporting nutrients included in Bone Up®, makes this product the bedrock upon which all non-vegetarian bone nutrition protocols should be based."