In the wake of Canada’s 2003 bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak (that’s Mad Cow Disease to you and me), the Canadian government barred the use of BSE infected tissue – including the skull, brain, eyes and spinal cords of cattle – in the production of any and all byproducts.
Fearing that such tissue would merely end up in the landfills of North America, University of Alberta Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science associate professor David Bressler is looking to turn these waste materials into – among other things – bio-friendly plastic for the automotive industry.
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