Is it still safe to eat venison from deer that originate from states with known CWD-infected herds?
A. There is no scientific evidence that CWD is transmissible through consumption of meat from an infected animal. CWD has not been linked to any human variant of the disease in the way that mad cow disease is associated with a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. The prion that causes CWD accumulates only in certain parts of infected animals – the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils, and spleen – and, therefore, these tissues should not be eaten. Health officials additionally advise that no part of any animal with evidence of CWD should be consumed by humans or other animals.
