Stop the downers!

Support a Permanent Ban on "Downers!"
In light of a second confirmed case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or ‘mad cow’ disease in a downed cow in the United States, Farm Sanctuary is calling for a prohibition of all downed animals for human food and urges the USDA to increase its surveillance for BSE and possible variants of the disease. Join Farm Sanctuary in urging the USDA to uphold the downer ban and pass the Downed Animal Protection Act! Write Today!

www.farmsanctuary.org...
www.nodowners.org...

In my opinion, anybody eating beef these days, is in extreme denial.

Just because an animal is a "downer" doesnt mean it has BSE.

While ill agree animal treatment should be better and BSE testing needs to be improved, but a downer ban?


It would be a waste of possible product and income.

You've got to be kidding.

A three day weekend with no steaks on the grill?

I'll take my chances!

I actually heard that "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)" was initially spread among cattle through feeding them recycled animal by products used as filler in the animal’s feed. If true I wonder if this practice is allowed to continue in the U.S.A.

I am still planning on grilling steaks tomorrow.

Life is a gamble anyway.

Originally posted by EvilSockPuppet


I actually heard that "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)" was initially spread among cattle through feeding them recycled animal by products used as filler in the animal’s feed. If true I wonder if this practice is allowed to continue in the U.S.A.



Life is a gamble anyway.

No, there are feed bans in place now. It takes years for the disease to develop. Cases found in cattle now are in very old cattle, mostly dairy, which NEVER make it for human consumption.

I have read that "Mad Cow" in the US is a variant of the European strain. If truth be known, the growing number of "downer cows" in the US are exhibiting symptoms of this strain.

For anyone who's serious about learning the truth, I recommend this report.

www.nidsci.org...

In the US you have a better chance at getting hurt going to buy beef then actually getting the disease.
Sorry but with 4th of July coming up I go to get my steaks done on that grill.

This terrible disease might be another form of population control. It's a terrible thing that needs to be an election issue. All Democratic Countries!

Dallas

Originally posted by dollmonster


I have read that "Mad Cow" in the US is a variant of the European strain. If truth be known, the growing number of "downer cows" in the US are exhibiting symptoms of this strain.

For anyone who's serious about learning the truth, I recommend this report.

www.nidsci.org...

You have to actually understand what a downer cow is before you go making allegations that an entire industry (cattle) is not safe.

First off, a downer cow can be a cow with only a broken leg? Does that mean it has BSE? NO.

If I break my leg does it mean I have BSE because I fell over? No.

Do you even understand the signs of BSE. I dont think you do. I suggest you look it up before falling for whatever some animal group tells you.

Another thing, even if a cow was a downer, I gurantee you, it will be one of the first ones tested.

Like I said before, BSE is mainly in DAIRY cattle that are never sent for human consumption because the virus takes years to develop. Do you really think your beef is 9 years old ?

There are rules and regulations in place to stop BSE. Why does it come up now? Because again it takes time to develop the disease, and if you read anything, you would know that the cases were developed before feed issues.

Do you think only cattle get diseases? What about cronic wasting disease, all the bird flus etc?

Come on.

Come back when you have some facts.

BTW why dont you look up the numbers on BSE cases found in humans. I have more chance of being hit by lighting a couple thousand times in my life.

[edit on 3-7-2005 by Dulcimer]

Red meat has been shown to cause colon cancer, and colon cancer patients cost the health care system money, I therefore propose a $6 per ounce tax on beef, just like tobacco has.
Fair is fair.

Originally posted by Legalizer
Red meat has been shown to cause colon cancer, and colon cancer patients cost the health care system money, I therefore propose a $6 per ounce tax on beef, just like tobacco has.
Fair is fair.

Why not charge the Sun because of skin cancer.

EVERYTHING causes cancer. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop doing those things. We aren't gonna get out of life alive anyway, so might as well enjoy the things we enjoy and take our chances.

In answer to Dulcimer;

In 1990, cows in Texas were experimentally inoculated with American scrapie developed BSE, becoming lethargic and staggering to their deaths just like downer cows do. This disease was significantly different from that seen in Briton where infected cows act skittish and "crazy" before death.

Some states, such as New York, don't send downer cows to the USDA for testing, leaving open the possibility that BSE in thousands of suspect animals is going undetected.

According to Prionics, which manufactures Europe's leading BSE test: ''A study performed with Prionics-Check reveals that fallen stock represent BSE high risk categories."

"In the US, thirty-seven million animals are slaughtered a year for consumption, and less than 1,000 are tested a year, it's too low," says Pierluigi Gambetti, director of the CDC's National Piron Disease Pathology Surveillance Center. "If you don't look, you don't find it." Nearly one million animals are tested by France and Germany every year.

What would the USDA do upon discovering a case of BSE? "Their first impulse would be to suppress it," asserts Dr. Michael Hanson, a senior research scientist at the Consumer Policy Institute of Consumers Union (publisher of consumer reports) and one of the country's leading food-safety experts. Of the government's TSE-detection programs, Hanson reiterates, "Their safety strategy might be, act like you're looking, but really do a don't look, don't find"

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

Why do you assume I got my information from some animal group? You must have read my posts on animal cruelty to jump to that conclusion. Are you one of those irrationals offended by vegetarians? That might explain your attack on me.

You suggest I don't know the difference between a lame cow and a potentially infected one? You assume I'm unaware that chronic wasting disease (CWD) is part of a group of diseases known as transmissible sponiform encephalopathies ( TSEs) a group that also includes scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathies (BSE) and that the government has issued emergency decrees for sheep, goats, deer and elk in response to widespread TSE infections among domestic and wild animals.

I know this and much more regarding mad cow. I'd say you're the one that's not informed.I suggest you read the report I recommended. Or try my earlier post, "Mad cow could be the end." It will set you straight.

Let's face it...

If we're going to get vCJD....chances are most of us have already consumed the tainted beef.

Specially those of us who might've eaten a burger in England prior to ooooh....the mid 80s.

Thanks, but I'll keep my steak on the grill.

(If I do start showing symptoms, rest assured I'll be ATS' first official Mad Cow)

dollmonster, as always, i will agree with you about the usda needing to test more cattle. I will agree that the animals need to be treated better. But I will not agree with this:

According to Prionics, which manufactures Europe's leading BSE test: ''A study performed with Prionics-Check reveals that fallen stock represent BSE high risk categories."

Look at testing in other countries. Look at the number of downer cattle. How many have BSE? How many times do you hear about BSE cases? They are widely reported when found. Surely if downer cattle were high risk we would find more.

Oh but we dont test every cow.

Japan is known to test every cow going into the food chain for BSE. Both Britain and Germany test all cattle at and over 24 months of age.

Other European countries screen all cows 30 months and older for BSE.

Europe tests 1 in every 4.

Where are the mad cows?