SCI/TECH: Americans Not Well-Protected From Mad Cow Disease

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, CA-D, has called the Agriculture Department's new testing plan for mad cow disease inadequate. He says that the plan falls short of it's own recommendations, and has not tested all of the suspected cattle correctly, or even at all.



This is the kind of story that should get front-page notice, yet I found it buried on the New York Times' site. Mad Cow presents much more of an everyday danger to Americans than anything else currently on the front pages, yet no one pays attention.

The story goes on to say that since 1989, hundreds of cows with signs of rabies (which has symptoms that can be similar to mad cow) were never tested for mad cow after they tested negative for rabies.

Something to think about the next time you stop by McDonald's for a Happy Meal for the kids.


[edit on 14-7-2004 by Banshee]

There are several things about Mad Cow (MCD) that you should all know. If they were to test every single cow/steer/bull in the country they would of course find MCD in several places. My family's farm raises cattle and this is simply a card they play when the beef market gets too high. Have you noticed that they find a possible case of MCD but then a few days later they say it isn't. However, in this time the beef market has fallen the max it can across the board. Then as soon as it catches back up they play this card again.

About the disease itself, it is only found in the spinal fluid and brain of the animal. Only the lowest quality ground beef is made from this and the other leftovers. Even McDonalds doesn't buy this stuff. It is put in your dog food and other products like that. Though a human could contract the disease, an epidemic is near impossible.

So all you cow brain eaters beware!

Shhh! You're ruining our fear-mongering! Liberal!

Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat who has long been a critic of the department

Be sure to note that bit.

If I lived in Cali, I would vote for The Governator to him...er.. something. I wish Arnold would refer to himself in the 3rd person as "The Governator" that would be SWEET. Oops off topic lol

Yeah, but you have to ask yourself, is he a critic of the Department just because he is a grouch, or because he is unhappy with it's performance.

...Michael Hansen, a scientist at Consumers Union, said he was shocked to learn from the report that since 1989 hundreds of cows with signs of rabies that mimic mad cow symptoms were never tested for mad cow disease after testing negative for rabies.

You have to admit that is irresponsible. If there is any suspicion that an anmial is sick, it needs to be tested. Even if the disease doesn't necesarrily taint the meat, the well-being of the animals is still important, and if too many become infected, the herd could be affected, and so could the farmer's profits.

You obviously know a lot more about this subject than I do, Rogue, and I welcome your comments.

Originally posted by RogueX
About the disease itself, it is only found in the spinal fluid and brain of the animal. Only the lowest quality ground beef is made from this and the other leftovers. Even McDonalds doesn't buy this stuff. It is put in your dog food and other products like that. Though a human could contract the disease, an epidemic is near impossible.

Okay, there's the problem. Let's say we aren't eating cuts from the spine or brains (but excuse me exactly what bone is the T-Bone?) I'm feeding it to my pets, but even worse, it is only banned from the feed of other cows (and that is just recently). It can be in the feed of almost anything else we eat (chickens, farm raised fish, etc.). If I eat it from the cow, I am infected. So if something else eats it from the cow, then I eat that - HELLO???

Other major problem. Even if an animal is infected, the symptoms don't show for quite some time. Most animals are slaughtered at an age before it would manifest, even if they were infected. We haven't got a clue what we are eating or what the repercussions are. And we can't - a crash of the beef market, and the food supply in general......think about it.

As far as I can tell I live in the age of "cross your fingers". I am not afraid of half the big conspiracies around here (NWO, lizard people, Bush responsible for 9/11) as much as I am afraid of everything I put in my mouth these days. - Geeez!

Link

That should answer some questions. The reason we can't test all the cattle that have symptoms of any disease is that they could get sick and die out in the pasture without the farmer ever knowing what killed them. My family's farm runs around 1,000 cattle (a million $ investment) per year and if you have ever worked on a farm you know the cattle don't line up for inspection (far from it). It is simply not financially possible to take every dead cow to the vet for an autopsy. Everyone brings up good points but the link above states the facts.

[edit on 14-7-2004 by RogueX]

Well, I don't eat much beef anyway, but I would be hesitant to eat ground beef, due to Madcow, salmonella, listeria and e-coli. Think of it as mystery meat, you have no idea what was ground into it (a clumbsy meat-packer perhaps). With a whole cut of muscle tissue meat you can see what it is you are eating, so with proper searing it should be safe to eat.

I would also avoid hotdogs, lunchmeats, sausage and GELLCAPS.

[edit on 15-7-2004 by slank]

I am not personally attacking you, Rogue, or any other farmer. I know that you guys do your best to get things done right, and I certainly would not want your job.

What struck me in the story was that the testing is completely voluntary. Now, I understand that a cattle farmer has a lot to worry about in day-to-day life, but if certain people in our government weren't so worried about tax cuts, then perhaps we could hire government inspectors to do the work for them. I think that money spent this way, if it saves even one life, is well worth it.

If you really want to know how bad things are and how unsafe the beef you eat is go this website. This is the website of the guy who killed the last cow found with mad cow disease, he has made his living for some time working in the industry and though he might not have a ton of degrees and diplomas, experience counts for a lot. He will tell you how easily she could have just slipped by and how no one cares about the safety of the beef we eat and how only a few are tested.
www.davelouthan.org...