Alabama Cow tests positive for Mad Cow disease

by **sunny** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:21 pm

Boy, do I wish I were a vegetarian. Being at ground zero, I'm pretty nervous. <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/">www.msnbc.msn.com/</a>

by **nomo** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:20 pm

If you do hardly any testing and you still find this alleged "third" case, logic suggests the disease is everywhere.

by **professorpan** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:34 pm

The frightening thing is that it can take years before the disease manifests in infected humans. Many of us could be walking timebombs carrying around this disease. I gave up all meat but seafood about 20 years ago, but there's still the possibility that a hamburger I ate before then carried BSE. Scary stuff. But I wonder who first thought that turning cattle into cannibals -- lacing their feed with ground up bones of their own species and other mammal parts -- was a smart idea? We reap what we sow.

by **nomo** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:21 pm

Newspapers move US mad cow story off front pages Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:11 PM GMT16 <a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-03-14T201150Z_01_N14222297_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-MADCOW-BEEF-NEWS-DC.XML">today.reuters.co.uk/news/...EWS-DC.XML</a> By Bob Burgdorfer CHICAGO (Reuters) - Mad cow disease is no longer front-page news at many leading newspapers. which put stories of the latest U.S. case on the inside of Tuesday's editions. One exception was financial newspaper The Wall Street Journal, which ran a one-paragraph notice of the story in its "What's News" summary of important items on page 1 and carried the story on page 2. The move off the front pages appears to support the U.S. beef industry's claims that consumers are not as concerned as they had been that the disease is a threat to the food supply. Also, the industry claims that as consumers learn more about the disease they gain confidence in the safety measures being taken. However, economists warned that the government must remain vigilant in testing for mad cow and safeguarding the food supply because consumer confidence is fickle and could quickly change for the worse. The U.S. Agriculture Department on Monday said a 10-year-old beef cow in Alabama tested positive for the disease. The two previous U.S. cases were in Washington state in December 2003 and in Texas in June 2005. "The focus right now is on avian flu. Mad cow has taken a back seat," said Harry Baumes, an agricultural economist at Global Insight, an economics information analysis services firm. Avian flu, or bird flu, is spreading overseas and has killed about 100 people. It has never been found in the United States, but U.S. leaders are preparing for its possible arrival. USA Today ran a short story entitled "Agriculture Dept. confirms 3rd case of mad cow" across five columns on page 9 of the front section. It ran a short bird flu story on page 6. The New York Times ran its mad cow story across five columns on page 19 of the main section, but it had a notice on page 2 that guided readers to the story. The Chicago Tribune ran its mad cow story as a short one-column story on page 6 in an "Across The Nation" summary. The Washington Post ran a news service version of the story across the top of page 3 and the Los Angeles Times ran the story across four columns on page 17 of the main section. The first U.S. mad cow case in December 2003 scored much larger media coverage and generated attention overseas, as foreign buyers quickly banned U.S. beef. Since then the reactions have been considerably more subdued. "The bottom line for consumers remains the same: Your beef is safe," the National Cattlemen's Beef Association declared on Monday after the latest case was announced. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday said it has received far fewer calls from the news media regarding the latest case than it did on the first two cases. "I can certainly tell you there were a great deal of calls after those two cases were announced. After this one you are my first call," CDC spokesman Dave Daigle told Reuters. While Daigle could not say if consumer concerns regarding the disease had diminished, he said the drop-off in calls from the news media would indicate a lessening of interest. "That is one of the factors that would play into consumer concerns," he said. Cattle traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange also appeared to have lost interest in the disease. The CME April cattle contract closed down 0.525 cent at 83.100 cents per lb on Tuesday, but traders blamed the selling on technical factors rather than the mad cow news. Cattle futures had started the session -- the first trading since the latest case was announced late on Monday -- higher. Mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a fatal brain wasting disease in cattle. It is believed humans can contract a similar fatal disease by eating infected parts from contaminated cattle. CDC's Daigle said there has never been a human case of the disease in the United States.

by **sunny** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:25 pm

The local news here only covered it the first day-now, nothing, but I've sworn off beef and warned my family and friends. Useful info- unlike bacteria such as ecoli, mad cow disease cannot be eradicated by thorough cooking

by **nomo** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:38 pm

<a href="http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/03/14/ap2594725.html">www.forbes.com/entreprene...94725.html</a> Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease, the government intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe. The Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003. About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55 daily in 2003. The testing program detected an infected cow in Alabama last week, and further analysis confirmed Monday that the animal had mad cow disease. Still, a reduction in testing has been in the works for months. The department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford, mentioned it when he announced the new case of mad cow disease. "As we approach the conclusion of our enhanced surveillance program, let me offer a few thoughts," Clifford said, explaining that the U.S. will follow international standards for testing. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns pointed out testing is not a food safety measure. Rather, it's a way to find out the prevalence of the disease. "Keep in mind the testing was for surveillance," Johanns told reporters Monday in Warsaw, Poland, where he was attending trade talks. "It was to get an idea of the condition of the herd." Higher testing levels were intended to be temporary when they were announced two years ago. Yet consumer groups argue more animals should be tested, not fewer. Officials haven't finalized new levels, but the department's budget proposal calls for 40,000 tests annually, or about 110 daily. "This would be a tenth of a percent of all animals slaughtered," Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, said Tuesday. "This starts to be so small that in our opinion, it approaches a policy of don't look, don't find." Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said the confidence of American consumers and foreign customers is at risk. "USDA ought to continue a sound surveillance testing program to demonstrate that U.S. beef is indeed safe and that anti-BSE safeguards are, in fact, working," said Harkin, senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Consumer groups want every animal to be tested, said Gary Weber, head of regulatory affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Denver. "It's not cost-effective; it's not necessary," Weber said. "The consumers we've done focus groups with are comfortable that this is a very rare disease and we've got safeguards in place." He mentioned government protections to keep the disease from the food chain for people or animals. "All those things add up to safety," he said. The department mostly tests older cows with symptoms of the disease. Infected cows can show signs of nervous system disorder, such as aggression, lack of coordination, inability to walk or abnormal posture. In the latest case, the cow couldn't walk. It was a "downer," another sign of the disease. Dead cows are also suspect. Tests are done on brain tissue from cows, so animals must be killed before they can be tested. There is no test for the disease in a live animal. Since June 2004, the department has tested 652,697 cows for the disease. The nation has about 95 million cattle. The medical name for mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease. An outbreak in the United Kingdom killed more than 180,000 cows and was blamed for more than 150 human deaths. It began in 1986 and spread throughout Europe, peaking in 1993. The first American case appeared 10 years later in Washington state in a Canadian-born cow. The disease was found again last June in a Texas cow.

by **OnoI812** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:40 pm

There is so much disinfo out there on this subject. Is it bone meal in the feed? Is it the winds coming of the organophosphate plants? either way it has corporate fingerprints you'd think they'd get their stories straight. In my opinion this is about the USDA and it's plan to chip all animals. They had to backtrack a bit from their rfid proposals, with the exception that no new Madcow cases were found this winter. And what do you know , voila, a new case is found just in time. and it was a downer cow of all things. since when do ranchers ever bother to call a vet when they find one of their downer cows? they know nothing can be done for them , so they get the rifle...it's SOP So now we have this fortunate timing and expect the thrust of the fury to be directed at small ranchers with good hygiene and feeding practices while the mega farms get an exemption and a right to continue their dirty ways.

by **nomo** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:54 pm

I wonder if that has anything to do with the rollout of this: <a href="http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml">animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml</a> As part of its ongoing efforts to safeguard U.S. animal health, USDA initiated the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in 2004. NAIS is a cooperative State-Federal-industry partnership to standardize and expand animal identification programs and practices to all livestock species and poultry. NAIS is being developed through the integration of three components—premises identification, animal identification, and animal tracking. The long-term goal of the NAIS is to provide animal health officials with the capability to identify all livestock and premises that have had direct contact with a disease of concern within 48 hours after discovery. ............. a friend who runs a small farm mentioned this to another group I'm on, had this to say: Because hardly anyone is aware of this outside the farming world, I want to share an issue that is giving a lot of us small farmers nightmares. It is a Patriot Act offshoot, but it is no more patriotic than illegal wiretapping. It is the National Animal Identification System which will probably lead to a similar program for plant foods. If you enjoy organic foods at the farmer's market, or foods locally grown by small producers, or fiber crafts, you may want to check into it. There is a growing grassroots movement against it, mostly being discredited as conspiracy theorist kooks, but it is a very real problem. Basically, the USDA site describes it as intended to protect livestock from the spread of disease. OK, we've now had two postive "mad cow" animals and one (new) inconclusive, and that's many times less than Bubonic Plague, rabies, anthrax, or any of the other numerous illnesses that have yet to trigger this level of reaction. In fact, the USDA rep is quoted in the current mad cow case as saying the current status is a safe food supply thanks to procedures already in place. The NAIS program is totally driven by huge agribiz including Monsanto and Cargill, and Microsoft just announced their partnering with a software solution to provide the infrastructure. The one and only real reason for this program is that the US has signed treaties with other countries that require birth-to-death tracking of food animals within 48 hours. This is in no way related to food eaten by US residents, but it is being "sold" in the same dialogue of fear as other Patriot Act programs. The money to run this program would be better put toward studying prions (the cause of Mad Cow, J-K, Scrapies diseases) and developing vaccines for all diseases (my opinion). One of the best spokespeople against NAIS is Mary-Louise Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), LD (Yale). Her credentials sufficiently support her views, I think. A good site for info is <a href="http://nonais.org/.">nonais.org/.</a> It includes a link to the NAIS site. The full implementation of NAIS as-is will totally flatten the small farm...one Monsanto rep was recorded saying NAIS will ruin the the small farmer "pirates" and send them to town to get a job.

Alabama Cow tests positive for Mad Cow disease

Alabama Cow tests positive for Mad Cow disease

Mad cow is rampant in the US

Re: Mad cow is rampant in the US

Re: Mad cow is rampant in the US

Re: Mad cow is rampant in the US

Government to SCALE BACK mad cow testing

Suspicious timing

Re: Suspicious timing

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