Mad About Cows

[Guest guest]

MAD ABOUT MAD COWS

 

A person who contracts variant Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease after

eating meat infected by Mad Cow Disease, a.k.a. Bovine

Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), doesn't necessarily know it

right away. They may have trouble sleeping, get depressed, or

have trouble remembering things. But any number of things can

cause these problems. As the disease advances, what started as

memory loss progresses rapidly into dementia. By the final

stages, a patient would most likely lapse into a coma before

dying. The disease is incurable.

 

With more than 183,000 cases of BSE diagnosed in animals in the

United Kingdom alone since the late 1980s, nearly 140 people

dead, and the emergence of the disease recently in our neighbor

to the north, Canada, the United States government should have

taken all measures necessary to protect the food supply. Yet it

wasn't until a week after the U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) announced the first diagnosis of a cow with BSE in

Washington State in late December, that the agency finally

banned the use of " downer " cattle, that is, cows that are not

ambulatory, along with body parts suspected of harboring the

disease, including the skull, brain, eyes, and spinal cord. By

then, the American beef industry had already suffered a

calamitous crash in prices and the disappearance of its

multi-billion dollar export market.

 

What explains the governmental inertia on Mad Cow Disease? At

least part of the answer is the well-organized, well-funded

lobby in Washington of cattlemen and meat processors that has

successfully blocked stronger safety rules, rewarding

politicians with more than $27 million in campaign contributions

since 1989. Three-fourths of livestock and meat processor moolah

has gone to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive

Politics.

 

What's worse, even now the agency is still not doing all it

could. The main way cattle become infected with BSE is by eating

other infected animals. While the U.S. banned the use of cattle

in feed for other ruminants-cows, goats, and sheep-back in 1997,

(note; only about 75% of meat packers complied.) there is no

such requirement for feed destined for chickens and other

animals, which don't develop the disease themselves. But it is

perfectly legal for cattle to eat poultry litter, and outdated

pet food, both of which often contain ruminant meat and bone

meal that could be infected. Meanwhile, the industry continues

to use " advanced recovery " machines to extract the last little

bit of meat from carcasses, which can lead to meat products that

include animal nerve tissue, which is one way the illness is

spread.

 

This record of complacency is all the more astonishing given all

the warnings that have been raised about the risks of Mad Cow

Disease. For years, consumer groups have been urging the USDA

and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to strengthen laws

protecting the public from BSE. Back in 1997, writers Sheldon

Rampton and John Stauber published " Mad Cow USA: Could the

Nightmare Happen Here? " Yes it could, they presciently concluded.

But while the book received favorable reviews from publications

such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and New

Scientist, it was all but ignored by the mainstream media, quite

possibly because newspaper publishers and TV broadcasters feared

losing millions in lucrative advertising from beef producers.

 

The number one recipient of campaign dollars from the meat

processing and livestock industries so far in the 2004 election,

as well as in the 2000 elections, is President George W. Bush,

with a total of nearly $880,000. (In the 1996 elections, back

when Mad Cow as emerging as a threat, Bill Clinton received

nearly $70,000 from these industries.) " I love those cattlemen! "

Bush told the president of the National Cattlemen's Beef

Association at a White House Christmas party, according to the

association's newsletter, reports the New York Times.

 

Since the president took office, he has appointed at least a

dozen officials to the Department of Agriculture who have either

worked for agriculture interests or lobbied for them, including

Dr. Chuck Lambert, formerly the chief economist for the National

Cattlemen's Beef Association, now deputy under secretary for

marketing and regulatory programs. The Bush-Cheney campaign's

mega-fundraisers are called " Rangers " (those that raise at least

$200,000) and Pioneers (those that raise at least $100,000).

Among the Rangers and Pioneers are at least three cattlemen:

Tobin Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Ranch; Tom Bivens, the owner

of Corsino Cattle Co.; and Fausto Yturria Jr., owner of Yturria

Ranch.

 

People shouldn't have to worry that the next bite they take of a

hamburger or the steak they buy at the supermarket might have

come from an infected cow. Not when there are well-established

and simple measures that the government could take to protect

the food supply.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/6/04 5:28:08 PM Pacific Standard Time, EBbrewpunx

writes:

>

> People shouldn't have to worry that the next bite they take of a

> hamburger or the steak they buy at the supermarket might have

> come from an infected cow. Not when there are well-established

> and simple measures that the government could take to protect

> the food supply.

 

of course if ya'll went vegetarian, this wouldn't be an issue....