MAD COW CRISIS.

[Guest guest]

MAD COW CRISIS.

 

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Laurelee Blanchard

Panic in response to Mad Cow Crisis

FARM

Friday, December 01, 2000 8:50 AM

NY Times on Euro Mad Cow Crisis

 

AS MAD COW DISEASE SPREADS IN EUROPE, CONSUMERS PANIC

 

The New York Times, December 1, 2000

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/01/world/01COW.html

By SUZANNE DALEY

 

ARIS, Nov. 30 - It is not only the French who are in a frenzy about

mad cow disease. A panic that began here several weeks ago has now

spread throughout Europe.

 

In Germany, a hot line set up to answer questions from the public about

the disease collapsed because of too many calls. In Italy, celebrities

have gone on television to offer their favorite vegetarian recipes. And

in Athens, angry butchers threatened to close their shops unless they

were assured that the meat they were selling was safe.

 

Everywhere, the subject is dominating the headlines and governments are

promising action. Many countries are setting up new testing programs and

banning one another's beef, trying to reassure consumers that the meat

they are buying is free of contamination.

 

But these efforts are doing little to calm consumers' fears. Europeans

are not letting beef pass their lips. They are even inspecting their

cosmetics and candy to see if they are made from a base of beef gelatin.

Wholesalers from Spain to Germany report a drop of about 50 percent

in beef sales. Butchers have seen their businesses devastated.

 

" It's as if we were suddenly facing bubonic plague, " said Pietro

Stecchiotti, a quality butcher in Rome whose clients include the

Italian presidential palace. " Is it the cows, or have we gone mad? "

The wider panic was partly set off by France's reaction to its own

problems. Although the number of cases of mad cow disease remains

minuscule here compared with the epidemic that hit Britain in the

mid-1980's, the disease has spread. More than 100 cases have been

reported this year against 31 last year, though expanded testing could

have contributed to the higher numbers.

 

Concern also increased after suspect meat got onto supermarket shelves

and after a television documentary showed for the first time the human

form of the disease in a French victim. The young boy, emaciated and

unable to recognize anyone, is on the verge of death.

 

Fears were further heightened after the news that Germany and Spain had

discovered their first cases of mad cow disease, also known as bovine

spongiform encephalopathy.

 

On Wednesday, Spain announced it had detected the disease in a 5-year-

old animal from the Galicia region. Officials said a second suspected

case

had yet to be confirmed. Two days later, Germany announced it had

detected its first case, in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

 

Moreover, Portugal and Switzerland have each had hundreds of cases.

Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have also had a few. And as feed

and animals have frequently been moved across borders, officials said,

it is just a matter of time before other countries are hit.

 

" Mad cow disease knows no borders but is moving from one member state to

another, " Franz Fischler, the European Union's agricultural minister,

said at a recent news conference. Such cross-country concern has led

European countries in the past two weeks to try to outdo each other in

what they could ban. Last week, Greece was one of the countries to ban

French T-bone steak, a measure the French themselves had taken. But

Greek officials looked as if they were in the minor leagues compared

with some of their neighbors.

 

Poland started the week with bans on beef from four European countries.

On Tuesday, it banned beef from five more.

 

Italy banned French T-bones and French meat from cows more than 18

months old. Croatia, Estonia and Latvia slapped a five-year ban on

German and Spanish beef.

 

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

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Our thanks to all who helped with Gentle Thanksgiving.

Now, let's make MEATOUT 2001 a millennium event.

FARM- http://www.farmusa.org , 1-888-FARM USA

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A special note from citizens concerns :

 

Dear Friend of animals,

 

Enclosed the above excellent article to you.

Please, print the article and then email/fax to your

local media and elementary schools.

Please encourage them to report more of Mad Cow news

and don't forget also to encourage them to educate their readers

and students to eat all of the plant foods , veggie burgers, veggie

dogs,.... instead of eating potentially dangerous and unhealthy

" meat " foods.

 

Your Local Media Contact list should include the

Letter To Editor, Food Editors, Food Critiques, Food Reviewers,

Health Editors, Lifestyle Editors of your local Newspapers,

Local TV and Local magazines as well as the

elementary school Principals in your neighborhood.

After you find out all of their contact info, please save them

in your file for future communication. You will help and educate

your local media by giving them a lot of important information

which they may not even notice.

 

Thanks .

c.c.