Second Herd Quarantined in Mad Cow Scare - - (Here we go - - ! )

[ConcernedCanuk]

.
.
. .WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday quarantined a second herd of cattle in Washington state in connection with the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, as cattle producers scrambled to minimize damage to the $27 billion industry.

/snip/

"With more than two dozen countries banning the import of U.S. beef, including $1 billion-a-year customer Japan, federal Agriculture Department officials said their probe into the origin of the disease could take months and widen far beyond the dairy farm in Mabton, Washington, where the 4-year-old Holstein was discovered. "

/snip/

"The animal that came down with the nation's first case of mad cow disease had been made into hamburger and probably eaten before the U.S. Agriculture Department received test results."

Lots More

so WHO got the winning burgers?

AHA - somebody's waking up, but maybe too little, too late -

"The Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) (FDA) also said it was assessing its rules, with an eye toward possibly banning the use of cattle remains in all animal food."

Hmmm - I think the USA just blew it - at least our "Mad Canuk Cow" didn't get EATEN !!!

[maddezmom]

1. this could be the end of my eating any meat. poultry etc.

this scares me more than the "orange alert".

[pnorman]

27. I quit eating Mad Dog products,

many years back, and never looked back. But Mad Cow?? It'll be tofu & dandelion greens from here on.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the seriousness of this; both domestic and global. At no time within my memory, has this country been in such need of global understanding and good will. And at NO time in our entire history, has that been at such a low ebb. Once staunch allies will say: "Screw you! We don't want your beef, EVER!" That's what happens when 800 pound gorillas have a run of bad luck.

pnorman

[mouse7]

2. Sausage Pizza anyone?

I had mine last week... two in fact. I feel good about that.

Oh well, we did need the cattle ranching industry in America anyway.

[KoKo]

16. Didn't Bush mention first State of Union Speech/Take care of Ranchers?

I distinctly remember a major speech by him (haven't been many) where he stated he would support "Ranchers."

I thought to myself: "Ranchers? Are they having a problem?"

Now I know what he meant. Actually, maybe some other DU'ers remember that it might have been more than once he mentioned "Ranchers" because I cringed and tucked it away in my brain.

[DBoon]

21. pork sausage I presume

no "Mad Pig" disease yet...

[mouse7]

35. no... it said "sausage"

Could be roadkill possum and armadillo sausage for all I know.

[jamesinca]

38. The disease has a cross species contamination potential

It showed up in cows in the '90's, and it showed up in sheep in the form of a disease know as "scrapie". It also shows up in maquas. When it shows up in people it is know or usually known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. One way it is spread is through eating the contaminated meat. If the pig were to eat contaminated meat it could spread thru the swine industry also.

[Southsideirish]

3. Poor cows - "hardest working of farm animals"- Kinsley sneered

I once saw a show when Michael Kinsley used to be on Crossfire and a farmer was on as a guest. The topic of which I don't recall - something to do with cows and the agribusiness industry wanted to artificially increase their daily "output" I vivedly recall the farmer saying, in effect, that cows had the most beleagured lives of any animals on the farms and Kinsley lifted his sneering upper lip in disgust and made an off hand comment such as "who cares" about cows and how they might suffer...then I knew what a loathsome creep he is.

[Must_B_Free]

15. doesn't Kinsley have a degenerative brain disorder?

maybe he has mad cow himself?

[otohara]

29. Not Funny

Kinsley has Parkinson's disease -

[schultzee]

31. Parkinsons' has not helped him develope compassion but

rePiglicans just don't seem to realize that other living things can suffer too. Or they just limit sufferring to the rich republicans. Peasants and animals can't suffer.

[schultzee]

32. I hope GW eats lots and lots of beef everyday....perhaps he

will one of those Washington hamburgers.

[schultzee]

30. Kingsley is a typical sadistic greed pig rePiglican, he is not

as worthy as some poor cow to be on this earth.

[Bandit]

4. Mmmmm slobber drool hamburgers

D'oh

[LincolnMcGrath]

5. This is more silly then the listeria scares

[shanti]

49. silly??

how do you mean?

[woofless]

6. HaHa "President Bush continues to eat beef'"

As if it would show were he to contract a "brain wasting disease".

Woof

[LincolnMcGrath]

7. Wouldn't he be immune?

No Brain-No Disease

[Champion Jack]

9. bada boom!!!

rimshot

[Eurobabe]

24. he's in the final stages

n/t

[Cocoa]

10. lol

same with monkey pox. :-)

[mbperrin]

8. As usual, the $$$$$$ are what the story is about - absolutely no

human impact due to insufficient and lazy inspection procedures whose only virtue is that they're cheap...

[aquart]

14. NO human impact?

I'm sorry, but are you joking? I can't tell because I'm not laughing.

Thousands of people are involved in the beef and dairy industries. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands of Americans eat these foods. NO human impact? Family incomes are being devastated. Are you trying to make a funny by saying that you think a money issue has no impact on human life?

You planning to buy chopped meat this week? Next week?

[mouse7]

19. Beef industry is $150 billion+ a year in the US

Take $150 billion out of the economy of the US and see what happens to the stock market and jobs.

[Snazzy]

28. I think the poster is suggesting...

that's what got us into this mess, not making a joke. $$$$ for rancher buddies (texas=oil and ranchers) and no thought for future impact/risk/cost/lives/the cows/etc. by bushco.

I.e. the usual.

(edit gender assumption of title)

[T Bone]

54. The human impact and cost of DEREGULATION the in beef industry

The consumers are dying of prions in their brains, and the people who make their living in the beef and cattle industry get to go the sidelines for a spell of unemployment.

Let industries and the markets regulate themselves. That has been a REPUBLICAN mantra hasn't it ?

A society that buys into the Republican Brain Disease of Deregulation gets a brain disease of its' own.

Karma anyone?

[LincolnMcGrath]

11. "And grandma's on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand"

Sometimes I hear her singing "Take me to the Promised Land"
When you take away a man's dignity he can't work his fields and cows

[DS1]

12. argh! stop feeding cows to cows!

:wtf: is wrong with you people!

[Malva Zebrina]

13. blech

and we get nothing from our stupid Republican govenment. Most people do not KNOW what to do and do not KNOW what the etiology of this mad cow desease is. They are sitting in tinderhooks and we have NOTHING, no GUIDELINES from our government. As a matter of fact , the idiot, AWOL commander in thief, has taken his lump, complete with her tablecloth shawl, to Crawford for a VACATION.

My, is that not so very comforting? We are left confused and floundering while he, and his tableclothed lump-o-frump are eating royally with tested food, in Crawford at poolside. And probably laughing at the poor paeons, like us, while they enjoy yet another "vacation"

[JailForBush]

17. President Bush continues to eat beef?

It will interesting to see when that dipshit officially announces a beef-free diet - if more cases of Mad Cow Disease are discovered. I mean, if a couple dozen infected cows are discovered, and three people die from the disease, then Bush is going to look awfully stupid going into the general election as an urban cowboy beef-eater.

[shanti]

50. i'm quite sure

that the chimp will be eating CERTIFIED and TESTED beef, as will his wealthy friends. they have their ways....as opposed to us peons.

[cliss]

18. The first cow was from Moses Lake, Wa.

The second herd is probably from the same area. Moses Lake is in the southeastern part of the state. Chances are, once that cow went to Kingdom Come, its hamburger went to either Spokane, Portland or Seattle.

They probably know where it went. So I would say people on the west coast need to be the most concerned.

You're right, C Canuck. Remember how harsh Bushco was about that Canadian cow? Man, they pulled out the barbed wire Awfully Fast that time. I heard that Canadian ranchers were really biting their nails over that.

Poetic justice!

[mouse7]

20. Alberson's is already recalling in WA, OR, and ID

Alberson's is a big West Coast Grocery chain.

[Robbien]

22. Mad Cow meat can be used for pet food

According to the NYT

Nervous tissue from infected cattle can spread the disease from one cow to another. Such tissue from slaughtered cows, which is barred in the manufacture of cattle feed, is diverted instead to the making of food for poultry and house pets, in which there is yet no documented case of its causing the disease.

What do they mean 'no documented case'? How would they even know? How many veterinarians even check for this disease?

[Eurobabe]

26. my cat eats

Natura, no beef in there. but what about the ground cows fed to chickens, ground back and fed to cows? this is a sick vicious cycle.

Just like Bu$h played politics with our security pre-9/11, here goes the USDA again! Except many more will be affected by this...when it hits the food plate and the wallet (jobs, eating) people call time out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. There GOES the beef industry

And I am not kdding,

This is going to have effects down the economic chain, serious effects

No more beef for us either

[Kellanved]

25. I don't think so

As seen in Europe: Beef will be avoided for a few months (McDonald's, Burger King etc will introduce new Pork, Chicken, Fish and Veggie Burgers) and then it's again business as usual.
Organic shops will keep more costumers than before, but not by a huge margin.

To the original poster: As I've seen this happening a few times already (especially in France, where I really didn't expect it):
1. there were many more mad cows, most of them were eaten - and there will be many more, especially if modern tests are made mandatory (AFAIK the US test are not quite state-of-the-art).
2. The US never was BSE-free; most studies published in the past few years are claiming that BSE is actually an old bovine disease, which exploded because of false feeding. As it is the case with sheep, there will never be zero cases.



Don't panic! Don't buy mass-produced beef and don't eat brain or mechanically recovered meat; then it's probably harmless (at least there would be a whole lot more of cases by now, if otherwise)

[MountainLaurel]

33. One difference, though

The factory-farm system and mass stockyards in the U.S. make it pretty more likely that the disease will spread. If there's one cow with it, there are others. Ot at least so saith an agri-disease czar I had to hear speak a couple years ago.

[aquart]

34. Of course the industry will rebound.

But not right away. And the revenue loss will be a body blow.

Maybe they're sorry they wrote such big checks to George about now.

[ConcernedCanuk]

36. ""Of course the industry will rebound." - hmmm, don't bet on it -

.
.
. . There's another factor here that should be considered.

. . I would place a wager that some of the over two dozen countries that have banned the USA's beef are NOT overly concerned about the beef.

. . But have taken this "justified" action to punish the USA for their high-handed bullying of the rest of the world. Most will find other markets from which to purchase beef, and may "keep" their new suppliers if and when the USA gets a clean bill of health for their beef industry.

. . Also, considering the USA's high pressure tactics on countries to accept their other GM (Genetically Modified) food products, the fall-out could well affect alot MORE than just the beef industry . .

. . Thanks to King Cowboy and his gang of thugs, the USA has not exactly been cultivating friendships in the last year or two . . .

Time has come to reap that which has been sown . . .

[IMayBeWrongBut]

41. The exports about $3 billion worth of Beef per year.

Total US exports in 2002 were $680 Billion. That means Beef is less than half a percent of exports. This is not an economic disaster on the export end of things.

[SidDithers]

45. Except that the loss of exports is all in one industry...

A half percent across the board decrease in exports might not be a disaster - all of it in one idustry probably is.

Sid

[ConcernedCanuk]

46. "loss of exports is all in one industry" - so far maybe, - -

.
.
. BUT I suspect that the USA's credibility worldwide has dropped yet ANOTHER notch

and they didn't need that.

I suspect a greater "fall-out" in US markets as a result of this

As I mentioned somewhere else

The USA hasn't been cultivating new friendships lately

And I suspect some countries will use this event to "justify" banning of OTHER US products :shrug:

[mouse7]

37. Question on beef stock

I'm not serious about being "worried" at the present time. However, I am curious and have questions.

My biggest one would be about beef stock. I eat very little beef. I cook turkey burgers at home for cheeseburgers and almost can't tell the difference. However, I do use a fair amount of beef stock in soups, gravy, and pasta sauces. What would be the deal with beef broth and stock?

[Snazzy]

39. Good question/point

Hadn't yet thought of that. Me too.

Well, you use bones to make the stock at home right? And who knows what else they throw in there with commercial canned stock.

From what reading I've done, it appears that they don't know exactly how humans get vCJD (the human form of BSE/"mad cow"). They do know where it is in the cow, however, the central nervous system. Even if they don't intentionally use CNS parts, it is easy, especially via mechanical processing of the carcase to get some of that mixed in. And this is apparently something new (a mutated protein) that does not boil out--at least in the feed. So I'd say we're screwed with beef stock.

Many assumptions in there of course, so would be nice to hear a rational expert explain it. I'd lean toward skeptical while hearing it explained by anybody USDA or such.

I suppose we will need organic cow-killing farmers who can vouch for their bones and feed, or something like that.

[Snazzy]

40. Good Counterpunch link--yep, no beef stock for me

http://www.counterpunch.org/greger05232003.html

...

Although the Canadian Food Inspection Agency admits the infected cow was sent to a rendering plant, the agency has tried to reassure consumers by describing rendering as a heat-treatment process used to 'sterilize' the carcass.<30> Unfortunately, the type of pathogen thought to cause mad cow disease is not destroyed by the rendering process.

Mad cow disease is thought to caused not by a virus, fungus or bacteria, but by a prion, or infectious protein. One reason prions are so concerning is that, unlike conventional pathogens, prions are not adequately destroyed by cooking, canning, or freezing.<31,32> Usable doses of UV or ionizing radiation, stomach acid, and digestive enzymes are all ineffective in destroying their infectivity.<33, 34> Even heat sterilization, domestic bleach<35>, and formaldehyde sterilization have little or no effect.<36> One study even raised the disturbing question of whether even incineration could guarantee inactivation of prions.<37> National Institutes of Health expert Joseph Gibbs once remarked tongue-in-cheek to Cornell's Food Science Department that one of the only ways to ensure one's burger is safe is to marinate it in a concentrated alkali such as Drain-O.<38>

...

Many edible products, such as beef stock, beef extract, and beef flavoring, are frequently made by boiling the skeletal remains (including the vertebral column) of the carcass..."<69> According to the consumer advocacy organization Center for Science in the Public Interest, spinal cord contamination may also be found in U.S. hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza toppings, and taco fillings.<70> In fact, a 2002 USDA survey showed that approximately 35 percent of high risk meat products tested positive for CNS and CNS-associated tissues.<71>

=======

Yikes, what a mess.

[J B]

42. Haven't you people heard?...

The brain and spinal column of the infected cow were removed before the rest was processed.

But hey, hysteria suits certain people on this board more...

[Snazzy]

44. As flippant ill-informed non-sequiturs suit others?

Bit more complicated than you think, bub. Go read something!

[NickB79]

48. In THIS particular cow, but how many others are missed?

They found one cow out of 30,000 tested, when many millions of cattle were slaughtered over the same time period. If that ratio is anywhere near accurate, we're looking at thousands of infected cattle entering the food chain over the past decade without being noticed. The brains and spinal columns were not removed from these animals. Considering how, up until 1997 it was legal to feed cattle remains back to cattle, even one infected cow in the feeding mix could infect many more across numerous farms. The chance that, out of hundreds of millions of cattle in the US, there is only one cow with this disease is almost unbelievable.

[daleo]

51. 9999 missed?

I seem to recall reading that there had been 300 million cows slaughtered in the time period, during which 30000 were tested for BSE. That gives 1 in 30000 with BSE in the tested sample, so it seems reasonable to suppose that there were 10000 diseased cattle in all.

There has not really been enough data released for a proper statistical analysis, though. This is just an obvious first level estimate.

[Code_Name_D]

53. Symple probability.

As mad-cow becomes more prevulent, it becomes more likly to triger even the lax monitering. So now that we know as fact this is mad cow, we will see a lot more start to turn up.

Intresting to see how quiet they were with this qorintene, but the problem still remaines.

They will not get sirouse until people start comming down with it. And then they will be surpised and astounded that it happend. Just as they are astounded that the "no-refeed" rule dosn't seem to be followed all that well.

[T Bone]

55. But first they put a bullet in the cow's brain

A bullet to the brain from a special 'contact' device. And that bullet and the dammage it does in the brain won't spread the prions?

I wouldn't bet on it/

[mouse7]

43. Oh well, I've been due to go vegan for political reasons anyway.

Looks like this is as good an excuse as any to use as a motivator.

Besides, vegan guys get all those cute vegan girls ;)

[depakid]

47. Some of the lucky winners are in Portland Oregon

"Northwest residents probably have eaten meat from a Holstein with mad cow disease, agriculture officials said Friday, as several grocery chains recalled specific kinds of beef that could contain the cow's meat.

Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Safeway and WinCo Foods all received batches of beef, which could have contained bits of the sick cow, from Interstate Meat Distributors in Portland. It was sold mostly as ground beef to Northwest customers from about Dec. 15 through Dec. 23 -- although Safeway's recall includes 69 pounds of "fresh beef hearts."

"From a practical standpoint, some of this has already been consumed and can't be recalled," given the beef's distribution dates, said Dalton Hobbes, a spokesman for Oregon's Department of Agriculture...

You can bet this kid's happy he doesn't eat meat. I am very worried about some of my friends, though, who all shop at those stores. Can't say as I didn't warn them often enough over the years.


href="http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/107253027911210.xml"

[Snazzy]

52. Add Nevada, Wash. and California--USDA Transcript link

From today--

http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/12/0444.htm

... "they have sold those trimmings to approximately three dozen small mom and pop Asian and Mexican facilities in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada."

Loads of info in the transcript, including the push for Canada source. The Canadian rep says there are discrepancies however. He also says, that if it is the Canadian cow, it was older and had calves in Canada which can be tested (will take a week).

No idea if I should take the USDA people with a grain of salt (or shot of drano?). They certainly push the Canada button hard. Say 74 diary cows entered Idaho and were sold to a single facility which raises them to be dairy cows. Where they were sold from there isn't yet disclosed. Cow here since Aug '01.

They also say the rendered bones have been recalled successfully but don't give details. And that separating the fat from the protein for feed would eliminate the prions--so your candle/cosmetics are safe. I'd like to see some objective follow-up on that one too.

edit--sloppy stuff

[Snazzy]

56. Meat of Infected Cow Found in More States

Meat of Infected Cow Found in More States
24 minutes ago


By EMILY GERSEMA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Investigators disclosed Sunday that they have found meat cut from a Holstein sick with mad cow disease was sent to four more states and one territory.


Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said investigators have now determined that some of the meat from the cow slaughtered Dec. 9 went to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and Guam. Earlier, officials had said most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for distribution to consumers.

....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=2&u=/ap/20031228/ap_on_re_us/mad_cow