I've been looking into this mad cow thing a bit today. It looks like when you have a government with a philosophy which states it is best to let industry police itself and do what is best for the people, one might venture to guess that mad cow is pretty much what you get.
Although animal byproducts have been banned from cattle feed for the last 5 years, the ban does not apply to formula for feeding calves. the agri-industry continues to supplemented calf formula with beef blood and fat. There is good evidence now that BSE, a prion based disease, is blood borne. So, even though this this Washington State cow with BSE was born after the cattle feed ban, the possibility exist that it contracted it from blood used in calf formula.
As far as human health is concerned, I have discovered that there are now about 100 recorded cases including one that is fairly certain to have been contracted from a blood transfusion. The possibility of getting BSE seems rather low, all things considered, but the incubation period can be from 5 to 40 years, so there may be more. Another factor that complicates the situation, if there is a situation, is the fact that all of us middle-aged people who are controlling our diabetes with low-carb diets have been chowing down on a lot of beef lately.
It pretty much looks like Europe, Japan and most other governments stepped in to regulate their beef industries, and their meat products are inspected, tested and safe to eat.
Bottom line seems to be there is a fairly high likelihood that American beef-related agri-business will melt down if this isn't contained fast or if there is a perception that this isn't contained. It is likely over the coming months that we can all look forward to the government putting our tax money into TV ads telling us how safe it is to eat American beef. I wonder if we'll see pictures of the president holding up a rib roast on a platter at the ranch this Christmas:) Mission Accomplished.
Most of this was gleaned from an interview with John Stauber author of Mad Cow USA. |
