Mad cow disease case in US was a 'one-off' caused by a mutation

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

A newly discovered case of mad cow disease in a US dairy herd apparently arose from a one-off mutation that was picked up during random surveillance at an abattoir in California.

The animal was tested as part of a regular inspection programme organised by the US Department of Agriculture that examines tissue from 40,000 slaughtered cattle each year.

Dr John Clifford, the USDA's chief veterinary officer, said the department was continuing its investigation of the case, but added "there should be no concern … about the safety of our food supply."

(...)

Random genetic mutations happen all the time in nature, so once in a while a cow will be born with a mutation that makes the BSE prion. In the latest case -the fourth in US cattle and the first since 2006 -the animal showed no symptoms and no meat entered the human food supply, according to the USDA.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/25/mad-cow-disease-us-mutation

[CBGLuthier]

1. Well I feel better now. Government said it's AOK

Since I do not consume beef does not matter to me anyway.

[loudsue]

2. Since about 300,000,000 Americans DO consume beef, it matters a lot to me.

Our food supply should be safe for everyone. The fact that the republicans hate our government, and prefer corporate profits over human life, is the great tragedy of these times.

[4th law of robotics]

4. Wait, what?

This was a random mutation, how does this prove that our food supply is unsafe, that republicans are killing people via tainted meat and that this is a great tragedy?

[CBGLuthier]

5. I would wager that figure is a tad high.

I think there are more than 30 million people who do not eat beef.

Of course we should have safe food but they let the industry get away with murder.

Have you heard they are thinking about firing the USDA inspectors of poultry and replacing them with company monitors putting the fox in charge of the henhouse so to speak.

Guess who won't ever be eating any chicken again?

[4th law of robotics]

3. I suspect this won't matter, the hysteria has already set in

Hell, the test could have been shown to be a false positive and they could parade the healthy cow around on every channel and people are still going to avoid beef for a while.

[Odin2005]

7. If the USDA were trustworthy there would not be hysteria.

[4th law of robotics]

9. Case in point

[cstanleytech]

11. Thats a false argument imo because no agency is completely trustworthy because mistakes do happen

and people as a whole regardless if they work for a government agency or a private one take bribes.
Personally I think the USDA for the most part does a decent job considering the sheer amount of meat that the country processes and consumes and I would rather have them do the inspecting than trust the companies to police themselves.

[Odin2005]

14. You won't think the USDA is on your side when you read this book:

Slaughterhouse

Inspectors that actually do their job get fired.

[Odin2005]

6. Yeah, because I trust the USDA, NOT!!!

The USDA is in cahoots with the Livestock Industry.

[truebrit71]

8. There's a good side and a bad side to this..

...The good side is that they've finally admitted that BSE occurs naturally, the bad side is that they haven't been honest with the numbers of cattle impacted...only four since 2006 is just simply not realistic..

Rough estimates are that it occurs in about one in a million cows, the US herd is roughly 30 million strong, which means that there are at least THIRTY cows that have BSE right now, but because there isn't a big enough sample of testing being done, there is no way to say with any confidence whether they've entered the food chain. (My own personal guess would be hell yes they've been eaten, and the USDA has to know that too...)

[JDPriestly]

10. +1000

Maybe a simple test needs to be developed and administered prior to slaughter of any cow if the meat is to be sold for human consumption.

[Ecumenist]

17. There is an organic rancher who wanted to do just that and do you know he was sued to prevent

him from doing it? Creekside Farms Beef LLC wanted to test ALL their beef and the government under Bush along with alot of the corporate beef industry sided with the government.

[JDPriestly]

18. Horrible.

[cstanleytech]

12. I thought it wasnts so much the number of cows who have that have

it but rather the main issue is how the meat is handled and if its not done correctly it has a risk of contaminating which is why they dont allow cow brains to be sold for meat nor the spines.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Maybe the cows are mad because the fu*%#$@ing pink slime is ruining their reputation

as being the people's choice of "What's for dinner!"

Thanks for the thread, alp.

[dflprincess]

15. That's the story and they're sticking to it.

They're also claiming that "only 4" people in the U.S. have died from eating beef contaminated with the BSE prion. What I haven't been able to find is how they can distinquish between Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a human that was brought on by bad beef and what that has occured naturally. My aunt's friend died of CJD and I'll guarantee she wasn't included in the "only 4" count.

And, for that matter, why does the blood bank ask questions about CJD if the risk is so low?

[Ecumenist]

16. Bullshit, I don't buy it....They DO NOT DO THE NUMBERS OF INSPECTIONS THST THEY SHOULD!!

They were just "lucky" to catch this one but I'm not stupid enough to believe that there aren't others out there. You know, what with being born at night but not in front of a speeding turnip truck and all...