US tries to prevent panic over BSE scare

[emad]

The Independent
By David Usborne
20 November 2004


Consumer groups and the beef industry in the United States were yesterday attempting to avert any public panic over food supplies after officials at the Department of Agriculture revealed on Thursday that they had uncovered a possible case of BSE.

The government admitted that preliminary screening for the disease, which can be transmitted in a usually fatal form to humans, had proved positive on one animal. It insisted the results were considered "inconclusive" pending further tests.

The results may not be ready for several days and in the meantime the country's $40bn- a-year (£21bn) beef industry can only wait anxiously. The news sent beef prices tumbling and cast an instant chill on the main fast-food chains' share prices. While some experts warned it was likely the second round of tests would confirm the presence of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) officials at the Department of Agriculture were more sanguine.

While refusing to reveal where the animal had been found, Andrea Morgan, associate deputy administrator of the department's inspectors, said the agency "remains confident in the safety of the US beef supply".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=584769

[Cobalt Violet]

1. Was this story in the MSM?

For thoses who can stand to watch MSM.

[emad]

2. Don't know...

[peekaloo]

3. CBS News carried a brief story on Thursday.

file footage of sick cows and a snippet from Annie V's "press conference" after the FIRST scare.

[Garbo 2004]

24. Yeah and that "first" time the meat from the infected cow did get

into the food chain, although the Ag Secty at first claimed it hadn't. We had recalls of beef in my area since some of the suspect beef was thought to have been marketed here.

UPI did articles at the time on the subject which made clear the Feds have no clue what is or isn't out there and more stuff I don't like to think about.

I haven't eaten any beef since then.

[ftlaudguy]

4. This is another

disaster waiting to happen....possibly making lots of people sick and destroy an industry. Why? Because they don't want to spend .02 per pound of meat (that's the cost that would be passed on to the consumer to test all beef)....that's part of the answer. They also don't want to institute testing because then the meat producers/processors could be held legally liable if they let meat with BSE pass through. So, they are doing the usual head-in-the-sand routine with this....ignore and maybe it will go away. If not, we'll worry about it then!

[carolinalady]

8. The official line I heard on msm--

US greatly 'stepped up' routine screening so now using rapid screen therefore not surprising it would show an equivocal result---yadayadayada Now sent for a more definitive testing--NEVER entered the food supply. This is actually a good thing-shows our monitoring systems working--blah blah--

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. 5 deaths from CJD in 4 months in Kingston, NY...madcow deaths ...........

I live near Kingston and we haven't ate beef for more than 2 years :scared:

Fifth Victim In NY County CJD Cluster
... Fifth Victim In NY County CJD Cluster. Health Department Will Probe Deaths. KINGSTON --
A fifth Ulster County death has been linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease ...
www.taxidermy.net/forums/IndustryArticles/04/j/0478E03FF3.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages


At Least Four Recent Cluster CJD Deaths In Ulster Co. NY
... Both victims had back surgery at Kingston Hospital in the mid-1990s, however ... is no
evidence of a link between those treatments and their deaths from CJD. ...
www.rense.com/general58/cluster.htm - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

...
Fifth Victim In NY County CJD Cluster Health Department Will Probe Deaths By Gabriel
J. Wasserman Poughkeepsie Journal 10-16-4. KINGSTON -- A fifth Ulster ...
www.rense.com/general58/count.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages
< More results from www.rense.com >

State health officials are probing the deaths of four Ulster ...
... of a rare brain disease CJD Date: Wed ... Rare Brain-Disease Deaths In Kingston Area
Investigated. ... KINGSTON, NY -- State health officials are probing the deaths of ...
www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/93327.html - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

Recent deaths linked to mysterious brain disease baffles family
... KINGSTON, NY -- A few months before Richard Tobey died, his mind suddenly started
to deteriorate. ... New York state has an average of 20 CJD deaths a year. ...
www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/93405.html - 23k - Cached - Similar pages
< More results from www.vegsource.com >

Cluster of Mad Cow-Like (CJD) Diseases in NY State Has People ...
... Cluster of Mad Cow-Like (CJD) Diseases in NY ... The deaths in upstate New York are not
considered out ... was window-shopping last week in Kingston, NY, where several ...
www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/newyork102804.cfm - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

CJD WATCH
... family By ALICIA CHANG Associated Press Writer October 24, 2004, 12:12 PM EDT KINGSTON,
NY -- A few ... New York state has an average of 20 CJD deaths a year. ...
disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=167318;article=1731;title=CJD%20WATCH - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

CJD Voice Discussion Group
... whether there was any connection between the deaths. ... both had back surgery at Kingston
Hospital — Tobey ... Extra Money — Server.com Sponsor: CJD — Gail, Mon ...
disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=7498;article=2239;title=CJD%20Voice%20Discussion%20Group - 9k - Cached - Similar pages


Albany, NY -- timesunion.com
... Two CJD deaths occurred in Ulster County in 2003 and 2004 ... told The New York Times
and the Kingston Daily Freeman ... Center in Ohio revealed she did not die of CJD. ...
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=296330& category=HEALTH&BCCode=&newsdate=11/6/2004 - 24k - Nov 19, 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

[SOS]

6. The USDA

can be counted on to be as vigilant on this as the FDA was on Vioxx.
Profits for corporations first.

[emad]

7. During Ronnie Raygun's tenure of the WH, UK comics said Thatcher

must have caught Mad Cow Disease from Nancy.....

Maybe a parallel with Poodle/Cherry and Junior today?

[gulfcoastliberal]

9. The Cattlemen and Big Beef are murderers

They know this shit is rampant and they do nothing to stop it. They actively lobby to prevent family farms from conducting 100% BSE testing on their herds so they can sell to Japan again. Remember when they sued Oprah after she said she was never eating a burger again? These people are scum of the lowest order, Upton Sinclair must be spinning in his grave!

[deminks]

10. BSE risk, more smoke and mirrors

The Center for American Progress has a great article describing the problems with BSE:

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=foISLROkGiF&b=173752


Glad Veneman is gone, but will just get more of the same, I am afraid.
"Stepped-up" testing is still inadequate. Cattlemen are willing to pay for testing themselves, but not allowed???

[RC]

11. How much BSE has slipped into the food chain undetected?

I haven't eaten beef in years. Jello either. My friends thinks I'm quirky.

[KlatooBNikto]

13. You may also want to look at milk, ice cream, cheese etc.Make sure

you get the Organic varieties where the cattle are only grass fed.I have been doing this for years.I have never eaten beef for over twenty years and my children and grandchildren do the same.

[OhioChick]

12. Bush delays regulation; beef association endorses Bush

http://organicconsumers.org/madcow/Bush92704.cfm

[w4rma]

14. They kept this quiet to help get Repugs into office and protect Bush.

Evil. Traitors.

I've been beef free for over 2 years now, when I first heard that Bush refused to ALLOW testing even by the farmers who owned the cows.

[BuddhaGirl]

15. GREAT article in November's Vanity Fair

by Eric Schlosser-"America's Beef is Rotten and Washington Couldn't Care Less."

The article turned my stomach.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

16. GROUND TURKEY, people...my family's made the move

Who needs beef when ground turkey can be seasoned to taste very similar and can have the same texture?

Fish and Foul do not get BSE.

JB

[mistertrickster]

17. I love beef--but I've cut back animal products to a little milk on my

cereal and cheese on my pizza.

Not a total veg yet, but the evidence is growing and growing that animal products just aren't good for humans over the long term.

Too much protein, for example, can cause serious health problems (osetoporosis, cholesterol), contrary to what 7th grade health class told you . . . .

ON EDIT--

I heard a Mr. Lyman (Oprah's "Mad Cowboy) at a public forum last week and he pointed out that the average kid in America eats over 6 hamburgers a week.

[cliss]

18. We quit eating meat also.

Long before the last scare about 2 years ago. As always, when we make a change in our lives, we think things are going to get worse when we eliminate something.

The surprising thing was, our lives became better. There are SO many meatless products out now. Boca Bugers, Morning Star Farms, an endless variety of beef substitute products. And they taste good.

In the old days when I would fry beef to put in the spaghetti sauce, I'd have a 1" layer of beef fat in the frying pan. I didn't know what to do with it. It was always a disgusting mess.

Now, I just take the beef crumbles from Morning Star farms and pour it directly into the sauce. It tastes exactly like the real thing. We don't worry about getting mad cow disease. It's just a better way to live.

[struggle4progress]

19. Should we eliminate the health threat or just try to avert panic?

Uh oh! eliminating the health threat might erode Bush donors' profits. Let's just avert panic!

[Voltaire99]

20. Jes' keep shoving beef down yer piehole--Jesus'll per'teck ya!

...Faith-based dieting.

[LynnTheDem]

21. "Trust us". And BUSH is deregulating the food industry.

He's deregulating the safety procedures to guard against BSE, and no more mandatory labelling to say what nation the food came from.

Nope, that's all gonna be VOLUNTARY now.

"TRUST US.." says the most incompetant & corrupt administration in US history.

[Carolab]

22. GOOD LORD

What's next?

[magellan]

23. Yeah, yeah....

While refusing to reveal where the animal had been found, Andrea Morgan, associate deputy administrator of the department's inspectors, said the agency "remains confident in the safety of the US beef supply".

They said the same thing in the UK, and you all know what eventually happened over there...Cows slaughtered by the thousands. My husband and I lived there at the time and started buying Scottish beef, but we still can't donate blood now that we're living in the US. (Which is only fair.)

DO NOT TRUST POLITICIANS OR CATTLEMEN. THEY DO NOT HAVE YOUR BEST INTERESTS IN MIND!!

[Dover]

25. Buy organic and/or pastured, grass fed local beef or no beef at all.

There are plenty of alternatives which are better for you anyway.