Mad Cow Story on NPR Morning Edition.

[AP]

This was a strange story. Steve Inskeep, the host, interviewed Joe Palca (an NPR reporter -- whatever happened to hearing from original sources?). Inskeep asks Palca why the FDA would say that they MIGHT have identified an infected cow before they've done the tests and Palca said that some people would say, "oh, you knew about this days ago and didn't tell us'' if the FDA didn't reveal at the earliest possible moment that there might be an infected cow.

Now, I might be oversensitive, but it struck me that Palca sort of did a vocal impression when he said that. He tried to capture, I don't what -- anger, as if to suggest that people who would say that aren't reasonable. I can think of very calm ways someone might state that they should have known at the earliest possible moment.

But it's not even really that that's the issue.

Mind you, this whole story is in the context of generally not having ANY information about this particular case or about BSE in America generally. The FDA won't even say what state this particular event happened in, and if you remember that last case in December 2003 -- it was cloaked in mystery for the longest time.

I heard an hour long interview on Todd Mundt's show once (before his show was canceled). He interviewed a BSE expert who talked about many cases of BSE in the US. I believe Todd Mundt's show was produced in Ann Arbor and they had two BSE deaths there -- people who had never been to Europe and didn't hunt. If I remember correctly, that cluster at that race track was dismissed by the NYT in a way that I, a non scientist, perceived as being based on some very flimsy logic. So, what the hell is going on here? I don't think I'm getting all the information.

Palca also spent a lot of time in the interview today telling us how the preliminary test (which triggered the more accurate, yet-to-be-conducted second test) produces a lot of false positives. So the whole tone of this story was that the listener was getting a lot of information as soon as possible and that the FDA was being hyper-vigilant.

The story was like a facade of being informed. I don't know anything more about BSE in America after hearing that story (except, "it's too soon to worry, and people who want to know early have annoying personalities").

Maybe I'm overly critical. I guess if they didn't want people to stop eating beef, they could have not talked about it all.

Listen for yourself:

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4176705

[sui generis]

1. what about the Angry Pig story? the Pissed Off Goat story?

:evilgrin:

[AP]

2. I'm still waiting for the Pet Goat Story.

[hermetic]

3. There is a story about it in the Ontario Star

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968256289824

Suspicions about another case of the disease came because of an inconclusive test result, officials said.

"The inconclusive result does not mean we have found another case of BSE in this country," said Andrea Morgan, associate deputy administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

She said the inconclusive results "are a normal component of screening tests, which are designed to be extremely sensitive so they will detect any sample that could possibly be positive."

So, evidently, at this time, nobody knows nuttin.

[AP]

6. And the story has become, "they're telling us everything as soon as they..

...know anything."

Yet they don't say what state it's in in this particular case, and they don't tell us anything about all the other cases in the US.

[pk_du]

4. Apparently is NOT Kansas...which means it probably is

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10215731.htm?1c

But then who knows with this Admin.

[nashville_brook]

5. mmm Sickburgers! n/t