Kucinich on Mad Cow Disease

[redqueen]

12/29/03
Kucinich on Mad Cow Disease

"The unfortunate discovery of a dairy cow in Washington State infected with Mad Cow Disease, or BSE, is a result of irresponsible US agricultural policies. BSE in the United States is preventable but the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must do more to protect American consumers.

"Last year, the USDA tested only 19,990 cattle believed to be at risk for Mad Cow Disease, out of a population of about 96 million or 1 out of every 5,000 cattle. By contrast in Europe, every single animal above a given age gets tested for this fatal brain-wasting disease (one out of every four cattle).

"USDA argues that there is no risk to humans because slaughter houses are required to remove all central nervous system (CNS) tissue from sick cattle. This tissue is where BSE is found and can infect humans if eaten. However, removing this tissue is rarely completely effective. USDA's own studies found that 35 percent of advanced meat recovery product tested was contaminated with CNS tissue.

"While the USDA-sponsored Harvard risk assessment of BSE in the U.S. noted that compliance with FDA's 1997 BSE feed rule is the most important factor in preventing a BSE outbreak, it is clear that this rule is not being rigorously enforced. Two GAO reports have shown how lax FDA has been in ensuring compliance with the feed rule. The first GAO report published some three years after the BSE feed rule went into effect found fairly widespread non-compliance. The 2002 GAO report found no improvement and found that the FDA compliance data was unreliable.

"When Congress returns I intend to introduce legislation that will:


Prohibit meat from downer cattle from entering the human food supply;
Test all downer cattle using modern rapid quick tests (estimates range from 190,000 to 970,000 cattle);
Establish a mandatory trace back system for all bovines;
Require mandatory recall of food products infected;
Prohibit the feeding of the remains of any mammal to any animals that humans eat;
Tighten the law on dietary supplements, which currently allow supplements to contain CNS tissue;
Require doctors and hospitals to report all cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"More can and must be done to protect Americans, and our economy, from this devastating disease and the public panic it can cause."
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Another great showing from the Kooch.

I love getting plans and solutions, and not just angry carping. :D

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Its officiial

he is on the Beef Institute hit list.. he is not alone though

[corporatewhore]

2. down with big agribusiness

Dk and willie nelson are right Big Agbiz hurts family farmers and families in general.I my self have gone vegan now (was veg but went vegan after mad cow outbreak) but if you just raise the cattle the old fashioned way(theway they are supposed to be raised) you wouldnt have any of these problems

[LWolf]

3. Dennis has a plan for everything.

Browsing through his website could take weeks; it's a textbook, no, and encyclopedia of American issues and detailed plans to address them.

No wonder he is a vegan. Makes you wonder what you've been eating lately, doesn't it?

[XanaDUer]

5. DK is a vegan?

I did not know that.

He is a brilliant man, however.

I for one do not trust the gov about the meat supply.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

10. "however."?

Hehe, vegan's aren't normally brilliant? :P

TWL

[XanaDUer]

15. Heh, heh

Sorry about that!

He is a brilliant man, vegan and all.

Badly worded, me bad. :)

[JohnKleeb]

11. LC I am suprised

that you didnt know. BTW I read Kerry's statement on it, very good. Thanks.

[Malva Zebrina]

4. Sounds good to me

someone has to care, eh?

IN all of this, where is our government? There are no guidelines out there for those who may be bewildered by this--but, hell, we can get a rainbow of stupid color alerts every holiday to keep us all in fear for weeks. It is as though Bush is trying to hide this also and if that is true, he is truly evil, the most evil man ever to occupy the White HOuse.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. So what you're saying is, he's a Canada appeaser

I guess he'll be voting "no" on the Liberation of Winnipeg resolution.

[redqueen]

7. hehe

:)

Nope! Just saying he's all about 'less talk, more action'.

Oh, great. Elvis's 'Satisfy Me' playing on my mental jukebox. :D

[Mairead]

8. That's a good but inadequate plan. I hope he realises that.

Suspect animals should not be allowed to get into ANY food supply. Not human, not animals that will be eaten by humans, not companion animals, and not wild animals. The carcases of suspect animals should be entirely destroyed without use for any purpose.

[rucky]

9. Are compainion animals at risk of infection?

it is my understanding that they are not.

[Mairead]

13. I don't know for certain, but I can't think of a reason they wouldn't be

The prions are just non-specific proteins, so it seems to me they would be.

A vet told me that a lot of things are in the cheaper grades of pet food that would show up if our companions lived longer. He mentioned something that destroys brains, but I can't now remember what it was. Maybe it was scrapie, which is the 'mad sheep' disorder.

[REP]

14. Cats Are; Dogs Aren't

There are many cases of Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy (FSE) in England. FSE is the feline form of BSE. No one knows why cats are susceptible but dogs aren't; it could have something to do with cats being obligate carnivores and dogs being omnivorous. If that is a factor, it could be as simple as cats' diets being necessarily higher in meat than that of dogs; in other words, even when eating commercial feeds, cats eat more meat. Cats also tend to live longer than dogs, but it is not known if any of these are factors in why cats get it but dogs don't.

[Nadienne]

16. Deer may also be susceptible....

Chronic wasting disease in deer, from what I hear, is related to scrapies in sheep, mad cow, and CJD in people(sorry, don't know how to spell CJD the long way).

A few years ago, Chronic wasting disease was a big deal in Wisconsin, or so I hear.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. Dennis really cares about cleaning up our food supply.

For years, he's been advocating that Congress require all foods to be labeled as to whether they contain GMO's or not. The corporate ag interests oppose that since they know people would be upset to see how many foods contain GMO's, and they might lose business. Everything is about $$$$. It's disgusting. Some things are more important than $$$$$.