U.S. Estimates Mad-Cow Exposure at 81

[Nlighten1]

http://www.quicken.com/investments/news_center/article/printer.dcg?story=NewsStory/dowJones/20031230/ON200312300330000320.var

Federal investigators increased to 81 the number of cattle now roaming the U.S. that may have been exposed to mad-cow disease, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported.

Yet even the 81 figure isn't complete. Many of these cattle presumably have given birth since entering the U.S., at least some of which came in a group thought to include the Washington state Holstein that was found last week to have been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as BSE, or mad-cow disease. Previously, federal investigators said 73 dairy cattle had come into the U.S. in August 2001 from the same herd in Canada's Alberta provence that is thought to have been the original home of the infected Holstein.

Investigators hope to find and screen those cattle for BSE, which creates holes in the brains of infected cattle. By eating contaminated beef products, people can catch a similar form of the affliction, known as variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease.

The federal government's ability to quickly control the fallout from the nation's first case of mad-cow disease is being complicated by poor record keeping of cattle shipments and the inexperience of U.S. officials, who never have had to deal with a mad-cow discovery, agricultural experts say.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I can't wait for more BSE infected MOOs

I dunno about you, a good panic or two

And it is just a matter of time

[LeftHander]

5. We don't want a panic...sheesh!

Just got back from South Dakota over the holidays. People were very quiet about Mad Cow there. The news was full of all kinds of reports. Driving through South Dakota you start to see why people are so quiet. Beef is huge in South Dakota and the famous Black Angus that American diners covet is very popular there.

If Mad Cow panic sets in it could devastate rural states like South Dakota. Cattle helps to balance farm operations and provide another revenue stream for struggling rural families.

What would really result is a further consolidation of US beef production into larger and larger operations controlled by a select few giant corporations.

Mad Cow is another nail in the family farm's coffin. And another weapon in the battle against organic producers as they would be put out of business when the government begins regulating beef to nth degree.

Certainly the media would love to have a panic as they could go into disaster mode. Makes for big ratings. They can charge top dollar for the ads during the "BEEF PANIC of 2004".

[Coventina]

11. No, no reason to panic

Just because a horrible disease with 100% fatality rate is loose in our food chain, which the government has been trying to cover up for years....brought on by disgusting, immoral and unethical farming practices...no reason to panic...just keep on chewing that hamburger....move along, nothing to see here....

:eyes:

[info being]

12. Maybe the ranchers should have been more careful

[Lorien]

18. This makes no sense

"Mad Cow is another nail in the family farm's coffin. And another weapon in the battle against organic producers as they would be put out of business when the government begins regulating beef to nth degree."

Organically grown beef IS NOT fed dead cows, only free range and grains. Small organic family farms can only benefit from this awful situation, it's the corporate farms and the many businesses that use their products that will be hurt by a Mad Cow scare. Family farms are dying in general, and it's mostly those that have turned to sustainable, traditional and organic farming methods that are surviving. Family farms simply cannot compete with big ag when it comes to factory farming.

[SoCalDem]

24. Quite the opposite,,

I see this "outbreak" as a primary reason to go BACK to family-style farming.. The "institutional corporate farming" methods make this kind of nonsense MORE likely..

Farmers used to graze their herds and fed them grain or hay as supplements.. They did not "pack" them into filthy feedlots where they stand shoulder to shoulder in cow shit, while they eat frankenfood..

Farmers used to sell to their communities and they would never have wanted any "bad" beef sent to their friends and neighbors..

Agri-business is just that , a BUSINESS.. They don;t care what they sell, and they cut corners to make the most money for the least expenditure..

It will be interesting to see what happens 10 years down the line.. Some people have eaten BSE beef, but they just don't know it yet:(

Pity our pets too.. They have been eating stuff llike that forever.. It's probably not known how many of them died from prion ingestion, because they live relatively short lives, and most are not autopsied..

[Nlighten1]

2. This is just the beginning...it is Firestone/Ford all over again.

The media ignored this story for years.

[MrPrax]

4. Funny you mention it...

I was just reading about the Firestone regulations and how Bush has gutted them...
So the media missed the first story about the 'death' tires and now missed the second story about how the industry lobby dismantled the protections against faulty tires brought in because of the Firestone deaths...
As far as regulations and record keeping, apparantly the meat processors by law don't have to disclose who got sent the meat.

The Nation did a story a year ago last summer about the big E Coli recall from Ag Colorado and how the met was sent to I think Oklahoma, the district attorney there HAD to get a court order just to get the list of stores that received the meat...

Jeez...let's hope calmer head prevail on this one...

[0007]

7. Yes, Yes, and "We must get rid of those big trial lawyers.....

and Medicare, and social security. This is all possible cuz we have Karl Rove and we own and control the media.

[liberalnurse]

3. Well we have a bigger problem in the picture.

We may not know who is infected for some time....


From the CDC......vCJD is the Mad Cow version of CJD....

<snip> The incubation period for vCJD is unknown because it is a new disease. However, it is likely that ultimately this incubation period will be measured in terms of many years or decades. In other words, whenever a person develops vCJD from consuming a BSE-contaminated product, he or she likely would have consumed that product many years or a decade or more earlier.


So we don't even know if we have it or not as we live and breath now. *bush won't be held accountable....

Also, didn't Oprah get "legally beat-up" in Austin, Texas by the Cattlemans Association for suggesting a concern for our USDA Choice could be infected with vCJD?

[FlaGranny]

9. Actually, Oprah didn't

get legally beat up. She won the case.

And, I believe the CDC "mispoke." vCJD is not a new disease. It has been around a long time. Wasn't it New Guinea or Borneo, or someplace like that, where it was first "discovered"? The native peoples actually ate their deceased relatives brains in their death rites and came down with the disease. Scrapie (the sheep form) was/is also prevalent in that same area.

[liberalnurse]

10. That is CJD....

varience CJD,(vCJD)... is the Mad Cow form. There are three forms of the disease.

Ophrah was never the same after that lawsuit either. She may of won the suit but her edge was taken from her.


*****The primary attention getter is the incubation period....many years.....We could of eaten contaminated beef and won't know it until 20012 election. We'll be too sck to vote.

[FlaGranny]

22. I did some research, and you are correct,

about the difference. Thanks. I remembered reading about "Kuru" before vCJD was identified and I associated the two incorrectly. They are very much alike and both caused by prions (possibly viri), both by eating infected "material," but have a slightly different presentation and one can be differentiated from the other.

[NickB79]

20. Kuru

Kuru was the disease found in some cannibalist tribes of Papau New Guinea. I'm not sure how it differs from CJD/vCJD, but I don't think they are regarded as the same disease.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

23. Kuru

It was called "laughing death" or kuru. http://whyfiles.org/012mad_cow/6.html

Discovered in New Guinea in 1950.
It's the same thing basicly.It was caused by canibalism.
Because village rites honored close relatives -- even kuru victims -- by eating them -- after death. This novel understanding of the phrase "family dinner" transmitted the kuru infection either while the bodies were handled or when the relative's remains were eaten.

[Nlighten1]

15. Yes indeed she did...and the media dropped this story...

so quickly it wasn't even a blip on the radar.

[0007]

6. 81? I wonder what the fudge factor is this assumption?

[young_at_heart]

8. Bush isn't interested in domestic problems

Iraq.....God......oil, etc. etc.

[porkrind]

13. Puh-leeze !!!

"81" ???

Get real. They test 1 in tens of thousands of cows, and get a positive.

This means that the statistical confidence of how many cows have mad-cow disease is *not* 1 or even 81, it's many tens of thousands.

:wtf:

[Nlighten1]

16. Exactly

Welcome to DU!

[Caution]

17. 81 is not the number of tested positive

81 is the number of cows from the same herd as the 1 which did test positive and which may have been exposed to infected feed.

[Grey]

19. Thank You, Caution,

It's not the cows, It's the infected feed. where did it come from, howmany states was it sent to before the ban was put in place?

[Demeter]

14. I thought they meant 81 people

[depakid]

21. Try putting an exponent on that

Infected cattle likely number in the many thousands, considering the way that feed is distributed. And that's just from this batch. Who knows how many other dead animals with BSE, scrapie or wasting disease have been rendered into feed... or pet food.