Mad Cow Disease in United States

The cause and results

from JoeUser Forums

    Mad cow disease has arrived in the United States. The US of A is the world's largest exporter of beef and with countries quickly moving to temporarily suspend imports of American beef, the US cattle industry could be in very very big trouble. Should we worry? I do only because I will feel bad for the people who lose their jobs. On the other hand...it will be very interesting to see how this happened in the first place.

    Mad cow disease doesn't just happen. It's caused by feeding cows other cows. If you missed your junior high biology class, cows are herbivores. That means they only eat plant. But the beef industry, in its never ending quest for higher profits, thought it would be just peachy to feed cows the remains of other cows to lower their costs. It gets worse, folks. They didn't just feed cows other cows, they were indiscriminate about it. Madcow disease resides mainly in the spinal chord of a cow. To be infected, part of the spinal cord has to be ingested. How does a cow eat the spine of another cow? Because the feeders would just mash the remnants of other cows into mush and feed that to cows.  How do humans get infected? Same way usually. Baloney and other beef that no longer looks remotely like the real thing has been mashed. There has been a gradual change away from just taking the cow carcass and mashing it into a pulp, but it still happens.

    Which means that if the American beef industry has a wide spread outbreak, they have no one to blame but themselves. And yet, we'll all suffer. That is why regulation of these industries is needed. When short term profit is the principle motivation in business and not the public health, things like Mad cow disease are the result.

 

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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
The FDA has restrictions against that practice (the name escapes me but i like 2 call it forced cannabalism). This incident should serve as a wake up call for the FDA to improve inspections and make a more efficent system for regulations
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
This underscores the importance of inspections.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
"This incident should serve as a wake up call for the FDA to improve inspections and make a more efficent system for regulations"

No.

It should serve as a wake up call for the industry, because it's their fault when it happens, not the FDA's.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
It seems that the knowledge the English have learned over the past few years regarding the transmission of this disease fell on the deaf ears of the number crunchers working for the big feed lots that feed the animals before slaughter. I don't guess anyone wondered why the price of beef has been going through the roof latley. Well I think it is a two fold problem, #1. the feed lots around the country have been holding back cattle and feeding them longer, this keeps beef from the market on the short term. This also costs them more for the animal, though not to much more because they are probably buying surplus grain form the government for very little. I got sticker shock when I went to buy a rib eye steak the other day, it was $8.99 a pound. I think they got caught with their pants down now because they will have to lower the price to get people to buy the stuff now. I know I will not buy ground beef until this is solved I will buy just roasts and such and grind it myself. I hope others will do the same.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm surprised that it still happened, as I remember hearing about it the first time. I guess some of those places thought it wouldn't happen to them. I think some people need to be put out of business for their insolence.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
We should have given the inspectors more time to find the disease.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
"i think some people need to be put out of business for their insolence."
lol, sum people? if the ban from japan and mexico goes on, ALOT of people are gonna be put outta buisness, and not just the guilty parties 2
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
"That is why regulation of these industries is needed."

These industries have been regulated for ages.

" Mad cow disease doesn't just happen. It's caused by feeding cows other cows. "

This has been banned in the US since 1997.

" ...if the American beef industry has a wide spread outbreak, they have no one to blame but themselves"

Not so, either, considering the cattle in question could have easily been imported.

"the US cattle industry could be in very very big trouble."

With regards to exports, I think we export about 10% of the beef we produce. A problem, yes. Death for the industry? Hardly.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Meat inspections were a major issue for my boss, Congressman William J. Green, when I worked for him as intern in 1967. Meat inspections were an issue around the turn of the century, when a muckraking novel aroused massive public concern and got the federal government involved for the first time. The only way meat is going to be safe from disease is if there continues to be massive public concern and oversight on an ongoing basis.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
I am learning BSE in High School Biology class. My teacher told my class that BSE originated from a disease similar to BSE that was in sheep. This disease was called scrapie (because infected sheep would bite their fur off). When infected sheep were eaten by cows, the cows got the disease because BSE passed through the species barrier. Humans got it the same way. I hope you post this so that viewers know some truth in the origins of BSE. I liked your article, by the way. Thank you for sharing the truth.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Another issue which you didn't mention is the use of "downer" cows (sick cows) in meat. Sick cows should not be fed to humans.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
Reply #12 By: Anonymous - 1/7/2004 10:12:04 PM
I am learning BSE in High School Biology class. My teacher told my class that BSE originated from a disease similar to BSE that was in sheep. This disease was called scrapie (because infected sheep would bite their fur off). When infected sheep were eaten by cows, the cows got the disease because BSE passed through the species barrier. Humans got it the same way. I hope you post this so that viewers know some truth in the origins of BSE. I liked your article, by the way. Thank you for sharing the truth.


Sherye Hanson - 1/11/2004 3:15:45 PM
Another issue which you didn't mention is the use of "downer" cows (sick cows) in meat. Sick cows should not be fed to humans.


Both of these are correct.

They *just* now passed legislation about downer cows being used for feed.

The other interesting thing that relates to BSE is how many animals are effected by the "Mad Cow" disease. It's not just cows. As pointed out, sheep get it, and so do pigs. Why is it important to know that pigs get it? Pigs get slaughtered at around 6 months. Signs of the disease won't show up that early. You might want to think again about that pork sausage.

Why will Mad Cow still be around if we don't feed cow to cows? Because we still feed cows to sheep, pigs and CHICKENS. Now, why in hell are we feeding chickens beef? Eggland's best eggs come from "vegetarian fed" chickens. Shouldn't they all? My husband thought it was funny when he read the package until he asked me "why do these state that they are vegetarian fed?" He didn't find the answer too funny. But, I bet that he is not the only one who didn't know that most chickens are fed meat.

So, we feed animals to animals and we wonder why these diseases are around. Well, news flash- don't feed meat to herbivores and we wouldn't have these problems.

But, do people wonder why this started? Well, it's just economics. The meat industry is *huge*. Cattle eat a lot of food. It costs a lot of money to raise one cow to slaughter size. They lose a lot of them in transport, so, instead of fixing their issues and keeping the animals healthy, they keep on doing what they always do and grind them up for feed. But, it really ends up as a supply and demand thing. There is organic meat out there. Organic beef are fed organic grain. But, will people buy it? Not a lot of people do, because it costs about twice as much. Instead of paying more and eating less, we buy the cheap meat. If you look at the American diet, we eat way more protein than is needed. The meat industry has to keep up with demand, so they cut corners.

Of course, I always sit back and wonder what has happened to our food sources. Look at how many people are overweight (and, I mean *really* overweight). Look at how many people are sick or have allergies. Look at all the peanut allergies. Why is this? Well, i think it stems from our food. I think that all the chemicals that we use are making us sick. I think that all the "unnatural" stuff that we eat in a day is slowly killing us. Look at all the diet soda that people drink. It's a can of chemicals mixed with carbonated water. All our fruit and veggies (besides organic) is bug free because of pesticides and then are coated with wax so that they look "clean" and shiny. Our eggs come from meat fed chickens. Our dairy comes from cows pumped full of hormones.....makes you really think about if our food industry is really safe.

The UK has known about BSE since the late 80's. They warned us about it, but we didn't listen. They are also against genetically modified foods.... I wonder if we should listen to them....
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
i think it has just been blown way way out of proportion. As much as i hate it i think im going to go with the FDA on this one and agree that there is less health risk involved in this then mislabled cans of soup.

Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
Everyone keeps saying go vegetarian. Why didn't the cases of salmonella, Hep A, E. Coli, etc. passed on sprouts and green onions scare people as much? I personally am willing to take the chance. My child is more likely to get Hep B from getting spit on by a kid at school or somewhere than getting mad cow from a hamburger. There is no "safe" form of food. Bacteria and disease grow on veggies, fish carry nasty stuff from being grown in poluted waters, etc. Wash your veggies well, cook your meat well and hope for the best. I am a worrier but I am also a mathematician and a realist.
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
Actually mad cow disease is spread by feeding the infected tissue of other animals to another, whether it is beef to beef or beef to human, it is caused by a protien, and as such is not killed by cooking, the other problem is that it can take several for symptoms to become obvious, therefore just like AIDS, this allows the disease to spread for some time unchecked, this essentially means that at some stage the infection in both people and cattle will reach higher levels of infection, or at least more will be disgnosed in the future. No good for the US, as at this stage it is early days for you guys, and I would say that I do not envy you guys.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Zergimmi, I wasn't saying that cooking your food could protect you from mad cow. That is why I said hope for the best. Weird diseases are likely to keep surfacing as long as we feed animals to themselves. Why feed beef to cows or pigs or chickens? What an idiotic way to try to save money!

I'm just glad noone has ever gotten a disease from chocolate