Don't Have a Cow, Man

Techcentral ^ | 12/29/03 | Sandy Szwarc

[Leisler]

We can be assured of one thing when it comes to the safety of our food: media hysteria will be inversely proportional to actual risks.

Alfred Hitchcock knew a shadowy figure was far more terrifying than a well-lit known villain. Nothing haunts us more than our own imaginations, said Frank Furedi, sociologist at the University of Kent in Canterbury and author of The Culture of Fear (Continuum Publishing, 2002). Likewise today's newspapers and television networks have found that fictitious, sensationalized, "what-if?" scares of hidden dangers lurking in our foods make the juiciest stories guaranteed to capture audiences and sell papers.

[Pern]

Don't Have a Cow, Man

I fully intend to. After cleaning out the deep freezer yesterday, I will be taking all those gift cards given to me by relatives and friends and buying lots of 'mad cow scared' discounted beef.

T-bones and ribeyes tonight!!

[Diogenesis]

" They neglected to report that no infective agent or prion has ever been found in muscle tissue (meat) or milk,"

The absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence.

Nice article from Harvard and the Meat Industry.
Is this the Harvard School of Risk which reportedly lists President Bush
as being more dangerous than both terrorists with nukes and BSE?

[KC Burke]

I don't think the cows are really "mad"; I think they just have issues.

[Tax-chick]

buying lots of 'mad cow scared' discounted beef.

Same here! I need to go to Sam's for a few things, and I'll be looking for great big pieces of sale-priced beef! Break out the 30-qt. roaster oven! Life's too long to be scared of food.

[mtbopfuyn]

Mad cows and democrats.

[StonyBurk]

did hear that the guvment agents studied this subject.They
sent college boyz to the midwest-- where the cows are-- and
discovered Mad cow disease was actually started when the
PETA people tried to organize dairy and beef cattle into
unions telling them they had a right to organize, and
strike for higher milk prices and more bull. Mad cow was
the result of strike breakers disguised as farmers.

[Leisler]

The ability of modern science to detect most anything is fantastic. Commonly, compounds in the parts per trillion can be found. This is equivalent to lighting a barbecue in Ohio, and a day later through air sampling in Massachusetts, knowing it was chicken being grilled. Although what you say is in a logic type statement true, now a days, it is functionally false. Furthermore, the findings, in this case, of prions in meat/milk/whatever would be a quill in a health officials career, so there is the human/professional motivation to, if anything, find such a connection. Since this has been searched for for decades, and not found, well I suppose the Loc Ness critter still exists.

[Admin Moderator]

Author doesn't want her columns posted in full. In the future, please post brief excerpts only. Thank you.

[Salgak]

And just remember the Carnivore's Creed:

Vegetables are what food eats (g)

[Tax-chick]

Vegetables are what food eats.</>

That's a cute one ... I'll have to mention it to my Atkins Dieter friends.

[Salgak]

Been there, on Atkins myself now. . .

As for the quote:

http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb231.html

[Leisler]

Thankyou. I am aware of the LA, Post. Anyways, I would of if I knew.

[Admin Moderator]

ok, thanks.

[Clinging Bitterly]

>> ...'mad cow scared' discounted beef.

I dunno. Went to the market yesterday for the first time since Christmas. They had beef on the shelves, plenty of it, but the prices weren't high.

Winco had the big 8 lb. packages of hamburger at something around $3.00 / lb. I don't know about where y'all are at, but here that's a lot for ground beef, and especially high for a cut rate outfit like Winco.

Oddly, Safeway is a bit better this week on meats, but Winco carries a lot from that distributor that processed the downer and alleged "mad cow".