USDA Says Animal May Have Tested Positive for Mad Cow

A U.S. animal may have tested positive for mad cow disease and will be retested at a federal veterinary laboratory in Iowa for confirmation, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday.

The USDA said animal health officials reported the first "inconclusive" test result for the brain-wasting disease since the government began using rapid test kits in June as part of a program to test more cattle. The faster test carries a greater risk of false positives. The USDA did not say whether the animal was a cow, steer or bull.

The USDA's animal health laboratory in Ames, Iowa, will retest the animal's brain samples using more sophisticated immunohistochemistry tests, which can take four to seven days to complete.

Call me cynical, but I can't help but wonder about the timing of these TWO reports in ONE day.

Here's the first report, while the markets were still open:

Mad cow-like diseases linked by bacteria

That's a "good news" style article, that asserts that Mad Cow is caused by a bacteria, rather than a prion. (Bacteria, of course, can be killed by antibiotic, whereas prions are essentially indestructable.)

The article suggests that the prions are a mere symptom of a bacterial infection.

In a nutshell, that article is as far as I'm aware pretty much the only "good news" vis-a-vis the Mad Cow stuff.

And it comes out today? Early today?

Before the bad news comes out late today, to be dropped into the never-never-land of the "Friday Evening News Cycle"?

What are the odds?

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty cynical.

But I imagine I'm not feeling nearly as cynical as someone who might have sunk some major tonnage of $$$ into cattle futures early today on the basis of the first article, and then get blindsided after the markets closed when the second report hit the wires.

I think I'm gonna lay off beef for a while. I wish we'd ordered more meat chickens last month.

Here's the first report, while the markets were still open:

Thanks for the link. I hadn't heard about that report.

I do agree that the timing of this disclosure late on a Friday evening appears suspicious. But than so did the first report of US cattle & BSE, which occurred on Christmas eve.

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