<
Posted on 06/24/2005 3:10:36 PM PDT by neverdem
The Agriculture Department said today that tests conducted on an animal that died in November, suspected of having mad cow disease, had turned out positive, confirming the second case of the disease to be found in the United States in the last two years.
The tests for the brain-wasting disease, clinically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, were conducted at a laboratory in Weybridge, England, after officials at the United States Department of Agriculture were not satisfied with the results of previous tests on the same cow.
These test results could raise fears that foreign countries will shun American beef again, at a time when Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is making a strong push to reassure export markets that the nation's beef is safe.
Mr. Johanns said in a statement that the cow, whose origins have yet to be determined, had been prevented from entering the food supply.
In announcing the test results, Mr. Johanns also said he was directing scientists from the Department of Agriculture to work with international experts to develop a new testing method that includes performing dual tests in the event of other inconclusive tests.
"We are currently testing nearly 1,000 animals per day" as part of the program to detect mad cow disease, Mr. Johanns said. He added that scientists had performed more than 388,000 total tests. "This is the first confirmed case resulting from our surveillance.
"I am encouraged that our interlocking safeguards are working exactly as intended," he said. "This animal was blocked from entering the food supply because of the firewalls we have in place. Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef."
Mr. Johanns also said that beginning immediately, if another cow disease screening test results in inconclusive findings, the department would run two kinds...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I'll get out one of my steaks from the freezer for dinner tonight.
I eat a looootttttttttttttttttttt of Taco Bell.. Sure hope it's safe!
I don't know...do they have any cases of "Mad Goat" in this country?
<
LOL. Great pic. Thanks!
...scary stuff.
Mad cow prions can actually be spread throughout a cow's body [including muscle tissue] by the immune system
http://www.newstarget.com/004302.html
oh I thought this a Hillary thread...
GO BOXER/Hillary in 08!
;-)
Health experts in the UK are facing a potentially alarming situation regarding the human form of mad cow disease, otherwise known as vCJD. It turns out that there may be potentially tens of thousands of UK citizens who are infected with vCJD from consuming mad cow disease infected red meat in the 1980's...
Thanks for the links.
"Mad Cow...it's all in your head."
You're most welcome! Disclaimer: With intent toward a little silliness, I posted links to the most startling discoveries that I could find, and the possibilities in those articles will likely affect very few people, if any (as is widely thought in biology/agriculture circles so far).
I believe the report of mad cow disease in the U. S. is a cheap shot at Hillary. We should not lower ourselves to the level of the Dems. (Tee hee!)
This article makes vague allegations of person-to-person transmission of BSE, but gives absolutely no details of how this might be possible other than through blood transfusions.
Absolutely need to crack down on the feed side of things. No excuses, no wrist slaps, throw the book at anyone who adds the bad stuff to feed they are making.
After I had a hissy fit over the fact that the USDA doesn't know where the cow came from, I searched and found that it (now deceased) came from Texas. Now, why couldn't Johann tell us that? Do you really believe he didn't know where it came from? Phooey!! Spin, spin spin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
