Mad cow disease found in the United States

[SeleucusNicator]

One cow isolated in Washington State

Health - AP
First Suspect Case of Mad Cow in U.S.

WASHINGTON - The first-ever U.S. case of mad cow disease is suspected in a single cow in Washington state, but the American food supply is safe, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday.

"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," said Veneman.

She told a news conference that a single Holstein cow that was either sick or injured — thus never destined for the U.S. food supply — tested presumptively positive for the brain-wasting illness.

Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a disease that eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry.

"This incident is not terrorist-related," Veneman said Tuesday. "I cannot stress this point strongly enough."

Veneman said the apparently diseased cow was found at a farm in Mapleton, Wash., about 40 miles southeast of Yakima. She said the farm has been quarantined.

"Even though the risk to human health is minimal, we will take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," she said.

Samples from the cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the preliminary mad cow finding, she said.

Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States before this incident despite intensive testing for it.

I'm normally not alarmist, but this makes me uncomfortable. I will immediately suspend all eating of beef in my life.

Let's just hope it's an isolated case and we handle this better than the British did.

 

[Hitro]

Ban imports! Ban imports! For years, for many years!!!

 

[WickedSmurf]

It is a nasty disease....

THE HUMAN LINK
•Mad cow disease was first reported in the United Kingdom in 1986, peaking in 1993 with almost 1,000 new cases per week.
•In 1996, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was detected in humans and linked to the mad cow epidemic. Eating contaminated meat and cattle products is presumed to be the cause.
•Both are fatal brain diseases with unusually long incubation periods, often lasting years.
Source: CDC

Would be a disaster if it spread, US economy looking better and better, this would be a major set back! Let's hope they can contain it.

 

[IceBlaZe]

No more giant hamburgers at Applebee's for me

 

[Ian Beale]

We had it (UK) wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, well maybe the French- lol! What's the cause of mad cow disease? Has a farmer been feeding it 'rubbish' etc..?

 

[Shadylookin]

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! the vegitarians will rule the world.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Oh sure, when an isolated case occurs in the U.S., the food supplies are 'perfectly safe', but when it happens in Canada, Americans ban all the meat

 

[Shadylookin]

Originally posted by SuperBeaverInc.
Oh sure, when an isolated case occurs in the U.S., the food supplies are 'perfectly safe', but when it happens in Canada, Americans ban all the meat

as it should that's some serious stuff. one can only hope this is the first only and last time it appears in the US

 

[Pongui]

She was an old spent dairy cow. She's where cheap hamburger and sausage comes from. Just puree the old cow, udder and tendon.

Some of those asian countries care far more than Americans about the quality of beef, for they sometimes eat beef raw.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

There's also the fact that the SARS outbreak having swept thru some of these Asian countries earlier; leading to govts and public health authorities being a tad more sensitive than normal about disease issues.

 

[Smaasnekje]

Oh, It's the dancing cow necease again!

 

[Panda]

Imagine, all these years Hillary walked around and nobody suspected anything...

 

[Peri]

Originally posted by Hitro
Ban imports! Ban imports! For years, for many years!!!

I was under the impression that we already had due to the poor quality of the meat.

 

[Tassadar]

Originally posted by SuperBeaverInc.
Oh sure, when an isolated case occurs in the U.S., the food supplies are 'perfectly safe', but when it happens in Canada, Americans ban all the meat

But i bet Japan will embargo american beef.


This prion ( protein) related disease is very weird, because so far no virus have been found, but it is transmissible. It look like a wrong 3 dimensional structure of a protein is able to spread its configuration to other. Where life begin ? virus or organic molecules ?

 

[Pongui]

The story of this animal provides some insight into the beef industry. It was a dairy cow, so far gone that antibiotics and hormones could no longer make it produce milk. It was already a decomposing carcass before reaching the slaughterhouse. So health regulations required the brain and spine reserved from human consumption, as these are the most potentially infectious organs. Those aside, the bones and flesh and organs of the probably fly-covered and foul smelling Holstein were then processed for consumption. When walking carrion grows too sick to live even with drug injection and feeding tubes, then and only then we put that terminal material into our bodies.

That only addresses the dairy industry, but dairy scavenging is a major source of the beef we eat. Maybe the greatest source?

 

[Tassadar]

If you want to start a lucrative and very promising farm, then start one with buffalo ( bison ) and naturaly growth, it is call biologicaly certified, here in Québec.

This is the only meat i eat now. It is a little more expensive, but we already eat to much, so i choose smaller portion. A 8 $ bison t-bone is more than enough, for 3 $ you got a lots of bison meat cube, to make stew.

More and more poeple will switch from industrial food to biological food in the futur.

 

[Aramazd]

I belive this cow won't spread the disease.

 

[jpowers]

I'd be mad, too, if people kept eating members of my species.

 

[Syterion]

THE HUMAN LINK
•Mad cow disease was first reported in the United Kingdom in 1986, peaking in 1993 with almost 1,000 new cases per week.
•In 1996, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was detected in humans and linked to the mad cow epidemic. Eating contaminated meat and cattle products is presumed to be the cause.
•Both are fatal brain diseases with unusually long incubation periods, often lasting years.
Source: CDC

I thought Creutzfeld-Jakob disease was caused by lone proteins (prions)? Is that what causes MCD?

 

[Azadre]

scary, maybe I should stop eating too