USDA refused to release mad cow records (this looks damning)

[Skip Intro]

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031223-103657-3424r

snip:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Although the United States Department of Agriculture insisted the U.S. beef supply is safe Tuesday after announcing the first documented case of mad cow disease in the United States, the agency for six months repeatedly refused to release its tests for mad cow to United Press International.

The USDA claims to have tested approximately 20,000 cows for the disease in 2002 and 2003, but has been unable to provide any documentation in support of this to UPI, which first requested the information in July.

...

snip:

Finally, UPI threatened legal action in early December if the agency did not respond.

In a Dec. 17 letter to UPI from USDA Freedom of Information Act Office Andrea E. Fowler, the agency wrote: "Your request has been forwarded to the (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) for processing and to search for the record responsive to your earlier request."

--------------
this article also mentions that former USDA vets have "long suspected" that mad cow is present in the US.

(on edit: feel compelled to mention I found this on drudge's site, where it is the big headline)

[proud patriot]

1. Looks to be looks to be

bush fucked up again

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Has the boy protected Special intersts AGAIN

I am so shocked oh my

[SpiralHawk]

23. "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Chimpy"

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things."
- George W. Bush, Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

[calimary]

65. I smell another campaign issue... Yum-yum!

[opihimoimoi]

3. Thats it, no more meat for me and for whats it worth, Austrailia and Japan

too. Both countries and myself have announced no more beef until the matter is resolved.

and would someone please get Susan Ostrich off the air, her voice is so screechy its annoying.

[Ernesto]

48. Add Mexico to the list, Amigo

[Cha]

57. "Thats it, no more meat for me and for whats it worth, Austrailia and Japa

That's right~ It would be terrible to get "mad cow disease" from bush's america!

It's a great time to be a vegetarian!

[Dogmudgeon]

60. What a sick attitude

It's a great time to be a vegetarian!

You're gloating over people possibly dying of a horrible disease? Just because you have an ideological commitment to vegetarianism?

The vegetarians who look at Mad Cow Disease as Manna from heaven have got to get a grip. Prions -- including the various CJD prions, like the ones that cause Mad Cow -- can be as easily ingested through plant-based food as animal-based food. Cows just happen to have been a vector they took advantage of opportunistically -- the same way as AIDS became established in the Gay community first, when any one of about five other subpopulations could have just as easily been the initial targets.

This is a potentially serious health problem, perhaps even a crisis. Simply "Going Vedge" will not do a thing to reduce one's risk if the prions are well-distributed in the food chain. And from the looks of the USDA revelations, we could be in the middle of an epidemic while Team Bush is telling us that the sun is shining out of our collective asses.

--bkl
Eat meat. It's good for your brain.

[pa28]

4. This looks bad for Bush

This could be a massively uncontained outbreak and due to administration negligence we just don't know how far it's gone. If they lied about the scope of enforcement and it turns out the beef industry is up in smoke as a result we have a major scandal on our hands.

[Nevernose]

6. I hate to be too positive about something as disastrous as this is

But, if * were to be found even semi-responsible, it would certainly help us out in western swing-states, like New Mexico and Nevada.

[Norbert]

8. I don't even want to think about the ramifications of this

Hopefully it will end up sinking the dim son's ass but because of his incompetance the beef industry and much of the aftermarket industry will lie in ruins. Why, because the shithead tried to sweep one more thing under the rug.

But what the hey, we'll just blame Iran for this and start another war. The lemmings that live in the United States will believe this.

[Nevernose]

10. Sorry, but this is a DOMESTIC issue

Bush's entire policy, foreign and domestic:

Domestic = blame Clinton, then pretend it never happened

Foreign = blame Clinton, then kill someone with darker skin

[Jawja]

28. We have a major scandal IF

the corporate media will follow up on it. THE major scandal should have been the outing of Valerie Plame.

Where is that story?

But, perhaps you are right - when the masses are afraid to eat hamburgers, perhaps they will start paying attention to their incompetent and corrupt "leadership?"

[JailForBush]

5. Does this remind you of 9/11?

Do you think any scientists will be suicided before they can testify against George Bush, Inc. in court?

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yes

Italso tells me that this is POLITICAL GOLD

Not only can they NOT protect US from Foreign Threats, but they cannot protect us from Special Interests.

hate to say it, but we should think how to use this to reach average americans... this is their neck we are talking about

The threat of dying in a Terra atack is exactly Zero for this year, Mad Cow Disease, who knows? NOT even the USDA knows if and when they found other contaminated cattle.

[Norbert]

9. I talked to a friend whose son is a veterinarian.

His son told him if there is one cow in the US known to have mad cow it may be too late. In essence, there isn't just one cow with the disease.

[SharonAnn]

40. Of course there's not just one cow with it. They only FOUND one,

there have to be others.

It was well known and actually written up 1-2 years ago that the US was woefully undertesting and that we probably had it in our herds and just didn't know it. If a country doesn't test rigorously, then they don't know when they have it.

1. We tested far too few cattle. The very small fraction of a percentage being tested wouldn't have been enough to find the disease quickly.

2. We were using a very simple test, instead of the more accurate, more sophisticated tests.

Example of how to do the testing so that you would really catch something if it was present was the way Switzerland was doing it.

But then, that would take paying attention AHEAD OF TIME, spending money on something that might be unpopular with the ranchers and meat packers, and keeping the public informed.

[calimary]

61. It also plays to, and re-opens, the Pandora's Box of SECRECY

that this mis-administration seems to love-love-love. They are ape-shit about secrecy. And as we can now see, and need to HAMMER AWAY with, their secrecy is gonna maybe kill us.

The AG department SAT ON THIS FOR SIX MONTHS??? REFUSED UPI'S REQUESTS? JUST ANOTHER LIE. JUST ONE MORE THING THEY'RE TRYING TO HIDE.

We need to remember this, and repeat as necessary.

Where's the Beef?!?!

[goforit]

89. Yep, it's another 9/11 lihop for sure!!! Where's Operah when ya need her.

You know, I bet you madcow has been around when she last took the
Texas Beef Industry to court.

It has been quiet ever since.

Till now!!!
And way tooooo late!!!!

[NV1962]

11. Prepare for a long trickle of other cases...

If what happened in Europe is a useful indication for what lies ahead: a steady trickle of cases will follow, initially government will poo-poo it, then a case of CJDv (the resulting disease in humans) will be identified, then panic breaks out, then cattle farmers will be decimated (their business and their livestock) and finally agrobusinesses will be happy to fill in that gap - while cashing in on federal subsidies. Oh yeah: and the beef market, in a slump for three years.

Of course, that only could happen in Europe. :P

Then again, it's Bush at the helm...

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Rfealize

most of this business in the States is ALREDY in the hands of Agrobusiness

[porkrind]

52. How do we know there are not already cases of human CJDv?

Like they would tell us? I think not. I think they would quietly try to solve the problem without causing a public panic, even if it costs some lives.

[GOPEC]

13. BSE could be the defense

for the decisions of this administration.

[NickB79]

14. You can't blame Bush for any Mad Cow outbreaks

As much as I'd like to, though. If we're seeing Mad Cow now, that means that it has been in our cattle populations for years already, well before Bush took office. It takes years for this disease to incubate and the symptoms to become obvious, and even longer for it to spread through the cattle population through contaminated feed. This may go back to Clinton, Bush Sr, or possibly even Reagan-era administration. What Bush has done to weaken the USDA is nothing compared to previous administrations which continued to allow the feeding of cattle parts back to other animals. This is the root source of this disease, and if we stop this we can stop the disease's spread once and for all.

[Tempest]

31. Read the story again

Bush's USDA might have known for 6 months about the mad cow problem in WA state, but refused to release the documents relating to it.

That, without a doubt, is Bush's fault.

[NickB79]

56. Yes, I read that

But the problem is that the disease itself has been in our cattle herds for YEARS already. Yes, it is Bush's fault the records were not released earlier to help stem the spread, but it is not Bush's fault that the disease is here in the first place and spreading. It has been spreading for years already, well before Bush was in office, because previous administrations, both Dem and Repub, failed to outlaw the feeding of farm animals back to other farm animals. Many people of both parties dropped the ball on this, as far as I'm concerned. Furthermore, even using those released USDA records, you still won't be able to find all the infected or potentially infected animals before they're slaughtered and the scraps fed back to other cattle. If we don't stop using cattle parts to make supplements to feed back to other cattle, it would only take a few missed, infected animals to reinfect thousands more animals and start this ugly matter all over again.

[Occulus]

63. Isn't it possible during processing

to cook out the prions? I read in another thread here on DU that prions can be destroyed by high enough temperatures during the rendering of the animal scraps into cattle feed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

79. According to a Scientific American article I read some time ago

prions are notoriously difficult to neutralize. (I use that word, because they aren't technically "alive.")

[Native]

81. I've read the same thing . . .

Since prions are technically dead already, they can't be killed. Surgical instruments must be discarded after operating on a patient with vCJD. There have also been documented cases of individuals getting the disease from contaminated instruments. I have read that infected animal carcasses are destroyed in incinerators, but I've yet to read that the prions are actually destroyed by this - it is just left to be assumed.

[TankLV]

76. You couldn't have read what was posted. You are talking past what was

posted.

For the reading impaired:

BUSH*S SECRECY, not the length of time this has been around, IS THE ISSUE. IT is ENTIRELY bunkerboy and his entire mis-administration that is at fault for HIDING YET ANOTHER SCANDAL.

If this was around for years, and bunkerboy found out, and they dealt with it, openly and honestly, there would be no problem.

THEY CHOSE NOT TO DO THAT.

BUNKERBOY'S APPOINTEES HID THIS TO PROTECT THEIR INDUSTRIAL SPECIAL FRIENDS/CONTRIBUTORS.

Shades of Neil Bush's savings and loan scandal. No, wait, just because he's a CEO and MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF A CORRUPT COMPANY, doesn't mean he should have known. But Hillary, checking a few paragraphs for a few minutes for another co-worker in her firm ON A MONEY LOSING DEAL, should have know and be held responsible for the actions of another company she had nothing to do with.

Repuke logic at work again.

[mrdmk]

86. You are correct NickB79

From New York Times, “Despite Mad-Cow Warnings, Industry Resisted Safeguards”.

<snip>
During a House debate last summer over a possible ban on using sick and injured cows for meat, Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, held up a photo of a crippled cow and cautioned that such "downer animals" carried the highest risk for mad cow disease.
But Representative Charles W. Stenholm, a powerful Texas Democrat and a rancher, countered that the government's screening program was tight enough to prevent any problems.
"The picture the gentleman is showing, that sick animal, will never find its way into the food chain," Mr. Stenholm said. "Period."
<snip>

Full story here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/national/28COW.html?ex=1073192400&en=94ccfbcdc0af970a&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Government in general needs to take the blame on this one. But it could also be said since the disease showed up in modern day Canada in 16 May 2003. This was disease came to the attention of officials because Canada tested the bovine at double of the international standards starting in 1992. Instead of taking a cue from international affairs, Mr. Bush Jr. did nothing.

Canadian timeline link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/madcow_cdn_timeline.html

As I have said before, there is a group of people in the White House that are incapable of learning and creating. These are people that have the art of campaigning down to a science without knowledge to create a plan. Another words, their only plan is to stay in power.

This is sad because so many people have to die because of these jerks.


edit: typo

[shanti]

68. methinks the chimp is dead meat

*ducking*

[Dogmudgeon]

59. nvCJD latency

Clinton? Reagan?

This class of prion(s) can take as long as 50 years to become active; we'd have to go back to about 1950 with cases in "older" patients.

I used to do EEGs on CJD patients. They -- all four of them that came through my lab -- were a sad lot. The reason why I did the EEGs was because I had no fear, though the other techs were scared sh*tless and wouldn't even come near the testing suite. But I double-gloved and used the utmost of care with them, and I think they appreciated it, too.

But personally, if I had a diagnosis of CJD, I'd quietly assemble myself about 250 ml of Brompton Cocktail and keep it handy for single-dose usage.

--bkl

[shanti]

69. i discussed this with my mother as well

we both agree that we would "take the cocktail" rather than succumb to this horrendous disease, and mom's an r.n. i have a very bad feeling about this one.

hmmmm, maybe that was in their plan....(ok, taking my :tinfoilhat: off)

[Fovea]

87. Yes, we can.

The Bush administration has been one long, nightmarish scandal of deregulation gone horribly wrong. This philosophy of business first, citizen last has found a terrifying and lethal mark in the voting public.

I do not care who started this, it is the supposedly the party of personal responsibility. The buck stops on Bush's desk. The time to put some regulatory whoop-ass on agribusiness is not today, it was two decades ago. But Bush is the most culpable, because everyone realizes that he does not give a squat about anyone but his contributors.

[daleo]

15. When mad cow was found in Alberta this year (June)

They traced what herds the cow had been associated with over its life span, what feeds it had probably been exposed to, etc. After no other cows that it had lived with tested positive, they basically shrugged their shoulders and implied that no cause = no problems, like it just spontaneously occurred. I imagine they will try this tactic in the U.S. as well.

Another unfortunate side effect of this is that you will be treated to endless TV clips and newspaper photos of politicians happily chowing down on steak and burgers, to show the public that 'there is nothing to worry about here'.

[sasquatch]

16. Hey I like the sig line

:hi:

[jburton]

17. I thought so

I took a seminar on USDA inspection policies a few years ago, and was shocked at how shitty they were. Our instructor was from Texas A&M University and hardly a lib'rul anti-meatite.

He said the inspection process is basically "Poke and Sniff"

If something bad gets discovered, it is usually too late. And the process assumes that food processors/agribusiness are going to obey all the laws and be good little corporate citizens and never cut corners. Right.

(And this was during the Clinton Admin -- does anybody have a number of how many meat inspectors Bush* axed the first year of his admin??)

[kayell]

21. The inspection for BSE has been so incredibly poor, that it looks

like they were deliberately avoiding finding it.

http://www.vegsource.com/articles/bse_usda.htm
USDA Mad Cow Strategy: Don't Look, Don't Find

April 2, 2001

LOS ANGELES -- Compared to the actions taken by countries in the European Union, the United States government does not seem to be aggressive enough in protecting American consumers from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.

The type of testing methods now used in the U.S. have been shown to miss prions detected by the more advanced testing methods employed in Europe. (A prion is a microscopic protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid, thought to be the infectious agent responsible for BSE and certain other degenerative diseases of the nervous system.)

Germany, which long proclaimed itself "BSE-free" using the same type of testing the US currently utilizes, did not discover its first mad cow cases until it began using the more sensitive testing procedures.

snip

The U.S. also is presently testing only 1 out of every 18,000 cows slaughtered, whereas countries like Switzerland test 1 out of every 60 cows.

Countries like Ireland test more than twice as many cows in one night as the U.S. tests in an entire year.

more

[maxrandb]

33. Okay, now there are TWO blame Clinton references in this thread

When is the party of personal responsibility going to start taking some Responsibility?

Can't wait, the next thing you know Faux news will be talking about the relatively good economic news and calling in the Clinton Recovery. No wait, that would never happen. I forgot that Clinton only gets credit for anything bad that happens.

Jeesh, you sound like your getting your talking points from Rush.

[NickB79]

58. It is the nature of the disease

As I explained in a previous post, this disease likely took hold here in the US during either Bush Sr's presidency or Clintons presidency. It takes years for this disease to become apparent and to spread into the animal population to a significant degree, so it was likely slowly spreading throughout the 1990's. Both Clinton, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. failed to take steps to prevent this, even after observing the steps Great Britain and continental Europe took to successfully control the spread (namely, outlawing the recycling of cattle into feed supplements). There are no Rush talking points about it; these are the facts of Mad Cow infection and spread.

[Jim Sagle]

18. Fish and chicken from now on.

[are_we_united_yet]

36. Check out "Democracy Now"

I don't want to be an alarmist but one of the guests on DN said that a theory for why the mad moo disease (BSE aka Mad Cow) exists is because of the practice of feeding livestock slaughtered waste products unfit for human consumption.

I thought I heard him say the practice also take place with poultry as well.

-Sigh- check out the latest Democray Now epsisode for details.

[shanti]

72. i was told this:

cows are the ONLY animal (that we regularly eat in the u.s.) that is strictly a herbivore. it is UNNATURAL for cows to eat their own. chicken, pork, on the other hand, DO eat their own, even in nature.

the choice here is clear. i am envisioning the quick growth of co-ops, perhaps with their own "farms" or ranches.

i won't eat beef unless it is free range and CERTIFIED, but it will definitely co$t in the future.

this is very bad news, people.

[lumpy]

37. Be aware of chicken salmonella

and mercury inhanced fish.

[shanti]

41. *sigh*

time to become a vegan....

[pfitz59]

45. Little green onions.........

and hepatitis! No one is immune!

[shanti]

70. i'm with you on this

and have made up my mind. no more beef for me. even my 13 yr old son agreed that he would have no more beef, and that's a big one!

[R Hickey]

19. This is the epidemic and cover-up I've been expecting.

There is a deer epidemic in Wisconsin called 'Chronic Wasting Disease,' which is most likely caused by the same "prions." That disease got to Wisconsin by allowing our 'game-farms' to import diseased elk from out west. The disease jumped from the elk into the deer population, and can jump to any species, including birds and fish.

This species-jumping deer disease, is also spreading into cattle, since both live in the same pastures, and perhaps occasionally lick at the same salt licks. Politicians like to cover-up and re-name the disease withh each new animal it attacks, and pretend to be ignorant of Mad-Cow's species jumping ability.

I read all about Mad-Cow disease at the "Rinse" website a few years ago. The website has collected news stories about Mad-Cow from all around the world.

These collected stories indicated that Mad-Cow Disease can easily be kept under the radar-screen until it is too late. The policy of slaughtering the cows, before they grow old enough to show symptoms, hides the epidemic from the consumming public, but may not prevent it from growing, spreading invisibly, under the radar screen.

All that has to be done to hide this epidemic, is to not test those 200,000 American sick 'downed' cattle, or to just withhold and keep the damming test results secret. That is exactly what the Bush administration is doing.

[shanti]

42. "rinse" website?

could you be referring to "rense".

[R Hickey]

67. Yes, its probably Rense, FTW -"From The Wilderness"

--

[dbt]

20. Merry Christmas, EVERYone!

Whillikers! Prions and Mad Cow Coverups and disappearing votes via computer and LIHOP everywhere you look!

I'm so old I remember when stuff like this would be laughed off the forum, dismissed as so much :tinfoilhat:

Next, I suppose you'll be telling me that "Chemtrails are real," just like that Kucinich fellow.

:freak:
dbt

[shanti]

73. how's that rabbit hole feel?

lol

[liberalmuse]

22. I agree that Mad Cow...

could have been incubating in cows in the U.S. for a long time now, but nevertheless, I blame Bush. As soon as one cow tested positive for the disease, this information should have been given to the public. This bastard continues to put special interest money and the neocon agenda well in front of American lives, and we're letting him get away with it.

[Rockholm]

24. Canadian Mad Cow came from the US

It is interesting to note, since the US media will not report it, that the ONE case of mad cow that occurred in Canada originally came from the USA. I was visiting Toronto this summer and it was widely reported "up there" that the infected cow came from the US. I was in Toronto at the same time that Jeb Bush was in Canada (lucky me) trying to get Canadian support for something. See, the beef thing is a BIG DEAL. Since Canada would not support *'s war, the US will not lift the ban on Canadian beef. Just watch, somehow this will get turned around and the US government will say that the infected cow came from Canada.

[mainer]

39. And that Canadian cow was never consumed

The Canadians, at least, kept it from entering the food supply.

What I want to know is why oh why does the US allow "downer" cows to be sent to the slaughterhouse? These are clearly sick animals. We are way behind Canada on this.

Mad Cow Disease (and its parallel in humans, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) spontaneously appears in about one in a million individuals. So this cow may very well be just an incidental case. The outrage is that FDA allowed it to be consumed.

[truthseeker1]

84. That cow came from Great Falls, Montana, NOT Alberta

I was in Alberta in July and found this to be widely reported there.

[zanana]

25. I LOVE YOUR SIG LINE!

It made my day. Thank you.

[Blue Gardener]

26. Is there a "Mad Hog Disease"?

I read at one time that it is possible that hogs could be infected, but are slaughtered at a younger age than cattle, before the disease is apparent. I haven't eaten red meat in years so not too worried myself, but is this something else we should be concerned about?

[R Hickey]

71. No hogs in any news stories that I have read,

but I'm sure they could get it. The animals that I remember reading about were moose, deer, cows, birds, trout, humans, sheep, and cats. A lot of the big cats, lions, tigers, lepards, and cheetas at the London Zoo have died from it. I read a story about one man in Italy and his cat who both died from it the same week.

[shanti]

74. i read on rense

that this disease crosses species. :shrug: take it for what it's worth.

[jmcgowanjm]

27. also alzheimers can be confused w/ mad cow

both diseases turn the brain into a sponge.
Can't be determined w/out actual biopsy of brain.

We're worse now than when Upton Sinclair
wrote The Jungle at turn of century.

You don't even want to know what cattle are fed.
Hint: any protein source is acceptable.

And,if you think this wasn't timed for Xmas eve...
as was tongass 300k logging
as was the soldiers aren't comin' back from Iraq.

http://www.awitness.org/journal/ranchers_hide_mad_cows.html

http://www.sierraclub.org/forests/get_involved/2003summer_tongass_alert.asp

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/23/troop_cuts_in_iraq_may_wait_bush_says/

[Nevernose]

30. Only in the very initial stages

Mad Cow, or vCJD, takes only a few months, as opposed to the years and years with Alzheimer's. It is, though, remarkably similar -- just faster.

I had a loved one die from a similar (as in unique, never-before-seen) version of one of these diseases. Horrible. Every day was a nightmare.

[jmcgowanjm]

50. My sympathies,Argumentus, my Mother-in-law has Alzheimers

[bobbieinok]

78. I heard this and FORGOT to wonder what info this was covering up.

I did wonder when FAUX et al would say this was a terrorist attack. After all this is in the same state as Seattle, a 'well-known hang-out of hate-US terrorist types'. <sarcasm off>

[librechik]

29. USDA inspectors found parts of Clinton's Penis

in batches of sausage meat. Lopped off in public during the impeachment proceedings, Bush administration officials now blame the "Clenis" for all contamination found anywhere in US meat.



I expect this item to appear soon on FAUX news...

[truthseeker1]

85. ROFL!!

[NoKingGeorge]

32. Secretary of Agriculture is an appointee.

Was she appointed by the deserter? I understand that she was a spokes person for the cattle industry before moving to Washington.
Is this another case of the fox guarding the hen house....

[Hell Hath No Fury]

38. Anne Venemen is her name...

And one of the first things she did when she was appointed By Bush to the office was to ease the field test restrictions of genetically altered foods. Why? She is an ex-Monsanto gal.

She is nothing but bad news.

[jmcgowanjm]

49. and don't even google-milk BGH pus Monsanto n/t

[leesa]

34. So are they citing security reasons again for hiding documents?

Cheney can't release his energy documents for security reasons. They can't investigate the Bush terrorist act of 9-11 for security reasons? What next?

[tabasco]

35. This will only hurt liberals!!!!

Freepers already have brain-rot.

[KansDem]

54. Good observation...!!! (nt)

[DBoon]

43. Classified for national security reasons

Obviously this information can't be made public, as we know those terra-ists will try to attack the food supply of this great country.

[JPace]

44. John Stauber wrote "Mad Cow U.S.A.

a book saying it could happen here. I watched
him in an interview last night and he said
calves are taken from moms and raised on a
formula which includes blood protein products
from blood of slaughtered beef. This is a form
of cannibalism and could be how the disease
is widely transmitted.

[priller]

47. Add "Fast Food Nation" to your scary beef books list

He mentions many of the same things, plus the horrible conditions in most US slaughter houses, plus the practice of setting meat stripping machines to cut too close to the bone, greatly increasing the chances of getting other non-meat tissues in the mix, etc, etc, etc. All brought to you by the wonderful "voluntary" system of compliance.

[the_boxer_]

77. No more Osso Bucco for me!!!

J/K.....

:eyes:

[Cronus Protagonist]

46. Bovine Spongiform disease... THAT explains Bush's speech problems

And probably all the rest of his symptoms. He's a mad beefeater, I tell you, mad!

"Lick Bush" Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[BigBadDaddy-O]

51. Sorry for this, but Bush/Chaney need ass whip'ens

To bad that boy cannot just get a good ass whip'en


With the new rules I did not know if I could say Bush should get his ass kicked.

[SodoffBush]

53. It's as though USDA, Cheney and Rush have gotten together

"Whatever you do, don't give up the records!"

[NNN0LHI]

55. USDA halts livestock risk insurance due to mad cow

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24142092.htm

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it would temporarily suspend livestock risk protection insurance due to volatile market conditions caused by the first U.S. case of mad cow disease.

The USDA said it would stop accepting applications for Specific Coverage Endorsements for Fed Cattle and Feeder Cattle under the federal Livestock Risk Protection Insurance Policy.

"It is expected that this (mad cow disease) discovery will have a significant effect on the price of cattle for the foreseeable future," the USDA said in a statement.

more

[mmm]

64. ain't that sweet

they're sweet

[flatlandr]

62. 'Could've sworn I saw an uptick in

contributions both charitable and political coming from fastfood
megacorps recently. Then there's that test for Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease in blood supplies coming online. No more dismissing
symptoms as Alzheimers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/article/0,2763,757786,00.html

[Gin]

66. I'm going to sue them on the premise that I "might get the human form"

of the disease...hell...we invaded a country on the "assumption they might harm us"...so...come on class action.

[0rganism]

83. This is excellent news, tho -- a blood test for vCJD will help greatly

It's a step along the road to finding some kind of treatment.

[the_boxer_]

75. I'd like to know if there's the same risk with natural beef and/or

grain fed cattle/beef?

Any thoughts?

[NNN0LHI]

80. Is there a test for humans to check for exposure of Mad Cow?

If there is not why aren't we working on one? That would seem like the next logical step to me.

Don

[bicentennial_baby]

82. Nope

If I remember correctly, the only way to definitively diagnose either Mad Cow or nv-CJD is through autopsy and testing of brain tissue.

[Myra]

88. Bush is in bed with Big Meat.

...
Sorry.

:evilgrin: