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November 22, 2008 at 12:36:07
Mad Cow Scare In Cattle Country by Martha Rosenberg Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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For Amarillo, it's déjà vu all over again.
Ten years ago, Oprah Winfrey was in town courtesy of Texas cattlemen who sued her for disparaging hamburgers on her show. P.S. She won.
Now mad cow is back in the news as the Amarillo Public Health Department confirms a hospitalized local woman is being tested for the human variety--and cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are tanking.
The only thing big meat fears more than a domestic case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) -- human mad cow--is a cluster of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease which can't be dismissed as random or sporadic.
And the only thing it fears more than either one is a case or cluster in Texas where the first domestically produced case of mad cow disease occurred in 2005.
And where federal and state officials still protect the "privacy" of the farm.
No wonder Ted McCollum, beef cattle specialist with the Amarillo office of Texas AgriLife Extension called the Amarillo woman's case sporadic before tests were even concluded--and on the same day health officials said they didn't know.
It's not easy covering up mad cow investigations but big meat does its best with the help of state and federal government.
Who realizes that the first US mad cow, born in Canada but found in Washington state in 2003, was eaten by diners in 11 restaurants in nine California counties according to the San Francisco Chronicle?
Especially when the USDA's Summary Report, Epidemiological Investigation of Washington State BSE Case, says "This product was disposed of in a landfill in accordance with Federal, State and local ordinances."
Why was the first report of former mayor of Buffalo, NY James D. Griffin 's death from CJD by local TV station WIVB in May retracted on the Web--the link read: the page you requested is currently unavailable--only to surface in November?
To protect meat markets in light of the fact that "We have just recently seen a cluster of cases," according to Griffin's doctor Laszlo Mechtler, vice president at the Dent Neurologic Institute, in western New York?
Of course, when it comes to mad cow threats, big meat has three agricultural parachutes.
One is the long incubation period of human mad cow--making it almost impossible to prove the food source biologically or legally.
The second is a public which figures if it tastes good it's safe unlike the South Korean public which rioted night after night over the same food in May. Go figure.
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re- "Mad Cow Scare In Cattle Country"
Friday, November 21, 2008Amarillo-area (suspect sporadic CJD) case linked to mad cow disease Rumor in Texas by
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 10:09:48 AM
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Definition of Mad Cow
Why don't we just discuss the reason we have mad cow disease? You can google it or wikipedia it. Or try WebMD? Do your homework. Just remembe that cannibal homo sapiens get "mad cow" from their diet of their own. by zephyr (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 10:16:08 AM  (0+)
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Definition of Mad Cow
Why don't we just discuss the reason we have mad cow disease? You can google it or wikipedia it. Or try WebMD? Do your homework. Just remembe that cannibal homo sapiens get "mad cow" from their diet of their own. by zephyr (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 10:29:03 AM (0+)
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It's all about crookism and racketeering - not morals per se
It's all about crookism and racketeering - not morals per se by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1762 comments [39 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 10:50:49 AM (0+)
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Is It?
I have watched over the years as "early onset" Alzheimer's takes more and more victims. I ask always, "how do they know it is Alzheimers?". Until recently there has been no test for the disease except for dissection of the brain after death. I have heard that there are some testing methods now that will give a more definitive diagnosis pre-death. But they are expensive. So, if you are a working class patient over the age of 50, without terrific insurance, living in small town America, it is likely that no one will actually check to see what dementia causing syndrome you really have. Early onset, or as I have sometimes heard it called, "galloping Alzheimer's" is a quick and easy call. I think it frightening that there is no law forcing Drs and Hospitals to test for CJS when a patient presents with early onset dementia. I beleive that we would find that this disease is much more prevalent than we have been LED to beleive. by Kathy Stuart (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments [9 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 11:01:54 AM (0+)
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