Published on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
How Now, Mad Cow?
by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

Common Courage Press has just released the first paperback version of our 1997 book Mad Cow USA, the book that predicted the emergence of the deadly human and animal dementia disease in the United States. When Mad Cow USA was first published in November 1997, it bore the subtitle, "Could the Nightmare Happen Here?" We used a question mark because we thought mad cow disease was possible but still preventable in the United States, if the meat industry and government regulators adopted adequate safety measures.

Our book received favorable reviews at the time from some interesting publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, New Scientist, and Chemical & Engineering News. Otherwise, it went largely ignored and unheralded. It sold briskly but briefly during the infamous Texas trial of Oprah Winfrey for the alleged crime of "food disparagement," and then slid into obscurity until December 2003, when the "nightmare" in our subtitle arrived and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman announced that mad cow disease has been found in the United States . . . . . . . . .

Published on Monday, April 26, 2004 by the Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas)
Hiding the Mad Cow Problem
by Nick Nyhart

People who contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease after eating meat infected by Mad Cow Disease (BSE) don't necessarily know it right away. They may have trouble sleeping, get depressed, or have trouble remembering things. But any number of things can cause these problems. As the disease advances, what started as memory loss progresses rapidly into dementia. By the final stages, a patient would most likely lapse into a coma before dying. The disease is incurable.

With more than 183,000 cases of BSE diagnosed in animals in the United Kingdom alone since the late 1980s, nearly 140 people dead, and the emergence of the disease recently in Canada, the United States government should have taken all measures necessary to protect the food supply. Yet it wasn't until a week after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the first diagnosis of a cow with BSE in Washington State in late December, that the agency finally banned the use of "downer" cattle. These are cattle that can't walk, along with bovine body parts suspected of harboring the disease, including the skull, brain, eyes, and spinal cord. By then, the American beef industry had already suffered a calamitous crash in prices and the disappearance of its multi-billion-dollar export market.

What explains this governmental inertia? How about money? At least part of the answer is the well-organized, well-funded lobby in Washington that has successfully blocked stronger safety rules, rewarding politicians with more than $27 million in campaign contributions since 1989. Three-fourths of livestock and meat processor moolah has gone to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

What's worse, even now the agency is still not doing all it could. The main way cattle become infected with BSE is by eating other infected animals. While the United States banned the use of cattle in feed for other ruminants -- cows, goats, and sheep -- back in 1997, there is no such requirement for feed destined for chickens and other animals, which don't develop the disease themselves. But it is perfectly legal for cattle to eat poultry litter and outdated pet food, both of which often contain ruminant meat and bone meal that could be infected. Meanwhile, the industry continues to use "advanced recovery" machines to extract every last little bit of meat from carcasses, which can include nerve tissue -- one way the illness is spread.

This record of complacency is all the more astonishing given all the warnings that have been raised about the risks. For years, consumer groups have been urging the USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to strengthen laws protecting the public from BSE. Back in 1997, writers Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber published

"Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?" Yes it could, they concluded.

But it was all but ignored by the mainstream media, quite possibly because newspaper publishers and TV broadcasters feared losing millions in lucrative advertising from beef producers.

The number one recipient of campaign dollars from the meat processing and livestock industries so far in the 2004 election, as well as in the 2000 elections, is President George W. Bush, with a total of nearly $880,000. (In the 1996 elections, back when Mad Cow as emerging as a threat, Bill Clinton received nearly $70,000 from these industries.) "I love those cattlemen!" Bush told the president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association at a White House Christmas party, according to the association's newsletter, reports "The New York Times."

Since the current president took office, he has appointed at least a dozen officials to the Department of Agriculture who have either worked for agriculture interests or lobbied for them. These included Dr. Chuck Lambert, formerly the chief economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, now deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. The Bush-Cheney campaign's mega-fundraisers are called "Rangers" and "Pioneers." Among them are at least three cattlemen:

Tobin Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Ranch; Tom Bivens, the owner of Corsino Cattle Co.; and Fausto Yturria Jr., owner of Yturria Ranch.

People shouldn't have to worry that the next bite they take of a hamburger, or the next steak they buy at the supermarket, might have come from an infected cow. Not when there are well-established and simple measures that the government could take to protect the food supply.

Nick Nyhart is executive director of Public Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to comprehensive campaign finance reform. This essay is taken from "OUCH!" its regular publication.

) Copyright 2004 CJOnline

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I just thought that I would let you know that "mad cow" has been here for a long time. Sheep, pigs, and even squirrels get it. Squirrels have given this horrible death to people in the hills of KY.

CJD has been found in people that have never eaten meat of any kind. CJD also takes many years to develop, its not something that occurs overnight, and since it has only affected a very small portion of the population there has been very little research into the origins. Everything we have out there now is speculation. If this is truely transmitted by infected meat then why don't other people in the smae household, eating the same food, come down with the same disease? Why only one household member?

There are other theories about where this disease is coming from. Mark Purdey and others think it may be organophosphates and or a copper/manganese in balance.

this would explain why non meat eaters could ge CJD. Or if a vegetarian eats much processed food they are likely eating meat by products and not know it.

there is also the thought that a lot of alzhiemer's cases may actually be a variant of CJD.

At any rate the USDA refuses to test more than 1% of the beef herd and they have also asked Cloverdale farms to cease and desist on their testing 100% of their cattle for BSE. I assume they know if they actually do adequate testing they will find a lot of affected cattle and that would likely put meat eaters off of industrially raised beef which would really hurt the few big time operators.

Personally, I would not advise eating beef (or any meat) unless you raised it or know who did and how it was processed. The USDA has allowed the cattlemen to run inspections and so they have pretty much dismantled the inspection process in the past 30 years.

I think most folks will agree it's not a good idea to eat beef any longer. The meat and bonemeal cow feed seems to be the biggest culprit. Which leads me to this...

What about bone meal used in organic fertilizer? In my quest to grow a chemical free and therefore "safer" garden I used bone meal in my homemade organic fertilizer last year. (My first vegetable garden.) Needless to say, I threw it out this winter after the December '03 scare. Now I'm left to wonder if possibly the bone meal could have been contaminated (I no longer have the bag so I don't know from what animal the bone was derived) and I also wonder if my garden soil is contaiminated this year from last years fertilizer, IF the bone meal was contaiminated. Also, is it possible to contaiminate vegetables with contaiminated fertilizer, too?
I would appreciate any answers anyone could give to these questions.

Ya know, Miracle Grow is not looking so bad now. I'm beginning to wonder if chemical gardening is really that much worse than this.......

Does Cloverdale Farm have a website?

You wonder if chemical farming could be worse than this? remeber it is chemcial farming that brought us this problem in the first place. and pray tell how does Miracle Gro build soil?

Organic beef doesn't get BSE so look for organic pastured/grassfed cattle products if you must use bone meal or eat beef. But there are many other sources of Ca than bone meal from cattle.

Thanks for your helpful although exasperated reply. My original question was concerning bonemeal present in organic fertilizer, not to start a debate between chemical and organic gardening. (Believe it or not, we are on the same side). I was attempting to pose "food for thought" - chemical gardening could equal cancer; organic gardening could equal BSE. Just because a package is labeled organic doesn't necessarily mean it meets someone's organic standards. Just something to think about...

Pray tell, where do you buy your organic bonemeal and/or beef?

I don't use bonemeal. There are other ways to get calcium into soil such as cover cropping and using certain rock powders.

I buy my beef from one of two local organic farmers. one has pastured beef, the other does feed his cattle organic corn to finish.

Not to mention I don't think Prions will live in the soil. I believe they have to have a living host in order to survive so I don't think we will see BSE (or any other wasting disease) jumping from soil fauna to Humans. Though i could be wrong as no one really knows what to expect from prions at this point. Everything we know about "Mad Cow" is based on theory that may well be wrong.

Thank you, Ohiorganic. You are lucky to have local organic beef farmers. I will have to either become a vegetarian or order beef online in order to feel safe. But you are right: so little is known thus far about this, or at least the government hasn't told us a lot. This reminds me of the beginning of the AIDS epidimic in the early 80's when it was thought that only homosexual men caught the disease. Knowledge of that has come a long way in 20 years!

There is a farm in St. Charles MO that sells all sorts of meat animals raised without the use of animal byproducts feed. http://www.bennesbest.com/
Try asking Google for more information on free range animals.
David Chisholm

they was study several years ago that showed prions can live in soil for over a year.

Hi I just wanted to add, that in our area ( Md.) the dnr is taking samples of the deer killed, they are taking the liphmnodes out of the neck of the animals as they are checked in. they said they are checking for deer version of mad cow . They told us its because the deer are so over populated in this area. they are also checking for other disese from being over populated .

when i hear any more info. i will post it , i will be keeping an eye on this because our hole family hunts and runs a butcher shop for deer very fall. so i deal with it cooked and raw.. ?:|

We live in Minnesota and my husband is off deer hunting with his Dad this weekend. The state has tested a percentage of the deer taken each year for the past couple of years and has yet to have a sample test positive for CWD. So far the CWD found in this state is from farmed elk and the like.

As for the mad cow, we buy our beef from a friend who owns a market/farm up north.