Mad Cow is Here

Reports of the discovery of a third case of Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in Alabama today have meat industry economists and analysts falling all over each other in an effort to 'assure' US consumers that they should keep grilling steaks, eating hamburgers and other forms of beef just as they always have done. Why there is nothing to worry about at all. Trust us! Sound familiar?

"I think the reaction on the consumer side will be relatively mild," said Chris Hurt, a Purdue University agricultural economist.

"The bottom line for consumers remains the same: Your beef is safe," the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said in a statement.

It is really quite comforting to have an economist and a representative of the Beef Association assuring America that all is well with their food supply. These guys must have minored in biology or medicine when they went to school – whew, was getting a little nervous.

Now, with all the pooh poohing going on, one would think that there might be something shady going on. No, it can't be. Why, representatives of industry and the Bush administration would never lie to American citizens – would they?? Just have one nagging concern. Why haven't they mentioned this:

Mad Cow Disease has a human form called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Scientists believe people can contract vCJD by eating material from infected cattle.

In the preceding week, two more variant cases had been neuropathologically confirmed, and a report on the entire group of 10 cases concluded that an unrecognized variant of CJD occurring only in persons less than 45 years of age was probably due to exposure to BSE. This link has now been convincingly established in laboratory studies showing identical, distinctive biological and molecular biological features of the pathologic agent isolated from BSE-infected cattle and human cases of vCJD. The source of contamination appears to have been beef.

During the Mad Cow outbreak in Britain during the 1980's and 90's, it was found that human cases of vCJD did not really occur until nearly a decade AFTER the outbreak of Mad Cow. This is because the disease has an incubation period that can vary from 10 to 15 years.

So, lets see now. There appears to be the possibility of a 'shhh' let's keep it quiet campaign, being conducted by the government and meat industry - with American consumers as the guinea pigs. Suppose the American safeguards are not working, and that is known by government/industry. Since the incubation period is at least 10 years, there is time to 'fix' the system. Is a 'risk analysis' being performed right now in the government with meat industry assistance? Does anyone not think that the industry may be weighing how many people could get infected in that time and how much it would cost for their legal defenses 10 years from now? No it can't be. America knows that industry and the Bush administration can be relied upon. They would never lie - right???

Just to be safe though – maybe pork/poultry is a better choice.
Posted on The Human Stain