Second Case of Mad Cow Traced to Texas

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050629/ap_on_re_us/mad_cow;_ylt=AoTMrzy1ibdeIwt80rXafRqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

WASHINGTON - The second U.S. case of mad cow disease was a cow from Texas killed last November, two government officials said Wednesday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Agriculture Department planned an announcement later, said USDA officials traced the infected cow to a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption.

The Agriculture Department confirmed the case on Friday but had to wait for DNA analysis to confirm the cow's origin. Tracing the cow proved difficult the animal's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. It was killed at a pet food plant.

Officials suspected last November that the cow was infected because initial screening had indicated the presence of the disease. But more sophisticated tests came back negative, and officials announced then that the suspect cow was free of the ailment.

(end snip)

Its name is George, its on a ranch in Crawford
and is udderly evil

:hi:

for the next few months. Let them stew on that for a while.

CONAGRA, McDonalds, and the Fast Food Nation have finally reached critical mass.

Of course the fact that these industries to the GOP shouldnt surprise anyone.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8258584/

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/28/elec04.prez.dems.mad.cow/

"Dean noted the administration blocked attempts to ban from the food supply beef from cows slaughtered when they were unable to walk -- a symptom of the disease -- and resisted efforts to create a better system to track cows.

"A larger outbreak of BSE or some other livestock disease could devastate rural economies," Dean said.

"This administration has not taken such dangers seriously -- they have seriously underfunded important food security efforts, including important upgrades to the National Animal Disease Center here in Ames."

Is that what they do with bad/diseased meat?

Well my dog is off of any of that stuff as of now.

Although I'm not sure that non-beef cat food would be beef or anything free. I hate to pay 3 times as much for organic cat food.

Ehhhh... who needs regulations anyway? Now I know why there are soooo many Repukes in Texas. I bet the beef tastes really good...

but rendered protein goes back into the food chain as cat food, dog food, pig food, chicken food, plant food, and cow food.

Prions are not destroyed by rendering, so they will survive the process quite well.

Also interesting that the tests showed different results... how many false negatives have there been???

I am not making this up! I really don't live eat and breathe politics every moment and I was surprised by this dream. In my dream I was drawing on a blackboard (Chemistry type diagrams) and Jeb Bush was standing next to me and said "Thank you, this is something we hadn't considered."

On an unrelated side note: my kitty has been a vegetarian since the day we got her as a little kitten. We adopted her from a cat rescue group ( my standard joke is we could have adopted a Romanian orphan far more easily) She has resolutely refused to eat any cat food whether dry or canned that has anything to do with beef, turkey, chicken, or lamb and will eat seafood based food exclusively. I have never known another cat like this. Lately through her example we have tried to become kinda sorta vegetarian ourselves.

Cats (unlike humans) are natural carnivores, and can become blind if not supplemented. Tourine is a very important nutrient that needs to be given to vegetarian cats.

Even my cats aren't vegetarian, although I'm weighing my options in that direction.

And I swear it was her choice - I bought the whole range of cat foods but noticed that the only ones she would eat were the seafood type, it's not like I'm making her eat broccoli quiche or anything like that. Do you think she still needs supplements?

Don't bother mentioning it to a vet, unless it's one you trust, because they will demand you shove a steak down her throat. But you might do some research to make sure. I'm not as much of an expert on cats as I sometimes claim to be. :)

I have noticed quite a few posts repeating on LBN. Not to say it is not worth reading. The more people who know about this, the better. But what is going on with LBN posts ?

but the origin in Texas was announced today. From the article:

The Agriculture Department confirmed the case last Friday but had to wait for DNA analysis to confirm the cow's origin. Tracing the cow proved difficult because the animal's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. It was killed at a pet- food plant in Waco, Texas, which did not use the carcass for food.

A lot of states have been waiting for this news, as it affects them directly, right or wrong. I was not aware that the origin had been posted before. If it has, I apologize for reposting. :)

I'm sure there are a few wonderful people there but that state could fall into the ocean and I'd be a happy Amurikkkan.

Gyre

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8B1CS400.html


State health officials are looking into how a Panhandle man contracted a rare bacterial disease that typically is tied to the livestock industry.

The Moore County man does not work around livestock or in a laboratory or slaughterhouse and is not a veterinarian, circumstances normally associated with getting Q fever, said Dr. James Alexander, a vet with the Department of State Health Services in Canyon.

It's possible the man might have caught the disease, which can spread from animals to humans, from contaminated soil, Alexander said. The patient told officials he has a friend with livestock but that he had no contact with the animals, Alexander said.

Cattle, sheep and goats are the primary carriers of the bacteria, known as Coxiella burnetii, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. It's extremely rare for the disease to spread from human to human, said Dr. Steven Berk, regional dean for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and an expert on infectious diseases.

Case of Mad Cow in Texas Is First to Originate in U.S.
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: June 30, 2005


The cow that was found last week to have mad cow disease spent its whole life in Texas, making it the first domestic case of the disease, the United States Department of Agriculture said yesterday.

Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinary officer for the department's animal health inspection service, said DNA tests had traced the herd the cow was born in. The animal was about 12 years old and did not leave the ranch where it had been born until it was taken, near death, to a pet food plant in Waco, Dr. Clifford said.

The animal's age made it likely that it was infected before the 1997 ban on feeding protein from ruminants like cows and sheep to other cattle, he said.

The Food and Drug Administration, he said, will check the feed logs from the ranch where the cow was raised and the processing records of plants where that feed was made to see that the ban was complied with.

The Agriculture Department is now trying to trace any animals born on the ranch in the same year or in the years before or after, as well as any offspring of the cow born in the last two years. All will be tested for the disease, which will mean killing them because parts of the brain must be scooped out to do the tests....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/national/30cow.html

Sheesh.

you've lost your last excuse

It's merely the first announced.

Before this it's been 'shoot, shovel, shaddap'

.

I'll believe that the day that I believe anything that comes out of the chimpanzee*.

Highly likely though that the cow didn't go to a pet food plant-
keeping down the panic-
And this was not the first mad cow in the U.S.
This is just what they'd like you to believe.

go to the frozen food section. Look for the meatless section. Pick up a package of Boca Burgers or Garden Burger. Have a delicious dinner. You won't miss the meat, I promise.

I want my DU buddies to stay healthy.....so we can fight the Neo-Cons (I hope lots of them eat Texas beef).

Someone should rename that book... from Kansas to Texas.