Veneman Takes Center Stage in Virus Scare

WASHINGTON -- Ann Veneman heads an agency that doesn't frequently make the front pages of the nation's newspapers nor lead the nightly television newscasts. But the daughter of a California peach farmer has been thrust onto the national scene with the apparent discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.

Veneman, 54, is the first woman to head the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Known for her expertise in foreign trade, Veneman also worked at the department in the first Bush administration, where she rose to deputy secretary and was the highest-ranking woman to serve in the department.

At the time, Veneman was credited with helping to negotiate the Uruguay round talks for the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade -- which set forth sweeping cuts in duties on imports, reductions in farm subsidies, and opened trade in services like banking.
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Her father, John Veneman, was a popular former Republican state legislator and undersecretary of health, education and welfare in the Nixon administration.

Veneman's nomination by President Bush to head the Agriculture Department caused concern in the Midwest, where farmers and congressional lawmakers worried that an attorney from California might not help their region -- the heart of U.S. agriculture production.

Veneman stirred controversy earlier this year when her aides refused to allow reporters to interview industry leaders and foreign dignitaries visiting the department. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was a leading critic, telling Veneman that she should let the media do their job.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-veneman-profile,0,3933816.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

Unfortunately, now we've got it.

Bush isn't interestedin "helping" constituencies unless they're corporate cronies.

thanks.

expressed in cattle because of the nature of the shit diet Beef Factories feed them.
And most all beef factories are BIG agribusiness, very BIG.

The consensus out there is that this type of disease, BSE, is caused by a protein called a 'Prion.' This protein, it seems, is somehow able to communicate its properties to other proteins, replicating itself at a very basic level. This is not the the same mechanism that is used by virii, which depend on your usual DNA/RNA process, but it is more akin to a mirroring thing: chemical interactions between this protein, and the healthy protein will induce a 'denaturing' process in the -formerly- healthy one. It deforms the healthy protein, i.e.
To give yourself an idea of what denaturing involves, keep in mind that cooking food involves denaturing proteins. In the case of cooking, the heat changes the shapes of the proteins. With prions, subtle chemical interactions change these shapes.
Here is a pretty good link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madcow/prions.html

It boils down to cannibalism ...

There is a book "Deadly Feasts" by Rhodes that tells you all about prions (available at bn.coom and amazon.com for >$15). Scarey stuff Ann Venison! :scared:

:dem: :kick:

. . Mad cow U.S.A.: Could the nightmare happen here? . . by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

. . written over 5 years ago, so they can't say they weren't aware / warned .

And now we are close to the answer to that question

. (sigh) .

Yeah?

That's the name that comes to my mind.

The GOP Congress knew about the inadaquacies in our testing procedures and could care less. We are vastly inferior compared with other countries concerning testing but Bush didn't want to hinder industries by forcing them to have decent safety standards. At least the other countries banning the beef have a concern for their citizens.

amen.

her concerns lie with corporate profits, not the American people.