Mad Cow Disease in the US

On December 23 the report of a single case of Mad Cow Disease in Washington state sent shock waves through the US Department of Agriculture and cattlemen across the country. A case of Mad Cow Disease in Canada had stopped importation of Canadian cattle into the US. Now Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman assures television viewers that there is "an extremely low risk" of Mad Cow Disease for humans.

Mad Cow Disease was first recognized in the United Kingdom and has caused the death of more than one hundred thirty humans in the UK. Death in cattle, and humans, comes from a buildup of prions in the nervous system. The disease is the result of eating beef infected with prions. The prions are spread in cattle feed made from recycled slaughterhouse beef scraps. Humans get the disease by eating prion contaminated beef.

The British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) initially minimized the threat to beef consumers. Symptoms of the disease take several years to become evident. Therefore infected cattle easily go undetected. Eventually MAFF stopped the use of cattle scraps in cattle feed. Lengthy hearings followed, and MAFF and the Ministry of Health pointed the finger of blame at each other and at the feed processors. Now required testing for Mad Cow Disease is widespread in Europe.

There are other diseases caused by prions. A prion disease similar to Mad Cow Disease is known in deer and elk in states from Wisconsin to the West Coast. A bizarre prion disease of cannibals in the South Pacific is passed from human to human just as Mad Cow Disease is passed from cow to cow. Cannibalism just doesn`t make sense for people or cows.

Currently the US government has difficulty preventing the recycling of cattle scraps into cattle feed. Furthermore, last year in only 20,500 cattle were tested for Mad Cow Disease, an extremely small percentage of the 40,000,000 cattle in the US. Shall we ignore the threat?

How does Mad Cow Disease affect us here in Florida? Ask the local cattlemen about the price of beef in Europe after the human cases started being found. It is time to clean up the cattle feed before consumers give up beef. The US Department of Agriculture needs to test more cattle and tighten up cattle feed regulations.