Mad Cow Disease: Facts, Resources, and Free
Veggie Starter Kit
Mad cow disease is now
indigenous to North America, according to a new report
issued by an international panel of experts appointed by Secretary
of Agriculture Ann Veneman. The panel, which delivered its report
on February 4, also called for a large increase in testing for mad
cow and said blanket assurances that “beef is safe” could undermine
regulatory efforts.
Such assurances have been
routinely offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since mad
cow disease was discovered in a Washington state Holstein on December
22.
In other news, federal officials
ended their investigation into the country's first case of mad cow
disease on February 9. This move comes despite the failure to locate
almost two-thirds of the 80 cattle that had entered the United States
with the infected Holstein, as the Washington Post pointed
out.
Even the limited mad cow
testing currently conducted may be unreliable, according to a new
report from United Press International. UPI puts it this way: “
The federal laboratory in Ames, Iowa, that conducts all of the nation's
tests for mad cow disease has a history of producing ambiguous and
conflicting results -- to the point where many federal meat inspectors
have lost confidence in it, Department of Agriculture veterinarians
and a deer rancher told United Press International.” Read more here.
Real
Cause for Concern
If you're concerned about
mad cow disease, you have every right to be. PCRM has been speaking
out about the potential of this problem hitting the U.S. meat industry
for years.
But now that mad cow disease
has been discovered in the United States, the Department of Agriculture
seems more concerned about defending the cattle industry than protecting
the public. Indeed, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman is busily
trying to reassure the American public that beef is safe by obscuring
the risks of contracting the human form of mad cow disease, a variant
of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) that is incurable and deadly.
The alarming reality is
that, because of lax regulations and poor enforcement, the extent
to which mad cow disease has entered the human food supply is unknown.
Although some changes have been made, some U.S. livestock rendering
and feeding practices are similar to those present in Britain at
the onset of that country's mad cow epidemic, which resulted in
the infection of more than 100 people with vCJD.
For a detailed explanation of the
danger, please consult PCRM's mad cow
disease factsheet or list of frequently
asked questions.
New
USDA Reforms Inadequate to Protect Consumers
It
took the current crisis to convince the USDA to take the commonsense
step of banning so-called downer cows (animals too sick to stand)
from the human food supply. That new rule was one of four issued
Jan. 8 by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
But
even now, the government refuses to order the kind of large-scale
testing for bovine spongiform enchepalopathy, or BSE (commonly called
mad-cow disease) performed in other nations.
The
United States still tests a tiny fraction (far less than 1 percent)
of cattle going to slaughter. Japan tests every cow. Until we do
the same, we won't know the true extent of the threat.
Moreover,
the new regulations do not close gaping loopholes in the restrictions
on what can be fed to cattle. It is still legal to feed rendered
cattle remains to swine and chicken, and then feed rendered swine
and chicken remains back to cattle. This practice may also spread
mad cow disease.
Enforcement
also remains a serious issue. Despite a 1997 Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) ban on the feeding of most mammalian remains to ruminants,
a January 2001 FDA report showed that, of 180 renderers, 16 percent
lacked warning labels on feeds designed to differentiate those intended
for ruminants from those for nonruminants and 28 percent had no
system to prevent the actual mixing of these feeds.
What
guarantees can the government offer that new regulations will be
better enforced?
No animal products
are safe
The truth is that beef, as well as
all other animal products, including chicken, pork, dairy, and eggs,
are not safe, even without the risk of mad cow disease. Most are
jam-packed with fat and cholesterol and increase the risk of heart
disease, cancer, and diabetes. (Yes, chicken
has nearly as much cholesterol as beef.) Loaded with too much protein,
they raise the risk of kidney
disease and osteoporosis. And given intensive farming and slaughtering
processes, they're often contaminated
with foodborne pathogens.
A perfect
time to try a vegetarian diet
If the mad cow crisis has you thinking about giving up meat, now's the
perfect time to incorporate more vegetarian
foods into your meals, or to try a vegetarian diet. You'll be amazed
at the variety of delicious foods now available and the multitude of health
benefits.
Additional
Resources
Find
out why Consumers Union calls the USDA reforms inadequate
to protect public health.
Read
United Press International's startling
exposé of the flaws in the USDA's mad cow testing program.
Among the most troubling findings: Over the past two years, not
a single cow has been tested at some of the largest slaughterhouses
in the nation.
"Mad
cow's untold
story: Studies quietly raise questions about threat to humans,"
reports the Rocky Mountain News.
Revised February 10, 2004
Media
Center | Health | Research
| About PCRM | Catalog
| Join Us | Search
| Site Index | Home
The site does
not provide medical or legal advice. This Web site is for information purposes
only.
Full Disclaimer | Privacy Policy
|
