Summary
U.S. Department of Agriculture and Central Oregon ranchers said the nation’s supply of beef is safe, despite news of the country’s second possible case of mad cow disease. Confirmation of the possible second case is expected within four to seven days, meaning the USDA has pre-declared beef to be safe, even before test results are available.
Mad-cow disease is a chronic degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of cattle. Local cattle ranchers said they weren’t surprised by the discovery, given the government’s testing practices. Ranchers are confident in the safety of the U.S. beef supply because of the precautions already taken against mad cow disease. “The way we handle our cattle and the process in which our cattle are fed is environmentally safe,” said Ken Read, president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.
Original source:
http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=14932
Details
-
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials and Central Oregon ranchers said on Thursday that the nation's supply of beef is safe, despite news that a government screening process recently detected the country's second possible case of mad cow.
- Confirmation of the possible second case through further testing is expected within four to seven days, said USDA spokesman Andrea McNally.
- According to a USDA news conference held Thursday morning, the animal carcass in question is part of the targeted high-risk population being tested for mad cow.
- The high-risk group includes older cattle, "downers," or cattle too sick to walk, and cows suspected of having neurological ailments.
- Mad-cow disease, called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a chronic degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of cattle, according to the USDA Web site.
- This just shows that it's working," said Coy Cowart, president of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association.
- "They've made this test so sensitive, so (the USDA) has indicated that there would be a number of false positives that would come out in the future," said J.W. Hart, Crook County president of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association.
- "This won't be the last time that you hear that we may have a BSE cow in the United States, but the important thing is we do test these animals and we do keep the meat as safe as we possibly can," said Hart.
- After the USDA's announcement on Thursday about the possible discovery of BSE, beef prices fell, according to The Associated Press.
- According to the USDA, safeguards include a longstanding ban on imports of live cattle from high-risk countries; the prohibition of most mammalian protein in cattle feed; removing downer cattle from the human food chain; and conclusive testing for BSE of all animal carcasses presented for slaughter and rendering.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds.
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Email this article to a friend
Share
this article on: 
