Meat of Infected Cow Found in More States

[PatrickS]

17 minutes ago

By EMILY GERSEMA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Investigators disclosed Sunday that they have found meat cut from a Holstein sick with mad cow disease was sent to four more states and one territory.

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said investigators have now determined that some of the meat from the cow slaughtered Dec. 9 went to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and Guam. Earlier, officials had said most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for distribution to consumers.

---

The tentative conclusion traced the diseased cow to the province of Alberta, where Canada had found another case of mad cow infection last May.

However, DeHaven re-emphasized Sunday that investigators aren't certain of that because U.S. records outlining the animal's history do not match ones in Canada. Canadian officials had complained it was premature to reach any firm conclusion.

DeHaven said Sunday that DNA tests were being arranged to help resolve the matter.

Canadian papers show the cow had two calves before it was exported to the United States, contrary to U.S. documents which classified the animal as a heifer when it arrived, meaning it had never born calves.

Also, according to Canadian documents, the diseased cow was 6 1/2-years-old — older than U.S. officials had thought. U.S. records say the cow was 4- or 4 1/2-years-old.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=1&u=/ap/20031228/ap_on_re_us/mad_cow

[cliss]

1. Here it comes.

Now we find out that the meat from the cow was shipped to 7 states instead of two. How much meat was on that cow, anyway? Or maybe it was 5 steaks for each state.

I would say this is just the tip of the iceberg. Since we're all focused on bad meat, we might as well find out everything there is to know about tainted meat.

I'm also glad the Canadians are disputing the "instant blame" the US seemed to confer on them. Looks like the facts weren't so solid, after all.

[aquart]

2. If our records have the age wrong

why do we think that infected cow was the older cow from the Canadian herd?

What's wrong with American record-keeping please?

[frylock]

3. accurate records=lower profits..

why do hate amerika?

[0007]

23. My God, is that called cooking the books?

In the name of competition, most all big businesses will do anything for profit, even if it means our own people die at their expense

Isn't this the same as murder?

[chasqui]

36. Yes it is -

Which begs the question:
How do you get away with murder?
Do it under the guise of a bureaucracy.

[Occulus]

43. No, you turn yourself into

a corporation.

[drb]

4. If you think this is bad, here's the part you have NOT heard yet...

I'll bet anyone here $5 right now that the remains of the animal were rendered for use in cattle feed supplements. Not only that, but they were mixed up with renderings from a zillion other cattle in the process and sent all over.

Every cow that eats that feed will be contaminated.

If you don't care if you never eat beef again -- even In-n-Out Burgers :( -- download and read the book from 1997 at prwatch.org.

http://www.prwatch.org/books/madcow.html

It's like 250 pages, with 50 pages of footnotes.

Hello, veggies!

[ChemEng]

6. That practice was outlawed in the U.S. after the British outbreak

I seriously doubt that it is occuriing under the table, but if it is, they should throw the bums in jail.

[mouse7]

7. I think I've seen reporting of that very issue

I've seen references to it since this story broke.

[NickB79]

9. Someone mentioned that the last farm bill Bush signed

Reopened this practice in the past couple years. Still trying to find out if thats true or not. I believe it is still legal to feed cattle to pigs and chickens, and then feed the pig and chicken remains back to cattle.

[drb]

13. It was "voluntarily banned"...

...and you can imagine how well that works. Farmers would have to spend five cents per head per day to switch to soy protein instead of rendered animal protein.

Check out the protein sources at http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/beef/g694.htm#hbps

Read the book. Fry up the portobello.

[LiberalFighter]

20. That is the Christine Todd Whitman method

Let the companies do everything voluntarily. They are honest. DUH

[SOS]

22. The giant loophole in this "ban"

is that rendered cow parts are allowed to be fed to chickens and pigs. Then the leftover parts of the chickens and pigs, as well as their processed feces, are fed back to the cows.
The "ban" is meaningless. Another dangerous practice is the feeding of calves with blood from the slaughterhouse floor. The blood is fed to calves as "milk replacer".
The mother cows milk is sold for human consumption while the calf is fed buckets of blood in his tiny veal crate.
The only positive thing about this BSE in the US is that some of the revolting practices of agribusiness are seeing the light of day. Although the McMedia seems to be doing it's corporate cover-up already.

[TankLV]

25. Yup!

Just like Katherine Harris can be the STATE HEAD of Bunkerboy's election effort AND Impartial!

And we can trust bunkerboy because he is so trustworthy and decent.

And repuke governments never lie!

Yeah, right.

[shanti]

39. the practice is VOLUNTARY

in the beef industry, the practice of not using ground up "downer" cows in cattle feed. do you REALLY think that they are all voluntarily doing so?

not likely...it's all about the benjamins with them and ALL corporations.

[tom_paine]

42. Oh yeah, Imperial Bushevik regulatory agencies would stop that.

NOT!

In fact, the Imperial Appointees would probably send the industrial ranchers tips on how to evade inspections.

Face it, the agencies charged with protecting the poeple in Imperial Amerika now do very little of that sort of thing, less than before, but more than in the Empire in 2050...

It is also to remember, even if a small, functional part of FDA catches them, that Imperial Family allies are above the law in all cases where it's even the tiniest bit possible to sweep charges under the rug.

Sure they'll catch them, just like Reichsmarschall Ashcroft is going to catch the Anthrax Assassin and the Plame Leaker any minute.

[mouse7]

5. One hell of a big goddamn cow

Oh suuuuuure it's only one cow affected.

So far, it's like 8,462,593 lbs. of beef involved, but it's just one cow.

Uh-huh.

[burrowowl]

10. When they make hamburger

meat from one cow is mixed into meat with other cows and voila! Lots of contaminated meat.

[Walt Starr]

12. and they make hamburer in HUGE batches

thus it spreads to multiple states.

Problem is, I now firmly believe we've been being fed prions for at least a decade now. This is only the first time news of it got out.

[LiberalFighter]

21. That would explain why repugs are screwed up.

[mmm]

34. I recall being warned about this four years ago

I think you are correct.

[JNelson6563]

19. my thoughts too

all that from one cow. Mmm Hmm.

Julie

[Tippy]

27. A little info on Holstein's

A healthy Holstein calf weighs 90 pounds or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow weighs about 1500 pounds. Now this breed has relatively large bones....I can't remember how much actual meat you can expect to get from a 1500 pound cow...

Holstein heifers can be bred at 15 months of age, when they weigh about 800 pounds. It is desirable to have Holstein females calve for the first time between 24 and 27 months of age. Now if this cow was 6 she was past her prime for milk production so she went to the slaughter house, chances are she had more than 2 calves, more than likely she had at 3 or 4....

While some cows may live considerably longer, the normal productive life of a Holstein is six years.

[yellowcanine]

40. Amount recalled is one day of production where the cow was processed.

A whole day's production has to be recalled because once the hide is removed there is no way to track which meat came from the infected cow. Another good reason for not processing "suspect" cows into the food supply. If there is reason to test - under the current guidelines - that is reason enough not to process the cow until the test comes back. This was a critical failure on the part of the Bush Agriculture Dept - more stringent guidelines should have been issued when BSE showed up in Canda a while back - not only that this cow could have been identified as a possible BSE carrier months ago if the proper legwork would have been done after the Canadian incident. More failures all around by the Bush administration. Ralph Nader, do you still think that a Bush Administration is no worse than a Gore Administration?

[Heddi]

48. the meat from one cow

(if infected) can also infect up to 1500 lbs of ground meat, since the meat is ground up and mixed with other ground meat that's mixed with other ground meat, etc etc.

The hamburger you eat could have the meat of several hundred cows

[Rainbows]

8. Spread the terror ...

near and far. Hysteria blooms, as the fear of unknowns defies the odds of dieing from the mad hatter.
This should not be construed that the practices of the meat industry should be excused, or that unreported fatalities probably are far in excess of general knowledge. But realistically in Europe throughout the eighties, what 150 plus or minus a few, deaths after a decade of the mad cow crisis.
As said above, I do not minimize concern over the practices in todays food industry or the potential of harm of cross specie infection into larger section of the food chain; I only state that the actual death toll seems small and either grossly underreported while under the spotlight of many, or practically insignificant when compared to driving a car.

[mouse7]

11. Terror alert: Al Queda flies cows into buildings

Well... it probably won't be the cause of the next alert... but probably will hear it by next summer.

[drb]

15. Well, yeah. The only problem is that nvCJD can take...

...up to 40 years to show itself in humans, after injestion.

Stay tuned.

[Rainbows]

29. Agreed.

[Lil_Stinker]

24. If he can stay on his horse that is....

So when does the Texas Cowboy come riding in on his trusty steed and "save us" again? This meat scare is not fun and it wouldn't surprise me if this "administration" suddenly comes up with a solution. Walla! Can Bush pronounce "vegetables"

Thank goodness for spell check!

Edited cause I can't type.

LS:silly:

[NoKingGeorge]

45. What Cowboy ?Not a Texan,Northeast born to money and

afraid of horses.
Let's not spread falsehoods.

[louis-t]

14. wouldn't surprise me to find out

that bush*s farm bill allowed the practice to become voluntary instead of mandatory. typical scapegoating. blame canada.

[glarius]

18. I read on a thread on DU yesterday that there was some sort of exception

permitted to this law as a loophole....:shrug:

[Rainbows]

30. Yeah, I Understand ...

the USDA can't come up with records to show they have done any testing for mad cow. We will know for sure when beef eatin' George is in the headlines; "Bush Bullshit Kills Cabinet"

[SpiralHawk]

16. The Fat Lady is singing for Big Beef

right now.

Please pass the tofu.

(And make sure the soybeans used in it came from natural seed, not that genetically engineered crap industrial agriculture is trying to shove down our throats.)

I want wholesome, nutritious food.

[drb]

17. Well, like they say in California....

"It ain't over 'till Arnold gropes the fat lady!" :D

[baldguy]

26. GWB sez: Mad Cow? Eat more meat!

"The recalled meat represents essentially zero risk to consumers," said Petersen, of the USDA's food safety agency.

He said the parts most likely to carry infection — the brain, spinal cord and lower intestine — were removed before the meat from the infected cow was cut and processed for human consumption.

.......

They want to cover up thier mistakes - even if it kills us.

[drb]

28. Riiiight!

....except for the infected nerve fibers in the muscles, that is....

[baldguy]

31. I can just see the ads

"NEW!"

Prrrrrrion Burger - with Cheese!

Delicious! New-tricious!

You do WANT to be a mindless Republican zombie!

DON'T YOU?

[Code_Name_D]

47. Ha ha, thats funny.

That is like some guy waring a yellow breather sute and holding a gider counter saying - "Nope, no radation here."

[nohopewithnodope]

32. Somehow we must pin this on Bush

Aside form the fact that we don't need to eat meat in our diets we need to make Bush the target of this malise.

[daleo]

33. Parts of this cow have made it all over the world

How efficient can a system really be that manages to spread bits of one cow from Guam to Montana. Think of the fuel consumption used in the transportation, aggregated for just this one cow. No wonder there are wars for oil going on.

Also, the incubation period for BSE in cows can be as short as 20 months (infection to death). So even if this cow is from Canada, it could have been infected in the U.S., as the FDA claims the Canadian cows crossed the border in August 2001, which gives 28 months from border to slaughter.

The only solution is to test every cow, which would add about 30 dollars to the price of the cow, which is now going for about 1300 (according to a U of Toronto microbiologist, David Westaway, so this is probably in $C). This is what I understand is done in Europe and Japan.

Testing only cows showing clinical signs of BSE (downers) is not good enough, as there is a six month period (at least) where the cow is highly infectious but not showing any behavioral difficulties.

Check the site below. It is very informative.
http://www.prionics.ch/prionics-e.htm

[ConcernedCanuk]

35. "DNA tests were being arranged " use the DNA test they used on Saddam !

.
.
. . I hear its Exceptionally FAST !!!! . . :dunce: . .

[yellowcanine]

37. When will "Mad Cow" Ann resign?

This disaster occured entirely on her watch - and her only response has been, "I am having beef for Chrismas dinner." Well whoop de doo, Ann, are you eating hamburger from Washington state? I didn't think so. Why weren't all of the "mad cows" traced after the one showed up in Canada a while back? All of a sudden the UDSA "knows" this cow came from Canada. If it could be figured out now, why not back a couple of months? Inquiring minds want to know. Another case of the Bush foxes guarding the henhouses.

[uhhuh]

38. Obviously

The cow had its medical records and a Canadian passport in its stall.
It also had left behind a suicide note detailing how it was going to America to cause trouble.

[0007]

41. I wonder if Kenny 'boy Lay was in the cattle business?

With all the corruption in Texas, I can almost visualize what the cow business is like in that big state. If most oil men are a bit on the shady side and can get away with murder, what does this say about the beef business?

So perhaps all the Texas Politicians were getting choice cuts of beef from the successful cattle industry and causing strange behavior. Tom DeLay, Cornlyn, Phil Gramham, Armey, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Karen Hughs, The Bush family, Skillings, and Fastow, all come to mind right now.

[silverlib]

44. Phil Graham's wife

who sat on the board of Enron reportedly, as my memory serves me, according to "Fast Food Nation" also sat on the board of one of the biggest beef companies in the US. I can't support this with a reference, as I gave my book to an interested high school student.

[myrna minx]

46. Remember the Winter Olympics?

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/02/022602_Cohen_Beef.html

Why Did Bush Sit Next To Sasha Cohen At The Olympics? Just Ask "Where's the Beef"?


February 26, 2002

By BuzzFlash Reader Alan Balch

On the afternoon of Friday, February 8th, George W. Bush spoke at the National Cattlemen's Beef Associations annual meeting in Denver. "We want the people in China eating U.S. beef" the President stated to thunderous approval. He reminded them that he has done much for the beef industry and cattle ranchers, and that he plans to do more (see http://199.117.58.133/newsroom/ncba/2002/02_0208a.htm).

No doubt, Bush's appearance at this event netted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for the GOP. In each of the last three election cycles, the National Cattleman's Beef Association gave nearly a half a million dollars in political contributions, for a six-year total of nearly $1.3 million. Roughly 85% percent of these donations in each of the last three election cycles have gone to Republicans.

Later that same day, Bush traveled to Utah and participated in the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. After appearing in the national anthem ceremony, Bush showed up sitting in the stands amongst the US athletes. NBC showed him humbly perched next to a shocked and giggly young lady who handed Bush her cell phone so he could say hi to her mommy. The young girl was figure skater Sasha Cohen. A few nights later, NBC interviewed Sasha and played up the Presidential encounter including a quick interview with the mother. Sasha gushed about her fondness for the President. While endearing, NBC's somewhat over the top coverage of the entire event and Sasha's almost too glowing endorsement of the President prompted the eternal political cynic in me to do a little digging

more...

[Ashcroft Kutcher]

49. shouldn't or wouldn't be

Meat of infected Steer?