Banning Sale of 'Downer' Meat Represents a Change in Policy

[lanlady]

Banning Sale of 'Downer' Meat Represents a Change in Policy
Identical Measure Was Blocked in Congress Just Weeks Ago
By Eric Pianin and Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 31, 2003; Page A06

The Agriculture Department's announcement yesterday of a ban on the sale of meat from ailing "downer" cattle marked a policy turnabout for the Bush administration, coming only a few weeks after the department and allies in the powerful meat lobby blocked an identical measure in Congress.

Faced with the first case of mad cow disease in this country, the White House and the USDA were scrambling to restore public confidence in the nation's meat supply, encourage foreign governments to resume beef imports and head off a possible political crisis for President Bush.

The ban announced by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman was the answer, and it represented a repudiation of years of industry efforts to limit government intervention in slaughterhouse operations and in shaping the nation's response to the threat of mad cow disease.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43042-2003Dec30.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. This was the Ackerman bill

she will require the testing of ALL cows meant for human consumtion?

Only way they will get my confidence back... don't do that, no beef for me

[burrowowl]

2. Nothing about enforcement of the ban

Talk is cheap.

[AP]

3. My response to this: "We weren't doing this already?! WTF?"

???

[salin]

4. No - and after the outbreak in GB - the industry sued an entertainer

for raising the issue - and in hearing the problems stating off the cuff something along the lines of ... "who knew... I don't think I can ever eat beef again!"... on the grounds that it would affect their industry. But they didn't do anything (as opposed to how Japan handled a similar crisis) to try to prevent this problem from reaching the US food-supply chain. And this action will not do much for consumer confidence as it does nothing about beef that may be on the way to our tables given that the disease does not "show" itself for many years before becoming a problem. So we have a number of years (four? five?) where the problem could multiply before the industry or the government regulating the industry chooses to do anything - and only after proven cases (and fatalities?) - and only a couple of weeks after congress acted to prevent any safety measures to be implemented to prevent future problems.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

5. It will take months

It will take months to set up proper testing facilities in all these feedlots and processing centers, and to prove these exist and guarantee that ALL these sickly downers are tested and kept OUT of the human food chain. Also they have to make sure they don't end up in the rendering plants for protein feed for other animals.
Proper randon testing for healthy beef has to be established as well.

They are a long ways away from doing what they should have been doing 7 years ago. in the mean time, it's your turn for cheap beef until things are done. We here in Canada didn't even have the problem of BSE getting into the food chain, and yet we are shut down. We had all that testing in place already as well. So, I guess all your saftey guards will have to be proven like was demanded of the Canadian beef industry. Still, we aren't shipping anything yet.

[The Zanti Regent]

34. Where did it go?

Where did that tainted meat go?

Did Mc Donalds put it in big Macs?

Did Procter & Gamble put it in soap?

Did Armour put it in lunch meat?

Did Oscar Mayer put it in hot dogs?

Did General Foods put it in Jell-O?

Did Merck put it in medicine capsules?

Good lord, if this doesn't scare you, what will????????

[CHIMO]

35. As I

As I understand it we have been told that the tainted portions did not enter the human food chain.
But tainted blood is.
It is going back to reinfect the new animals. And before it is diagnosed the animal will be slaughtered and those parts will be for sale. And those dangerous parts will still be for sale to the public.
Who is certifying that an animal does not have the disease? All they are doing is saying that the animal does not exhibit the symptoms of the disease that is present in the final stages.

[SOS]

39. Check out

http://nodowners.org

This site has details on it's home page on how the Congress and USDA have consistently rejected the downer ban. Click on "USDA Approves Diseased Meat".
Also the photo gallery has many powerful shots of sick cows being dragged, by one chained leg, onto trucks headed for USDA approved slaughterhouses. Many cows suffering from cancer, gangrene, lymphoma, hepatitis, pneumonia and other diseases are dragged using chains and winches into the human food supply. The suffering of the animals is these photos is revolting. All get the USDA Choice meat label!

[dusty64]

17. Its been a long

hard road fought against by special interests and the rethug party. This cruel, heartless, and dangerous practice should have been banned many years ago. Without enforcement I trust the corporate farms will not comply. These poor animals should be humanely euthanized with lethal injection to put them out of their misery and ensure they can not be used for food by any creature.

[bpilgrim]

6. but will it be 'BANNED' from being used as FOOD for healthy animals?

which are in turn fed to us :shrug:

peace

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

7. but will it be 'BANNED' from being used as FOOD for healthy animals?"

It better be, or else it's pointless.

NO animal protien (thats what they call the kibble) is supposed to be fed to ruminants. (That was passed in 1997 in N.America)

And NO BSE meat is supposed to be used for Kibble either.
But it's possible unless every single downer animal is tested.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

8. The thought

The thought was, with animals like pigs chicken and turkeys, they don't live long enough to develop the disease. And they don't. (doesn't mean they can't carry it though.)But my dog does.
And, the way things go, who knows if BSE can't mutate in other animals into something else?
Stupid to take the chance. Better to do the testing on ALL downers and keep them out of the food chain, human and animal.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

9. Look for the label

This is why you see producers (like me) put up ads on tv once in a while that we don't feed our pigs and chicken turkeys any animal by- product. 100% organic feed. We don't want to take the chance of loosing our livelyhood, or worse,

[bpilgrim]

10. gotta web site?

betcha it's getting plenty of traffic these days :toast:

peace

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

11. Labels

Manitoba pork council, must be some ads on there.
Granny's chickens, must be all kinds there. I don't know the American ones.
Goggle will prob. turn up a few.
There are alot of independents like me who grow organics, we are then marketed by our associations like the ones above.
the pakageing should be labeled at you local food store. If not, shop somewhere that carries it. It is more expensive, but you get what you pay for, lean juicy pork, and great tasting lean turkey and chicken.
I suspect alot of people will be eating light meats for a while, those of you that eat meat that is. it's been a busy year for me.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

12. Someone here posted

An Idea on another thread.

There are alot of organic cattle producers around as well. these guys are being punished for the greed of the big guys who created this problem, like the stockyards, dealers that feed this tainted animal by-product feed to cows.
If things get tough over this latest BSE incident, and you live close to a farming community. keep an eye out for ads they may put in the Local paper for meat sales. help them out.
What we did here is organize a few guys, have some cattle of theirs all tested (not that their would have been a doubt, because they are organic farmers) took them to a local butcher then held little meat sales at local fairs and what not. Beef for a buck days, all cuts.
keeps them going so they can pay their bills, stay alive.

[bpilgrim]

13. thanks for the info

i think that the internet could provide an excellent vehical to BYPASS the ESTABLISHMENT ;->

i am a developer and in the countryside so i will have to check it out, thanks :toast:

i an too addicted to meat to think i would have to wate untill the corporations respond appropriately to the PROBLEM/CRISIS and i suspect i am NOT alone.

:toast:

peace

[dusty64]

18. Or better yet go

veggie. I've been one for 23 years and I'm doing fine and eating food that is delicious and better for the Planet. Vegetarian foods have come a long way from when I first started. I recommend Morningstar Farms Prime burgers, they are awesome, when I cook one at work everyone wants to try one. With all the fixings on a good roll, yummy.

[salin]

27. This is important - I have already seen a news wire item - blaming them

for hyping the madcow news and "dangers" in order to increase sales (in the organic industry.) This is ridiculous - but if the rightwing talk media pick it up - it will be replayed and replayed and replayed til some of the public believes it.

If one buys/eats beef (I do) and one doesn't already specifically buy organic (I do during farmer market season, and on some meats - where it is available, but I don't often shop at the health food coop that DOES carry organic - to make it my primary shopping place for meats.), then going out of the way to buy organic will increase their business rather than letting the beef industry vilify/scapegoat the organic industry (which is tiny in comparison).

[windansea]

31. enter the meatrix

cool site...watch cool cartoon first...

http://www.themeatrix.com/

then they have a zipcode search function to find safe meat etc

http://www.themeatrix.com/action/

[htuttle]

21. I've been looking for cases of bird infection

And I've never heard of one. There have been cases of infection of many, many other species of mammals, but so far, I've never heard of a non-mammal being infected with a BSE variant. Probably the 'best' test case of this was when a number of animals showed BSE symptoms at the London Zoo during the UK outbreak. Big cats, ruminants, etc...all came down with it. Also, during the UK outbreak, I'm pretty sure a lot of cats and dogs exhibited symptoms of BSE as well, from bad pet food. The ostriches and other big flightless birds (like penguins) did not get it, but they may have received different food (and ostriches probably live long enough to exhibit symptoms).

Your point about the chicken and turkey not living long enough is what I wonder about. That is entirely possible. It's also probably possible that bird brains are sufficiently different than mammal brains to avoid the 'prion chain building' issue that causes the BSE symptoms. Or maybe they don't get fed animal protein as often. I'm just speaking as a layperson here.

I've been sticking to poultry for meat for some time (since the UK outbreak) in the hopes of avoiding the nasty little prion buggers, but it IS possible that they can still carry them. Probably best to stay organic/free range on the poultry -- which I do (and it tastes a LOT better anyway).

[veganwitch]

19. blood is allowed

calves are weened on collustrum that this supplemented with the proteins in rendered blood.


and there is not 100% compliance to the no animal protein rule.

From compassion over killing's website (http://www.cok.net/lit/madcow.php)

The Unenforced Feed “Ban”

The USDA, headed by former beef industry lobbyist Ann Veneman, claims the 1997 ban on feeding ruminants (cattle and sheep) to other ruminants should be enough to protect U.S. consumers from the risk of mad cow disease. However, a 2001 investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that literally hundreds of feed suppliers violated the ban and found that at least 1,200 feed suppliers had not even been identified nor inspected. What action did the FDA take when learning that hundreds of American feed suppliers were not in compliance with the ban that was to keep mad cow disease risk low in the United States? Virtually nothing. The FDA has done little to enforce the ban, even when it knows a supplier is violating it.

In 2002, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued a report on the U.S. mad cow disease risk, stating:

FDA did not take prompt enforcement action to compel firms to comply with the feed ban. When we began this study, in April 2001, the only enforcement action FDA had taken was to issue two warning letters in 1999. … However, since inspections began in 1997, FDA has reported hundreds of firms out of compliance—most often for failure to meet requirements to label feed that contained prohibited proteins in cattle feed. … We found several instances in which firms were out of compliance but had not been reinspected for a year or more—and in some cases 2 years. …

FDA has no clear enforcement strategy for dealing with firms that do not obey the feed ban, and it does not know what, if any, enforcement actions the states may be taking.

(General Accounting Office report GAO-02-183, “Mad Cow Disease: Improvements in the Animal Feed Ban and Other Regulatory Areas Would Strengthen U.S. Prevention Efforts,” January 2002, pages 25 and 40. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02183.pdf)

[CHIMO]

33. Scarry Information

For anyone that is interested in this subject I would recommend a look at this book. The book is free. Scroll down to the "click download" button and spend a day or two reading.

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

Hope that it brings us a better market!

[R Hickey]

14. I ate shrimp for dinner last night, instead of a hamburger.

I hope the shrimp aren't fed downer-cow brains.

The beef industry is getting exactly what they paid for. Four out of every five bucks of their campaign bribe-money went to Republicans. For those bribes, Republicans allowed them to brand their sick cows "USDA Choice." The mad-cows were de-regulated, Republican style.

The beef sellers bought the privilage of peddling drooling, stumbling, mad-cows. I don't trust people who pay money for the privlage of poisoning me for profit.

At Christmas, my mother threw out ten pounds of fresh ground-round steak. It went directly into the GARBAGE!

What the Cattlemen's Association did to Opra Winfree, speaks volumes. They sued her to shut her up, and then went right on poisoning their customers with mad-cow prions for years, rather than face a problem that badly needed fixing.

[lanlady]

15. Remember Bush at the SLC Olympics--

and how he just happened to sit in the stands next to a figure skater who also just happened to be teen spokesperson for the US Cattlemen's Association--an organization that, again by pure coincidence, had Bush in for a fund-raiser the day before?

I'd forgotten all about the Oprah incident. That was a nasty episode.

[windansea]

30. burger cartoon

[Tippy]

16. Locking the barn door after the fact.....

I would bet they already knew about this animal when Ackerman bill was defeated....

[librechik]

20. Isn't it more of a problem to feed the carcasses to other cows?

Why wasn't that banned too?

Once again BushCorp does just as little as they can get away with, while claiming to solve everybody's problems with a wave of the hand.

[veganwitch]

23. it was "banned"

but if you read post 19 you will find that 100% compliance has not been reached or even tried.

[Maeve]

24. That was banned in 1997

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4286672.html
Animal protein routinely is added to grain and other products to enrich the feed. Since 1997, the U.S. government has banned beef meat or bone from feed intended for cattle, sheep or other ruminants that might be susceptible to the disease. Such feed still can be sold for other uses, such as chicken feed, but its label must say it can't be fed to cattle or other ruminants
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Altho I will note that inspection is not what it should be to make sure such regulations work.......

[salin]

28. I assume the worst. That even if there were inspectections

or any regulatory oversight along the lines of such a ban - that there was little enforcement and any enforcement that was there was pulled once Bush brought in Veneman to do the industry bidding for him. They are a very powerful lobby - and exceptionally short-sighted. I read the lengths (and increased) cost that were used in Japan to restore consumer confidence (not only policies to prevent future infections - which can take years to detect - but inspection of each animal before it was slaughtered/packaged, etc.) Here the industry thinks that it is above having to take on any costs and that consumers should be bamboozled into the "trust me..." mode because of our perfect market system that solves all ills... and that good pr based on nothing but pretty pictures and soundbites is all that is needed.

I wonder if there are any budding lawsuits against the industry in the making? Wouldn't it be very interesting to see folks take on an industry for its LOBBYING of regulatory agencies and congress to knowingly promote practices that clearly put the public at risk? Hey... we can always dream... and pass tort reform now! :eyes:

[SOS]

22. Also

for safety, avoid tripe. When the bolt gun smashes the cows skull the force blows the brain down the throat of the animal. The brain matter often ends up in the stomach and lungs. Do not eat!

[veganwitch]

26. im not sure about that accuracy.

the bolt gun is simply to cause a major brain trauma and render the animals unconscious (which doesnt happen about have the time anyway). A bolt is simply shot through the skull to the brain. regardless, the brain cavity and fluid is now open. Were it to leak on any meat product for human consumption...

[TexasPatriot]

25. no more meat from downer cows means

they'll redefine 'downer'
seeing as it's currently meant as non-ambulatory, all they need are for the sick cows to be able to halfway stumble.

this does not solve the problem

[dusty64]

29. Is anyone aware

of an organic company that sells cheese/milk that does NOT sell there cows as meat when they are past their "productive" lives? I've been looking and so far no.

[cliss]

32. We all know one thing:

The Meat Guys care about one thing: $$$.

What they don't care about: following the rules. Doing what's ethically right. Cows. People. Our health.

So they believe they have come with an answer that will fix the problem. No more 'rigor mortis' cows. Still no answer on cannibal pellets*.

Let them talk. Let them promise. The first person who dies of mad cow disease, and they're finished. No cheating allowed.





* They "say" they're outlawed, but no one's going to enforce it. And to prove a point from another thread, I'm heading down to the local feed store to check out their "high protein cow pellets".

[aeon flux]

36. Mad Cow Disease has a latency of 10 years

sort of like AIDs. You can be carrying it around for years and not even know it.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

37. different cattle different risk

Beef cattle farmers generally do NOT use commercial feed products for their beef cattle.
The organic farmrs that 'finnish' their own cows for slaughter grind/crush their own grains for that purpose. It's just plain cheaper on a small scale farm like that.

Many other farmers just raise cattle on pasture and baled hay, then sell them to the stockyards/ brokers. This is where they are 'finished'. This is where they get introduced to this feed mill grain/protein mix, and this is where those companies that don't follow the rules get away with feeding animal proteins to cattle.
As another poster pointed out, many of these places break the damn rules even though the feed ban was in effect since 1997.
It doesn't matter which side of the border you are on either, because alot of this stuff is made in USA plants and sent up to Canadian stockyards, alot of which are owned by USA brokers anyways.
This is why it's stupid to say this is a Canadian cow or an American cow. The fact is, the cattle industry is a North American market place, not really 2 separate entities.
So, we have small independents that breed and raise cows, broker/stockyards that buy them up and then "finnish" them, then they are sold at auction again to meat plants/stockyards all over north America.
Younger cattle bought by brokers are held at stockyards as well, and get fed this grain/protein mix, and are then sold to other farmers for breeding/herd building. They are put back on pasture for this period and may age a few more years before they are sold again for meat. These are the ones most likely to show signs of BSE, simply because it has had time to develop.

The cattle that have never had this grain/protein mix until "finishing", then straight to the meat plant will never or rarely show signs of BSE, simply because of the time factor,unless raised for a long period on grass and proteins.

The exception to this is dairy cattle. dairy cattle are fed high protein diets for milk production. These are the ones who's calves are taken away and in turn fed this stuff made from cow blood. the males are raised for breeding and sold for meat, the females are kept for breeding and milk production.
Dairy cattle meat is mostly hamburger meat when they are done producing milk
They are the ones at high risk all their living days of developing BSE

Not all dairy farmers use the commercially made protein feeds, some make their own silage.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

38. I should have

added, that depending on the cut of meat, some beef is alot safer than others. Those cuts and hamburger made from beef cows is safer than holstein/dairy cow meats.
Theoretically at least.

[Bridget Burke]

40. Safe hamburger?

Yes, some of it may be safer from the threat of Mad Cow Disease.

However, industry practices tend to make ground beef an incubator for nasty bacteria. The kind that may not kill you--but make you wish you were dead for a few bad hours. This is the voice of experience....

Alton Brown (of "Good Eats") makes a "Burger of the Gods" by grinding his own beef in a food processor:

www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_10214,00.html