US 'downer' ban hurts cattle producers -lawmakers

[stevedeshazer]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. ban on using sick and injured cattle as human food will put a financial strain on cattle producers, farm-state lawmakers said Wednesday.

<snip>

A 1,100-pound steer can be worth several hundred dollars when sold for slaughter but it sells for a pittance if categorized as a downer fit only for pet food or nonfood products, lawmakers told Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

<snip>

Veneman said the issue "needs some further debate." A team of international experts will suggest ways to ensure the government sees "the likely kinds of animals that should be tested to maintain an aggressive surveillance program."

Some 400,000 "dead and dying" cattle go to rendering plants annually without the lure of a government payment, she noted. USDA estimated 150,000-200,000 downer cattle were brought to slaughterhouses annually.

link: http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/01/21/rtr1221534.html
_________________________________________________________________

I've raised and sold cattle myself, but this is ridiculous.

[madrchsod]

1. yes there`s nothing better

than a burger made from sick animal meat- ummmmmm tasty.

[saigon68]

22. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.Should be made to Eat "Downs"

I am very--very ANGRY at this !!!!!

What a disgusting SWINE this woman is----

These cattle used to be dumped on the Kill Floor with front end bucket loaders.

They had "cow ambulances" rush them from the farm to the kill floor, because the heart of the "Down" ----HAD TO BE BEATING TO QUALIFY FOR SLAUGHTER !!! I have seen this !!!!!

She is a disgusting Maggot of a person.

[wroberts189]

2. Its part of the cost of doing business.

Damn them for being so short-sighted and greedy. Their whole export market has collapsed and they still don't have a clue.

Humanity does not want to eat sick cows !!!

[aquart]

10. Haven't had beef since.

I miss beef.

[icymist]

17. Try buffalo

or go to a butcher or farmer and pick out your own!

[lostnfound]

42. After three months without it, you might miss it a lot less.

or not at all.

[daleo]

3. As long as downer cows are randomly distributed among producers

It shouldn't hurt any one producer more than any other. It may cause the price of beef to increase marginally overall to cover the cost of banning the cows, but that should be it.

Honestly, they act as if people will quit eating altogether. Even if the market for cows did suffer, people would substitute something else, and farmers could move into that area of production. Or doesn't the * administration believe in the theory of capitalism?

[54anickel]

14. He expects us to substitute our skills/jobs in the name of capitalism! n/t

[sendero]

51. thanks...

... that is basic economics, yet this hare-brained sycophant can't figure it out.

Wasting downer cows will raise the cost of beef a few cents a pound. That is all it will do. Would consumption drop as a result? I don't know for sure but I really doubt it - beef prices fluctuate more than that already.

Now that the beef industry has shot itself in the leg, it looks like it is going to lie there and bleed to death rather than apply a tourniquet. It is singularly astounding to watch.

[saigon68]

53. These Capitalists aren't dumb

They will figure a way out of this mess soon.

Can you say "Government Grants" to the industry to keep the troops fed.

[DBoon]

4. News: "Ban on selling watered gasoline hurts service station business"

or

"Ban on selling expired drugs hurts pharmaceutical industry"

[stevedeshazer]

5. That's it!

The short version.

[Warpy]

7. Oh, the possibilities!

Ban on selling Thalidomide hurts the drug business!

Ban on selling beer to children under 10 hurts the liquor business!

Ban on giving chewing tobacco to infants hurst the tobacco industry!

Ban on selling guns to felons hurts the gun industry!

Fair trials hurt the prison industry!

[fairfaxvadem]

6. this is really gross, and I'm not a vegetarian either...

what financial strain? they got rid of skilled butchers at the slaughterhouses, use low-wage, low-skilled workers now, many are immigrants who aren't unionized, etc, turnover so high they rarely have to pay benefits, And the USDA does not have the power to order a recall on their products....

I'm sick of the Beef People singing the blues about their profits. Talk about a group who really does own whole chunks of our government, it's the corporate Beef Industry....

[Bozita]

8. Serve meats from downer cows in the Congressional cafeterias

Solutions will come quickly.

[denverbill]

49. I love that idea.

[mandyky]

52. Downner burgers and freedom fries

yum yum! LOL

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. No pity here - if Japan can test every cow, so can we

.
.

by we, yup, I'm including Canada here

and I sent a detailed e-mail to our own Canadian agency to that effect

I actually got a response !

Regardless of the "justification" for such testing, just to compete in the world markets it's gonna be a "must"

sumthing to think about

[Mel]

19. get this load of Bull

I caught a brief bit of a hearing on C-Span last night.

I heard Veneman say with my own ears that there was no such test.

I was like :wtf: Japan has a test, don't they?

What am I missing here and why is she outright lying to this congressman and saying there isn't such a test?

[Frodo]

25. Doesn't it make sense???

I suspect you could use downers again if every single one was tested (I imagine there are tons of reasons why a cow might now be able to walk but would still be perfectly safe to eat).

Can the cost of the tests possibly be that much more than the loss of these 100,000+ head/yr?

[Snazzy]

11. Did testing essentially stop?

With only "downer cows" tested, and a ban on downer cows now in effect, are they testing anything besides those cows linked to the Alberta Holstein?

Yesterday I read the take from a guy at Vern's Cattle Killers Inc (or whatever--the slaughterhouse the indicator cow went through) at counterpunch.org, which pretty much solidified my personal no hamburger thinking till I slaughter my own or there's uniform complete testing like Japan.

Not that this guy was profound or surprising or anything, just the staw that.... As usual, I blame the media. Lack of anything investigative beyond investigating which press release to read, and cutting that down to an appetizing sound-bite by removing those little bits of caution that even the USDA feels legally obligated to include.

I am somewhat amazed that this is so under the radar, so little coverage. Sure, shark attacks, SARS, West Nile, flu, cold weather, etc., all these fill the news void. Meantime, the apparent shut-down of our entire export beef market, such real repercussions, health and bucks, hardly a word. Even here at DU, little discussion I note recently, and someone will be along to tell me I'm panicking shortly perhaps. I say look at what happened in the friggin' UK.

This is so being spun to non-news here.

-----

http://www.counterpunch.org/louthan01202004.html

A Worker from the Mad Cow Meat Plant Speaks Out
They Are Lying About Your Food
By DAVE LOUTHAN

My name is Dave and I work at Vern's Moses Lake Meats.

I did until the day the mad cow test results on the Sunny Dene cow came back positive for BSE. That was Wednesday, December 24. On Friday, December 26, the KXLY news crew was at the end of Vern's driveway, locked out by a cable gate.

The USDA had told the world that the mad cow had been slaughtered here, but it was not in the food chain. A blatant lie.

It was one of many. I walked out with the news crew at lunch time because I can't stand a government cover-up. They asked me "was the cow in the food chain?" I told them of course it was, it's meat. Where else would it be? They asked me if the cow was a downer. I told them no, it was just an old cow.

[loftycity]

21. Thanks for Posting this..read it yesterday

This is real Terrorism...though the term is so tired.
I have also read that the Medical profession has no clue on how to diagnois.
Which is why we have no reported cases. Heard of one in New Mexico --a Marine--now his family is after the Military and Medical.

[Snazzy]

34. Staff Sgt. James Alford

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dallas/tsw/stories/102703dntexsoldierstory.1b17f.html

A soldier's tale: military misdiagnosis
He was a decorated Green Beret, but when his performance faltered, the Army gave him the boot - not medical treatment for his deadly disease


11:24 AM CST on Monday, October 27, 2003

By NANCY BARR CANSON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

KARNACK, Texas – Staff Sgt. James Alford can't talk. He doesn't recognize his wife. His head shakes, his hands tremble.

He is agitated, restless, diapered and helpless, requiring round-the-clock care from his family. Unable to coordinate his fingers and hands, the former marathon runner can still walk, with assistance, and his daily ritual is to unsteadily "walk the floor," as his wife, Army Spec. Amber Alford, describes it.

In April, the Green Beret and Bronze Star recipient was sent home from Iraq by the Army. But it wasn't because he badly needed medical care.

"They sent him home to be court-martialed," said his mother, Gail Alford, a former Army nurse. "They wanted to strip him of his Special Forces tab. They wanted him out of the Army."

Army officials say they did not realize the 24-year-old soldier's increasingly erratic behavior was an early symptom of the difficult-to-diagnose Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. CJD is a fatal, degenerative brain disorder that attacks the human brain in the same way that "mad cow" disease attacks cattle.


....

Seems like the incubation period was faster than usual. Thought it was like 7 years or more?

[DesignGirl]

23. Fast Food Nation

The Fast Food Nation book told about this years ago. They still won't talk about it in the mainstream media.
What I couldn't believe was the lowest grades of meat go the the school systems in this country. Children are much more likely to have problems with bad food.

[DarkSim]

12. Sick meat is Sick.

Ugh... No sick burger for me thank you.

[FormerOstrich]

13. but we can have....

drug testing for everyone.....now not only piss in a cup but test hair and saliva. Yet, we can't afford to ensure safe food.

[54anickel]

15. Good point! n/t

[dusty64]

16. Too f'ing

bad. God forbid a corporation do the right thing cause it might cost them money. The practice is cruel, morally wrong, and dangerous to the public. I'm so tired of our government looking out for Big Business at our expense while they repay us by screwing us royally and shipping jobs to the lowest bidder. Pardon my language, but fuck them (I'm tired of this corporate theocracy we are fast becoming.).

[RebelOne]

18. No sympathy from me. I'm a vegetarian.

[hlthe2b]

27. Just a question. I know the terms for vegeterians who eat dairy & eggs

What are they called if they also add fish to the diet?

[veganwitch]

30. not-a-vegetarian

if its a dead animal body. its meat. if you eat meat, you are not a vegetarian.

[lostnfound]

43. Pesco-vegetarians. n/t

[RebelOne]

54. Pisco-vegetarians.

[NickB79]

37. You wouldn't believe the amount of cattle by-products used today

For example, the gelatin capsules for many pills use cattle by-products, as do an enormous host of other products. Being a vegetarian still might not make you 100% safe from vcCJD/Mad Cow.

[Enraged_Ape]

20. I miss beef so bad that I would gladly pay whatever premium...

they would put on a nice, juicy steak to ensure that it is safely produced.

But there's no damn way I'm putting beef in my mouth until that time. This is really disgusting. It seems that the US beef industry hasn't changed much (or at all) since Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" was published a century ago.

Greedy bastards. All of them.

[hlthe2b]

26. Organic range fed beef is safer, or think about bison...

If cooked properly, it can be very tender. If you have one of Ted Turners' new bison restuarants near you (called Ted's) check out their bison pot roast. It is actually very good, even if you haven't liked other cuts of bison in the past.

[hlthe2b]

24. Pet owners better take notice... If downers are still allowed for use in

dog food, this is an incredibly stupid move. Beware of cheap, canned dog food, that's for sure.

[fob]

32. WHOA! That's what I thought too.

...downer fit only for pet food or nonfood products.

[SOS]

28. Veneman

has spent her life as a shill for Dole and Monsanto.
How can this corporate hack be trusted to safeguard either people or cattle?
Maybe they can spin a new ad campaign out of this...

Downer cows...it's what's for dinner!


This live cow (unable to stand) was dragged to a USDA approved slaughterhouse. (Courtesy nodowners.org)

[saigon68]

38. PHOTO ABOVE IS A COW AMBULANCE

See post #22 above.

[veganwitch]

29. Here it is folks!!

the american beef producers are more concerned with their wallets than the safety fo the food supply.

think about that next time you order a steak.

[Habibi]

31. Welp

I just sent a note to the National Cattlemen's Beef association telling them we're boycotting beef until we can be assured that no sick or injured cows become part of the human food supply. We're all experiencing "strain" under this misadministration and they're just going to have to do better.

[kwolf68]

33. Dominion Baby

“Downed Animal” Legislation was and/or would-be the very best we could do, but MONEY is the God of our age (wonder what God would think about that?)

I would think beef producers who derive their wealth from the “use” of cows would have some sense of empathy and moral duty to at least make sure the “use” of that which gives him wealth is DONE RIGHT, but not in America 2004-a time of selfish greed.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

35. when will people realize killing animals to eat them is wrong !

How does this need to be explained to those who are "conditioned since childhood" to believe "that's just what we do"?
That's just what we do was a great ecxcuse for slavery
A great excuse for not allowing women to vote
A great excuse against civil rights
A great excuse for those who refuse to think for themselves.

Some of us would kill our own dogs and cats if we thought they'd taste good but that's not the majority of us.
These animals have feelings and deserve respect.
They were not placed on earth for humans to eat them
End of story.
Eat it and die will be the slogan of the future.
Nature tends to recoil.
Again-
I't's wrong to kill these animals period.

http://www.meat.org.uk/slaught.html

[RebelOne]

56. My feelings, exactly.

It interesting that some animals are called pets and others are called dinner.

[porkrind]

36. Cry me a

fu__ing river !!!

So sad they can't make an extra dollar by poisoning us with this disgusting diseased sh!t. :puke:

I've been beef free since this started, and I intend on staying that way. (although it probably won't do me much good, since I probably ate diseased meat before the story broke, and the prion disease has a long development time) :( :puke:

[LizW]

39. A result of the "corporatization" of food production

I grew up on a fairly small, family-run cattle farm. The cattle we raised were sold locally and eaten by our family, friends and neighbors. I never heard of slaughtering downers for food until this news story broke. Based on my experience, I simply didn't know it was done.

All during my growing-up years, if a cow got "down", she was considered a loss from the moment she hit the ground. A cow that gets "down" is near death, and my dad and grandfather always shot them to bring a quick end to their suffering. Not only that, but the carcass was hauled to a "burn pit" and destroyed so that scavengers didn't scatter the remains and spread potential disease.

It was always a bad event, because it represented a big loss.

When you raise food to be eaten by your neighbors and friends, you don't feed them potentially diseased meat. But with corporate farming, and the threat it raises to family farms, the standards have changed, and profit is king.

[dusty64]

40. Factory farms

are beyond evil. The practices there would turn the stomachs of all but the most heartless. I've been a vegetarian for 23 years and I am still learning of animal based products in things I use. Its unbelievable the items I'm still trying not to use. People were healthier and animal much better treated before these corporate hellhole farms became the norm. There's GOT to be a better way.

[saigon68]

45. They are disgusting--Filthy

And in some cases run by criminals.

If there is a God in heaven they will pay big time for their cruelty.

[stevedeshazer]

47. That's exactly where I come from

The loss of family farms is a huge American tragedy.

[Karenina]

48. It's yet another

separation from our "source."

[mbperrin]

41. So if they can't sell us shit, they can't make money?

That's interesting! I always thought you made money by selling something people WANTED!

Haven't eaten beef since this started, doubt I'll be going back. I've sure found out more than I ever knew about this industry already, and I've noticed that the news rarely gets prettier as you dig deeper.

[lostnfound]

44. Beck's Veggie Burgers. Yumm! n/t

[RebelOne]

55. Never heard of them. Where do you get them?

I buy Morningstar products, sometimes Gardenburger.

[dusty64]

57. Morningstar Prime burgers

are my favorite. Many other brands tend to upset my stomach.

[Karenina]

46. You see, It's better to poison the peasants

than to risk any "financial" loss to corporate criminals.

[denverbill]

50. Truth in Labelling. Allow them to sell it, labelled as 'sick cow' meat.

Don't consumers deserve to know if the cow they are eating was infested with bacteria or virus?

[Tinoire]

58. And where does your candidate stand on this issue?

I know where mine does. He's had a consistent stance on this and Genetically Modified foods for a long time. Mad cow has been in the US for over 4 years. The media is now only forced to break its complicit silence.

Food issues were the first thing that attracted me to Kucinich back in the days where I was wailing against GMOS and yet Corporate America has decided to make him unelectable. Shall we be complicit also?

If you give a rat's ass about this and other food issues, not after the fact, but before the fact,

Vote Kucinich 2004!

[fortyfeetunder]

59. What is the "cost" of a downer cow?

Balance that with the mass slaughters of animals and beef embargos. Bet it's cheaper not to eat 'er....