WI state vet: would not be flabbergasted if Mad Cow found here

[HereSince1628]

you can link via www.jsonline.com but you have to register...

Apparently 475 cows have been shipped to the dairy state from Alberta since 2003, of these 50 were born before August 1997. So far, "Wisconsin has checked its records of cattle that came here from Alberta, but has not sought to learn where the animals are now"

In other new on Prion diseases in Wisconsin also from today's journal sentinel...Re:Chronic Wasting Disease in deer. Tissues taken from a deer killed in the 2003 hunting season from Kenosha county (on the lake Michigan side of the state) have tested positive.

The significance of that is that this deer was killed about 80-100 miles outside the current CWD eradication zone.

Dairy and deer hunting are among 2 of Wisconsin's most important industries.

[glarius]

1. In reference to the cows coming from Canada...I saw Larry Bohlen, who is

with the Friends of the Earth, on CBC Newsworld yesterday...He said that although the cow from Washington State was born in Canada, there is absolutely no proof that it ate tainted feed in Canada...I post this not to get Canada off the hook, but to point out that you may be
fooled into thinking that the place of birth is all that needs to be considered...
<snip>
Washington, D.C. – Two cattle feed mills near the farm where the first incidence of Mad Cow disease was identified have been in violation of federal regulations meant to prevent the disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). They are listed on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) database of animal feed company inspection records.

According to an FDA website, M & E Seed & Grain Co. Inc, a non-FDA licensed feed mill located in Prosser, Wash., is a violator of Mad Cow prevention rules. It is located 13 miles from Mabton, Wash., the town where the first case of Mad Cow was discovered this month. M & E handles cattle feed and also distributes material prohibited in cattle feed, which raises a red flag. M & E was last inspected in October 2002.

http://www.foe.org/new/releases/1203madcow.html

[htuttle]

2. I think it's been here for over two decades

Look at the work of Dr. Richard Marsh at the UW Madison Vet school. He did quite a bit of research on BSE-type syndromes at nearby mink farms.

Numerous farmed mink have died from prion-caused brain disease. By and large, these farmed mink are fed cattle -- lots of downed cattle, actually, as much as 80% down cattle carcasses.

So where did these downed cattle come from? Probably not Canada.