CNN talking out cow's....uh...

[Atman]

Some woman was just reporing on Mad Cow. She was giving the rundown on how the infected cow was found, but you had to listen closely to hear her bullshit. Kinda pun intended. The explained how downed cows are cows that are too old, sick or injured, and are therefore sent to slaughter. Because they are downed, they all get inspected for disease and such. Okay, fine, right? Except then she explains that this particular cow was "injured while giving birth" and therefore they didn't suspect mad cow, and sent her off to slaughter, even though they had not received test results back yet.

So how the hell is this a safeguard? If the supposed policy is to test downed animals, do they really have a clause that says "only if they want to?" This was clearly a downed animal. CNN explained the policy that downed animals all get tested, and that once they found out the cow had the disease, "the system of check and balances went into play, and they were able to track the infected animal." So...they test the animal, then process it and ship it out into the food supply ANYWAY, before even getting results back?

And this CNN bimbo is applauding them and the "system of checks and balances" that allowed them to track this so quickly. But...but...am I missing something?

Oh, wait. It appears that I may be...

They seque into the next segment. An economy segment. And how this Mad Cow thing could be a huge disaster to the been industry, and they were checking to see how far prices had already fallen.

Obviously, the series of checks and balances was not really working at all, or the cow would not have been processed. But leave it to CNN to paint a happy face on all of this, about our great inspectors protecting us...there must be another Bush poll they're doing...

[harper]

1. I agree

Most of the Mad Cow coverage has been bullshit. A lot of propaganda. The fact is, if that cow had been sent to slaughter before she started showing symptoms, her meat would be in our food supply no questions asked. Just a lucky break that she was allowed to live long enough to start manifesting symptoms.

[opihimoimoi]

3. IMHO, The policies were supposed to have been changed when Bush became

Prez. More so when Canada had their suprise. This was supposed to be looked into.

BLAME BUSH for THIS

[MadAsHell]

4. I agree about the limitation of the current scheme but ...

The "injury" during birth was must likely not really an injury. Many times dairy cattle will have a condition called "Milk Fever" in the first week or so after they give birth. This is caused by a marked increase in the calcium requirements due to the production of milk. On most smaller farms this means vet bills, extra time, and special attention to get the cow back to health. On large farms, the demands of production and lack of facilities to deal with an illness mean the animal will just be sold. Milk Fever, which can be fairly common, causes some of the same symptoms as Mad Cow. The cow will show a lack of strength, will be unable to stand without support, and will not eat.

All this is to say that cow may not have been showing any sign of Mad Cow, even though she had it. The onset delay of Mad Cow means almost no cattle raised in the US meat production industry will EVER manifest it. They simply do not live long enough. This does not mean it is not rampant.

The Feds requirement to test all the "downers" and only spot test the seemingly health cattle presented for slaughter falls very short of really finding this disease.

[alfredo]

2. Bush will be out of office before there is any big outbreak. the

big shots in the cattle industry can always move to a place that will not extradite them to the US. Why should they worry, their money and influence will prevent them from ever having to pay for their crimes.

[Military Brat]

5. A friend of mine has actually visited the slaughterhouse area

Not the slaughterhouse itself, but the surrounding grounds, and she told me yesterday that what they showed on television is nothing like the way it really is over there. She says it's one of the nastiest places she's ever been, the cows are treated miserably, it's "muck and yuck" as she puts it.

This friend lived near Yakima, so I'll take her word for it. You should have seen the look on her face as she was remembering the place.

[cliss]

6. This is not the first time this has happened.

I believe this incident of mad cow was found in Moses Lake, Washington. There was another incident in Washington state only a few years ago. There was a disgruntled employe who took a videotape of animals being slaughtered, and the videotape was passed around and finally aired on a San Francisco TV station which caused a huge outrage.

They just never learn! Motto: don't eat beef. There are so many good meat substitute out there (Morningstar Farms is a good one) that you will not miss it.

[madrchsod]

7. most ,if not all downed

or old cows are graded and sold as "canners and cutters"..canned beef products and soups..yummy

[cosmicdot]

8. when we the people and democracy lose the 4th estate to special interests

... where are we?

the only tennis court the 4th estate meets on today to keep things in check is keeping an appointment for doubles and martinis ...

[sendero]

9. that does not compute...

... there is no way they test all down cows. They 'claim' to have tested between 20K and 30K over the last few years, do the math. There have easily been a hundred times that number of downer cows.

These people are working on the cynical and correct notion that any human infection will take years to show up. By then, history will have been completely revised to hide what actually happened.

Yes, I'm cynical :(

[maggrwaggr]

10. the simple fact that the cow HAD Mad Cow means the system is broken

because they're not supposed to be feeding cattle to themselves.

but obviously they are.

[SharonAnn]

11. Exactly, that's what I've been thinking too!

And, since they only test "some" "downer" animals they probably have missed lots of them. Also, many younger, apparently healthy animals which were slaughtered before they would have shown symptoms of the disease may have actually had the disease and it may have been in the food supply for many years now.

The basic is, they should not have been feeding cattle with food that has beef or beef by-products in the food.