------------------------ Jim Devine jdevine at lmu.edu & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eubulides [mailto:paraconsistent at comcast.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 3:22 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: [lbo-talk] fast food nation
>
>
> Mad Cow Disease Found in Washington State
> The Associated Press
> Tuesday, December 23, 2003; 6:05 PM
>
>
> The first-ever U.S. case of mad cow disease is suspected in a
> single cow
> in Washington state, but the American food supply is safe, Agriculture
> Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday.
>
> "We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," said Veneman.
>
> She told a news conference that a single Holstein cow that
> was either sick
> or injured -- thus never destined for the U.S. food supply -- tested
> presumptively positive for the brain-wasting illness.
>
> Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a
> disease that eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up
> in Britain
> in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia,
> prompting massive
> destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry.
>
> "This incident is not terrorist-related," Veneman said
> Tuesday. "I cannot
> stress this point strongly enough."
>
> Veneman said the apparently diseased cow was found at a farm
> in Mabton,
> Wash., about 40 miles southeast of Yakima. She said the farm has been
> quarantined.
>
> "Even though the risk to human health is minimal, we will take all
> appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," she said.
>
> Samples from the cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the
> preliminary mad cow finding, she said.
>
> Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States before this
> incident despite intensive testing for it.
>
> However, there was a case of mad cow disease in Canada last May that
> officials described as a single, isolated incident.
>
> Veneman said a tissue sample from the suspect U.S. cow was
> taken on Dec. 9
> and had been tested at a lab in Ames, Iowa.
>
> She said the Agriculture Department has had safeguards in
> place since 1990
> to check for mad cow disease and that 20,526 cows had been
> tested in 2003
> in the United States.
>
> "This is a clear indication that our surveillance and
> detection program is
> working," Veneman said.
>
> She said U.S. beef remains "absolutely safe to eat," adding
> that she plans
> to serve it at her Christmas dinner Thursday.
>
>
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