I recently posted a scientist that was a whistle blower, to the point of
offering to take a lie detector test.


Mad cow cases met with shrug instead of safeguards
Mon Aug 1, 6:48 AM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...adofsafeguards

When bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease,
first surfaced in the United States in 2003, cattle ranchers and
government officialsshrugged it off as a cow infected in Canada
before being imported here.

When a native-born cow tested positive this June, they explained it
away once again, saying the animal was infected before cattle feed
restrictions were put in place in 1997.

And when a third possible domestic case surfaced last week, they
hastened to note that the 12-year-old cow hadn't entered the food
chain.

The story is always the same. Consumers are urged not to worry about
the chance of a major outbreak of the disease, like the one that
occurred in Europe a decade ago. They are assured they will be
protected by the practices of the cattle industry and the policies of
responsible government agencies.

In fact, those practices and policies are considered so ineffective
that 64 nations have total or partial bans on U.S. beef products. And
the two agencies charged with ensuring a safe beef supply, the
Agriculture Department (USDA) and the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have become as much a part of the
industry's public relations team as they are public health watchdogs.
Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns' response to each episode seems to be to tell everyone
he's going to have beef for dinner.

This inadequate oversight, resulting from short-sighted cattle
industry pressure, forces American consumers to buy the beef that
others will not. It's also counterproductive for the industry itself,
which would like diners worldwide to think of its products as top of
the line.

As the Agriculture Department investigates the latest possible case
of the disease - results are expected this week - it has reaffirmed
how lackadaisical and insufficient its testing practices are. The
FDA, meanwhile, oversees cattle feed policies so riddled with
loopholes they would be laughable if they weren't so nauseating.

Mad cow disease is spread when cows, which are herbivores by nature,
are fed parts of cattle and other ruminant (cud-chewing) animals. It
can be prevented from spreading to humans by careful monitoring of
what cattle eat and by effective, timely testing.

At the moment, American consumers have neither protection:

•Feed loopholes. In 1997, the FDA imposed a so-called ban on the
feeding of ruminant protein to cows. But that policy has two enormous
exemptions. Weaning calves may drink cattle blood as a milk
substitute. And feed may include the waste from chicken coop floors
as a protein supplement. This waste poses a risk not because of its
many unsavory elements, including feces and feathers, but because FDA
officials estimate that up to 30% of it can be uneaten chicken feed -
which routinely contains beef.

•"Keystone Kops" testing. The brain tissue of the cow that is
currently being tested was first collected in April. The
investigation was delayed because the veterinarian forgot to send the
sample to the laboratory. The sample that tested positive in June had
originally been cleared by USDA last year. Subsequent tests were
ordered by a suspicious internal investigator, showing how inadequate
the department's testing is.

The industry is right to argue that the chances of anyone contracting
the human form of the disease are quite low. But the issue isn't the
overall risk, but whether the government and industry are taking
reasonable steps to ensure it is as low as it can be.

By that standard, consumers are right to have a beef. The feed
loopholes need to be closed. Quicker, more accurate testing processes
need to be fast-tracked.

Only then will Americans be able to enjoy their summer barbecues
without having to worry that eating a hamburger might lead to a fatal
brain-wasting disease.