The Mad Cows
 

Now I need a little help clarifying what the truth of the matter is? When Mad Cow diease was in the UK I read an article in the LA Times, that said that if you ate any part of the infected Cow, including milk you could catch the diease. It even went on to say that that if you put Bone meal from the infected cow on your Tomatoe plants you could get Mad Cow from the Tomatoes.

Now the US Goivernment is saying that you only can get Mad Cow if you the eat brain or spinal colume parts, and not to worry.

AlsoI have recently read, that new research suggests that you have to have a genetic propensity to catch Mad Cow?


Something is rotten in Denmark here, which is the acurate information? Is this a case where the Government is outright lying to the people to protect an industry? This is a case where the Government would really want to cover something up, so as not to panic people. With friends like that we don't need Al Qadea to do us in, our very own Hamburgers will do the trick.

Another question while 1 Cow doesn't make a Mad Herd, is this just thte tip of the iceberg, and how long and how many Mad Cows are really out there.

Most of them are pretty mad. You would be too if you were put in a pen, and saw all your buds being whacked over the head and cut up!!

I do believe it's 'if you ate any infected part of the Cow (brain spine)'

I'll guess, that in processing that area, saws can carry infection to any meat that may be used for hamburger. (just a guess)

Lucky for us, a whole lot of useful info was had from the UK, and their ordeal.

We are also lucky, in this country, that our Veterinarians are smart/serious people. . . .it's harder to get into Vet-med school, than human-med. (scary really)

The Vet's which go a step beyond, and go into puplic-safety generally have quite a bit of additional study (beyond the basic 8-years) and are very thurough scientific types.

Anyway, I'm feeling that this whole thing is well understood, has competent people looking into it all, and will be corrected quickly.

I had beef last night. . .the only thing I worried about was that the chinese place used MSG.

that's just way too cute

Like Dr. Island, I too had beef. But that was with two martinis, after which I didn't give a damn what I was eating.

Today (Saturday), while decidedly sober, I saw on the news that parts and pieces of this cow have now spread to Washington (where it was originally diagnosed), Oregon, Nevada and California. Where the parts and pieces have gone from there, no one is quite sure.

Also, the government is stating that the cow came from Alberta in 2001. The Canadians are telling the U.S. to not be so hasty in its finger-pointing.

Regardless, there are points to this story that aren't yet founded. What disturbs me is that two days ago, we were being told none of this animal reached the food chain - that all of it was contained in rendering. But since pieces of it have already been distributed throughout four states, it seems it got into someone's food chain, whether that be human or otherwise.

Plus, it was a dairy cow. So if the disease is in the milk...

Also, grocery stores have begun pulling their red meats off their isles. Where? I don't know. Next time you guys go shopping, you'll find out if it is your store or not.

I won't swear off martinis, but for the time being I'm really giving eating beef a second thought until they figure this thing out.

As far as a conspiracy as Tabs mentioned/hinted - nah, you think? :confused:

Look at it this way: Atkins hasn't killed anyone...yet.

Plus, in celebration of the Rose Bowl game, USC and Michigan put away thousands of pounds of prime rib today at Lawry's in Beverly Hills. Considering how many potential pro football players make up both teams, and that these players may eventually net huge multi-million dollar contracts and in return, give millions of dollars in alumni donations to both universities, I don't think those schools would chance their future on bad meat.

But who knows, really? :confused:

See you at the salad bar...SmileWavy

"I don't think those schools would chance their future on bad meat. "

Aren't most of these guys seniors anyway? Besides, I don't think the football programs are all that concerned over the consequences of their diets down the line. After all, after a few sessions with anabolic steroids, what's a little MCD?

Isn't a regular diet of regular healthy beef bad enough (healthwise)?

BTW, my wife took the kids to lunch today. I called too late; hamburger and fries. Oh well.

Sherwood

Did you say say conspiracy ? HEHE, they got Clinton with a cow (Monica), didn`t they ? Well, they could get Bush with a cow too (a real one this time)...The dems are already pounding on GW, check it out... .

Aurel

Supposedly it can take several years before MCD symptoms manifest itself so this case could easily be the tip of the iceburg. From what I have read the infective prion does only exist in nervous tissue so the infective abilities of different cuts of meats would differ depending on how much nervous tissue and cross contamination exists for each piece.

Lets not forget that the main reason the beef council sued Oprah was because she dared to disparage beef by discussing MCD and other beef concerns on one of her shows.

It certainly had the intended effect of keeping MCD from being publicly discussed.

Concidering Wayne's sensitivity to threats of lawsuits lets hope this thread doesn't get him into a tizzy.

I wana hear what Nostatus has to say about this?

I'm no prion expert, but from what little I've read, I wouldn't be ordering sesos from my local taqueria...

Nasty little proteins though...they don't denature in heat...tough like spores.

Let's see...hepA from onions, MCD in beef, salmonella in chicken, trichonosis in pork. Hope the tofu is safe...

Nostatus do U think it's just confined to the Brain and Spinal Cord, or would it also be in the nerves of the Cow as well?

We'll find soon enough what BSE is tied to. 90% of importers of U.S. beef have already put the brakes on more shipments. And a lot of people in the news is apprehensive to eat it. Beef-related stocks tanked on Friday, too.

So credible answers will have to come up or the industry will take increasing hits.

In the meantime, put your nickles in salmon farms. Or go veegan sans the green onions.

;)

We all know what happened...SNAFU...the bureaucracy put guidelines in place.."Oh the problem is fixed"...coffebreak time.....the inspectors out in the field..."Man, I can't check every cow"....The Corporate Meat Packers, "What let good Beef go to waste" .....Ehhhh 2 years later...Ah OHHHH...WHAT HAPPENED!!!! Beef sales hit zero....Prime Filet Migeon $1.99 lb on sale this week for $0.99 a lb....Well we can feed it to the homeless...

sooo. which is/was a bigger health risk, SARS or Mad Cow? discuss..

My guess is SARS...the last time the World went through a Flu epidemic was in 1918....20 million people died from it. The World is overdue for another epidemic of flu, they figure historically every 50 years. Remember the flu scare in Hong Kong where they wiped out the entire Chicken population..thats because they are scared of letting the genie outa the bottle.

Also the Bubonic Plague is becoming resistant to antibotics...look for it to make a comeback


Airborne Ebola would be a nice cheery way to control population...Aids is allready doing fine work in that area...

Mad Cow....Hmmm maybe I'll throw a BBQ for the R Buddies...

hmmm, if that's the case, then I'm gonna cash in on some really good meat prices. considering that statistically SARS was pretty much a non-event, (more people die each year of the flu in the US than died of the whole SARS epidemic worldwide) if Mad Cow is really less of a threat than SARS, then the odds of coming in contact with the disease are small enough to not warrant anywhere near any of this paranoia

List of Retailers in the West
 

Supermarket chains removing Ground Beef from affected Meat Distributers (Willamette Valley and Interstate Meat...near Portland)

Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Safeway (Vons), WinCo Foods... Also 3 dozen small Mexican and Asian facilities in WA, Oregun, CA and NV.


I got a Great Deal on some nice Trit tips from Vons the other day, they were on a Daily Special for $0.79 a lb....boy they BBQ'ed up nice and tasted so goood......

oh maaaaaan. I'm at the store!! tell ya what I find when I get back

So these protein chains are HEAT resistant too? Crud...

I've just never liked the turkey-burger, what's a guy to do?