Song in my head: Roll, roll, roll your boat........................Advice Goddess

In Season: low carb pizza, Oregonian's public editor blog


International Expert Panel Says Mad Cow is Likely Spreading in US

The U.S. government should ban cattle brains and
spinal material in livestock feed and pet food to prevent the spread of mad
cow disease, an international panel said on Wednesday, saying more U.S.
cases were probable.

The panel noted there was a "high probability" that other infected cattle
have been imported from Canada and possibly Europe. Their report gave no
estimate of how many animals, and said that contaminated material from them
"has likely" been rendered into cattle feed. |link|

Remember when the EPA assured the public in NYC that the air was safe to breathe after the collapse of the twin towers after 9-11? It ended up to be quite polluted and hazardous to one's health. I feel a similar episode will happen with mad cow disease in the USA. If you think that USDA inspectors can control and halt the spread of mad cow disease, you're kidding yourself. I base my opinion on my formal study of environmental health at OSU, work experience as a health inspector, and a personal experience with hantavirus in an occupational setting. If you need to eat beef, choose a roast, which is a piece of muscle, compared to ground beef, a compliation of many discarded animal by produts.

So, bye bye cheeseburgers, chili with ground beef, meatballs, sloppy Joes, beef tacos, and the rest. From what I know of food safety and how it is regulated, and by whom, the less comfortable I feel with their "advice". I wish I had the energy and spunk to expand on this, yet I don't.