U.S. Agriculture Department denies allegation it's hiding mad-cow cases

[tuvor]

WASHINGTON (CP) - The U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday there's "no way" it would hide cases of mad-cow disease because that would hurt the beef industry.

A former department veterinarian, Dr. Lester Friedlander, said this week on a speaking tour in Edmonton that U.S. officials found new cases of the disease and chose not to reveal them.

"That's just not the case," spokesman Ed Loyd said, adding officials expected to discover more cases but haven't yet.

"There's no way we'd benefit by being anything less than completely transparent. It would jeopardize the markets we're trying to open," said Loyd.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20050407/ca_pr_on_wo/us_hides_mad_cow_1

[Maple]

1. Original article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3444428

[tuvor]

2. Sorry, I only searched for "mad cow" under LBN.

Didn't mean to steal your thunder, Maple!

[Maple]

3. Not a problem

I just cross-referenced them. :D

[Occulus]

4. As I recall,

there was a small company a couple years back that asked the USDA if it could test 100% of its beef.

The USDA said no, because doing so had the potential to harm major beef producers.

[Besq]

9. They don't want to find it.

They don't test because they might find it. They slaughter at an early age for the same reason.
To the beef eaters out there, go to a butcher who knows where his product comes from.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Hmmm....

under another President, I might have believed them.

[Quakerfriend]

6. I suppose you all know about the racetrack in NJ where

atleast 11 people have been thought to have died from mad cow.

Anne V. sure doesn't want to talk about that. I have often thought that perhaps mad cow was her reason for vacating her position.

[tuvor]

7. Never hear about it. Do tell! n/t

[chlamor]

8. Mad Cows and Creutzfeld Jacobs Disease

Mad Cows and Creutzfeld Jacobs Disease
from The New Hampshire Gazette Vol 248, No 7, January 2, 2004

To the Editor:

How long will the U.S. Sheeple believe the U.S. government’s spoon fed assessment that no one in America has died of the human variant of Mad Cow Disease (Spongeform Encephalitis)?

My father died of this malady just before Christmas five years ago. Creutzfeld Jacobs Disease is listed as the cause of death on his death certificate. It wouldn’t take a journalist long to see the facts don’t match the propaganda. At least three others from Vermont have perished from this insidious disease, verified by Dartmouth Hitchcock hospital.

Wake up America. As long as we continue the practice of feed-ing reposed animals to animals, we will continue to see this Prion in American society.

Wake up America. As long as we continue the practice of feed-ing reposed animals to animals, we will continue to see this Prion in American society.

Even Howard Dean, who many Americans are looking to defeat George Bush turned a blind eye to CJD while governor of Vermont. He and his Vermont Health Commissioner, Jan Carney, pulled legislation from committee that would have mandated all suspected Alzheimer victims be tested for the human vari-ant of Mad Cow. Dean enacted that bill as administrative policy, which effectively killed the mandatory aspect of any testing.

Which is more important, U.S. beef industry profit margins or the health and welfare of the American citizen? I know the answer! What do you believe?

Joel Williams
Poultney, Vermont

http://www.nhgazette.com/et_cetera/search_the_archives/letters/LTS_mad_cows.html

[leesa]

10. They hide them because the beef industry doesn't want to pay for the

testing. Deregulation, you know.

[Javaman]

11. The cattlemans union and US Beef are both controlled by repukes...

Do we really expect the truth from them????

Eat grass fed beef, much better for you.

They hate us for our grass fed beef.

[daleo]

12. You don't find what you don't look for.

Simple as that.

[Shallah Kali]

13. related article -about 15% of Alzheimer's cases really Mad Cow

Bill lets state report mad cow disease
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=809&NewsID=623373&CategoryID=5830&show=localnews&om=1

Maryland currently requires labs to report 63 diseases, including mumps and bubonic plague. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is not on the list.

Del. Dan Morhaim, a Democrat who represents the 11th District, which includes Owings Mills and Pikesville, is sponsoring a bill that would add the brain disease to the list.

Morhaim, the only physician in the House of Delegates, said the disease, once believed to be rare, appears to be growing in prevalence and is misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's in people as young as 40. As many as 15 percent of Alzheimer's-diagnosed cases are found to be Creutzfeldt-Jakob after an autopsy.

{SNIP}

Hatte Blejer said the hospital put the burden on her to contact Virginia Department of Health officials and alert them to the diagnosis. She also had to contact the Red Cross because her husband was a frequent blood donor. The Red Cross recalled some blood products that derived from her husband's donations.

---
I remember reading an article that said doctors do not want to have to test for it because of fear. Also they have to destroy their instruments if they find CJD because normal sterilzation does not destroy it.

[AuntiBush]

14. Oh, go on. Kidding but the only MAD COW is me right now!

Well, been feeling that way since Nov 3 2000!

[NYC]

15. Mad Cow Identified in U.S.