Sisyphus Shrugged - you might want to read this after dinner

07:18 pm January 2nd, 2004




			Sisyphus Shrugged - you might want to read this after dinner Lasciate ogni speranza and put your feet up.

jmhm


	you might want to read this after dinner
	or if you're trying to lose weight, before. ...Since the Dec. 23 diagnosis of the nation's first case, officials have repeatedly touted the fact that the infected cow was born in April 1997, about four months before the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of cattle remains as an ingredient in feed for other cows. However, in industry guidance documents issued in 1997, the FDA exempted from the ban cattle blood, blood products and gelatin, derived from cattle hoofs. The exemptions thus allow some cattle byproducts to be fed back to cattle. For example, some farms collect the blood of slaughtered cattle and feed it to calves in dehydrated form, said Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association. This is a cheaper source of protein for calves than milk, he said... Consumer watchdog groups want the FDA to expand its feed ban to include cattle blood and gelatin, which theoretically could spread the brain-wasting disease. "One of the big questions is why haven't they addressed this," said Carol Tucker Foreman, a food safety expert with the Consumer Federation of America. The existing exemption "seems extraordinary considering that (mad cow disease) could seemingly be passed on this way," she added... Cummins said loopholes in the livestock feed ban end up letting other cattle parts to be fed back to cattle. For example, he noted that all cattle remains can legally be used to feed chickens, and that poultry excrement swept out of chickenhouses can be fed back to cattle. As much as 30 percent of such sweepings contain uneaten poultry food that chickens have scattered about the floor, Cummins said... The current FDA regulations allow cattle brains, spinal cords and other potentially risky material to be ground up and used in feed for poultry, pigs and household pets.

ahhhs. -- hmmm?


	Comments

	From: mehetabel	Date: January 2nd, 2004 07:41 pm (UTC)		(linkie thing)
	while yr at it...

Eric Schlosser had a great Op-ed piece in today's NY Times.

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	From: the_tsm	Date: January 3rd, 2004 01:50 am (UTC)		(linkie thing)

Maybe I'm just slow, or a little too paranoid, but why exactly is it that someone felt justified giving the "okay, we can relax" just because the cow was born prior to 1997? Why did anyone believe them?

The age of the animal obviously doesn't negate the fact that it's carrying this disease, and wouldn't the fact that it's been alive longer give it more of a chance to spread it? Yes, I know BSE isn't a cold, but at the same time the meat-packing industry will literally feed a cow it's own shit to save money, so isn't this an issue of some concern?

I'm seriously irritated that a boardroom full of shortsighted bean-counters and their raw-lipped politician buddies has quite possibly cheated me out of the simple pleasure of a good steak for an indeterminite period of years to come.

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	From: jmhm	Date: January 3rd, 2004 02:23 am (UTC)		(linkie thing)

grainfed seems to have escaped so far

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	From: mehetabel	Date: January 3rd, 2004 08:30 am (UTC)		(linkie thing)
	The price of simple pleasures is rising

You could always buy organic.

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From: (Anonymous)	Date: October 21st, 2004 09:32 am (UTC)		(linkie thing)
Mad Cow outbreak

There was a very interesting article in Scientific American magazine recently, written by a so-called leading authority in the "Mad Cow Disease" field. After carefully reading the article, I noted that the one recommendation he omitted from his suggestion for "Mad Cow" prevention was eliminating ALL feeding of animal proteins to herbivores destined for human consumption. I wonder why. Because I have followed the progression of the "Mad Cow" outbreak in Britain since the mid-80s, this omission has puzzled me. I have not eaten beef for over 15 years, and as a type II diabetic, I am suppose to eat as much protein as I want. My protein consumption consists almost entirely of eggs, fish, and vegan poultry. My question is this: Do we as a nation want to take even the remotest chance of transmitting this disease to thousands of unsuspecting American citizens just for a few cents on the dollar per pound of beef harvested? It seems that we know entirely too little to even take the chance. Imagine what a large human outbreak would do to our already overburdened health care facilities. Think of what such an outbreak would do to our entire meat industry. It has already affected our nation's volunteer blood donor base. At the facility where I work, I would estimate that we have lost about 7 to 10% of our regular military donors because the the FDA'a wisdom in permanently deferring these people if they were stationed anywhere in Europe for more than 3 months. (This figure does not include tourists visiting for the same period, who are also permanently deferred.) It seems to me that most of us have out heads in the sand regarding this potential disaster. And most of all, meat producers and the government also have their heads up another dark, wet hole as well.

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