| Author | Message | ||
     tourne Citizen Username: Tourne Post Number: 269 Registered: 1-2003 |
There can't be any better testiment to the need for organic agriculture than Mad Cow Disease. This disease would not exist if it were not for the demented state of US factory farming pratices where animals are force fed their own kind and loaded up with antibiotics and pesticides. Even standard chicken feed contains meat by-products, some of which may contain Mad Cow Disease. Supposedly, though, chickens can't get MCD. Supposedly, US cows couldn't get it either. I guess somebody slipped a little bit of brains into the old feed trough. The Organic label is the only one that gives any assurance that what you are eating hasn't been adulterated in any way. All those "natural" labels don't mean a thing because there is no regulation on what "natural" means. If you don't want to eat mad cow brains with your morning omelet, buy ORGANIC!!! | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 10550 Registered: 10-2001  |
Just ask Linda McCartney. ---> Brought to you by Sbenois Engineering LLC <- Hey, it also wouldn’t look good coming out of a motel with your wife’s best friend saying you were just planning a surprise birthday party for her husband...- Arturo November '03 | ||
| woodstock Citizen Username: Woodstock Post Number: 512 Registered: 9-2002  |
Aren't cow brains organic? Also, wouldn't the disease still exist outside the US? This is the first case of MCD in the US, but it's been "rampant" in the UK. Besides, I eat pork sausage with my morning omlette. So far, Mad Cow disease is not in pigs. Waiting For The Electrician, Or Someone Like Him | ||
| tourne Citizen Username: Tourne Post Number: 270 Registered: 1-2003 |
Oh, I think that's because pigs are only fed other pigs---or is it chickens, or is it Sbenois, or is it Republicans? | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 542 Registered: 7-2003 |
IT WAS ONLY 1 COW!! Seriously there was 1 cow that got sick, 19,000 lbs of beef got recalled, the Farmers did a great job in tracking the meat. This is hardly an epidemic. I’m not saying that I want MCD, but I’m not really worried. This is like the summer of sharks two years ago, that’s all you heard on the news, and there were actually less attacks that year then the ten previous. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2525 Registered: 5-2001  |
The cow was imported from Canada. | ||
| lseltzer Citizen Username: Lseltzer Post Number: 2020 Registered: 5-2001 |
In the universe of things that can go wrong when you eat beef, organic or not, MCD is a really low risk. I'd be much more afraid of e.coli for example. But the "only one cow" argument is shallow. So far they have only found one cow, but if there is one it's hard to believe there aren't others. The one was found through random testing, so it's not like we've tested all it's friends and relatives. | ||
| Nohero Citizen Username: Nohero Post Number: 2620 Registered: 10-1999  |
Blame Canada With all their beady little eyes And flappin heads so full of lies Blame Canada Blame Canada We need to form a full assault It's Canadas fault! It seems that everything's gone wrong Since Canada came along Blame Canada Blame Canada With all their hockey hullabaloo And that bitch Celine Dion too Blame Canada Shame on Canada! Reprinted and revised with absolutely no permission whatsoever from "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2526 Registered: 5-2001 |
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| Habanero2 Citizen Username: Habanero2 Post Number: 4 Registered: 12-2003 |
I agree with Woodstock. How exactly would an Organic sticker prevent mad cow disease? Also, doesn't a product only have to be 70% organic to get "organic" certification under some labels? | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1567 Registered: 1-2003  |
The Bush-appointed guy at the FDA said that a certain type of testing that Japan does is overkill, like checking every patient who walks into a doctor's office for prostate cancer. That's a paraphrase from what I read yesterday. Oh, and Europe also does these tests on every cow. So basically, the US beef industry is told not to buy an insurance policy, figuratively speaking. Well, I know just a little about risk. I know that certain things are worth insuring against, because it's not a question of if it will happen, it's a question of when. And if you can't afford the consequences, you pay a regular amount so you can handle the eventuality. It would be an economic disaster if the beef industry had to shut down, never mind the cost to health and lives. Yet the government is saying, don't worry, be happy. Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| tourne Citizen Username: Tourne Post Number: 272 Registered: 1-2003 |
The USDA organic label or the word organic on the front of the package means 100% organic. Organic raised beef prevents MCD because only 100% vegetarian, organically grown feed is allowed to produce organic beef. MCD comes from cows eating other cow's brains in feed. | ||
| Habanero2 Citizen Username: Habanero2 Post Number: 5 Registered: 12-2003 |
I think the cows eat sheep brains. Cows are not typically cannibals and the sheep are smaller and easier for a cow to chase down and devour. | ||
| grw Citizen Username: Grw Post Number: 225 Registered: 12-2002 |
So if someone comes down with this disease, what happens to them?? | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1575 Registered: 1-2003 |
They die. But not right away. It might take years for symptoms to occur. There is no cure. My intuition says that it's a bad idea to feed meat to cows. I haven't studied this at all. Why is this not obvious to farmers? I also have read that cows aren't supposed to eat grain, either. Even that is too rich for them, and it is why they need so many antibiotics. Cows are made for eating grass, not grass seed. Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| ReallyTrying Citizen Username: Reallytrying Post Number: 227 Registered: 1-2003 |
Brett, one cow = 19,000 pounds of beef? Am I not understanding something, or was that one cow really really big? | ||
| Habanero2 Citizen Username: Habanero2 Post Number: 6 Registered: 12-2003 |
Cows that eat meat grow really big hence the urge for ranchers to feed the cows meat.  Seriously, they mix meat from many cows together and feeding cows meat in the US is relatively uncommon (and I doubt anyone is arguing that the practice should be encouraged). That is why we have not seen MCD here. The cow in question came from Canada. MCD is similar to CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) which is a disease seen in human cannibals and is caused by a prion (like a piece of a virus). There is a genetic propensity for some people to get the disease and even with broad exposure only a few people get sick (150 people in the UK got the disease with >60,000 exposed to it). For perspective, in the US more babies than that have already died in this year's flu season, more people than that will die in auto accidents on New Year's Eve and more people will die of heart attacks in the next hour. This is not a big deal but the press loves it. | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1578 Registered: 1-2003 |
OK, the risk may be small, but what is the cost of preventing it? Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2533 Registered: 5-2001 |
Are steaks cheaper now? | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 546 Registered: 7-2003 |
option 1: Sounds like a lot but consiter they can't track just 1 cow, part goes here part there. Then once you ground some of it up, it goes to even more places. So in order to recall 1 cow it turned into 19,000 lbs. Really not that much consitering a normal supermarket sells about 1000 lbs of beef per hour. Option 2: Not only was the cow mad, it was fat. |
