OLD STORY from Texas SAME THOUGHTS Missed SOME

[PORKER]

010513 Texas Cattle Test Negative for Mad Cow Disease
May 6, 2001
Chicago - Test results on brain tissue from 17 Texas cattle that were imported from Germany in 1996 show that none of the animals had mad cow disease, the Texas Animal Health Commission said last week.

The cattle had been among the last survivors of several hundred head that arrived in the United States from Europe before the US government enacted an import ban on such animals in 1997.

The ban is intended to keep mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, out of the United States. BSE has never been detected in the US.

As with all cattle imported from Europe before the ban, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had been monitoring the Texas herd for several years, department spokeswoman Hallie Pickhardt said.

"The cattle had been under quarantine since before 1997," she said.

The Texas animals were euthanized at a Texas A&M University facility in early April, and tissue samples were tested at a USDA veterinary laboratory in Ames, Iowa, the Texas agency said in a statement on Friday. The remaining carcasses were incinerated and did not enter the food chain.

Pickhardt confirmed that the test results on all the cattle came back negative on April 18.

The USDA continues to track all European cattle that pre-date the import ban, and only 10 such animals are still alive in the United States, Pickhardt said. Four are in Vermont, three remain in Texas, two are in Minnesota and one is in Illinois, according to the department.

The rest died of natural causes or were purchased by the government and destroyed. The USDA is negotiating the purchase of the remaining cattle from their owners, Pickhardt said.

"We continue to keep watch over them, and an ongoing offer is on the table to purchase the cattle at any time the owners would like to do so," she said.

US officials monitor these animals because they were in Europe at a time when BSE was thought to be spread through cattle feed containing byproducts from infected animals. However, none has shown any signs of mad cow disease.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) provided extra money, in addition to the USDA offer, to purchase the Texas cattle, said Rick McCarty, a spokesman for the trade group.

He said the NCBA stepped in "so we can be assured the (BSE) agent was not in this country."

 

[PORKER]

YET another OLD STORY USA: May 4, 2004


WASHINGTON - Federal inspectors failed to perform a required mad cow disease test on a suspicious animal in Texas, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday, just as the Bush administration is pushing to reopen world markets to U.S. beef.


The crippled animal slipped through the USDA's mad cow testing regime at a time when the government is trying to convince Japan and other nations that it has imposed enough safeguards to protect the food supply.
The cow at a Lone Star Beef plant in San Angelo, Texas, was condemned on April 27 after a federal veterinarian "observed the cow stagger and fall," according to a USDA statement. But instead of holding the cow for testing, the carcass was sent to rendering, without being tested for the brain-wasting disease.

Meat from the animal did not enter the human food chain, according to USDA.

"Standard procedures call for animals condemned due to possible CNS (central nervous system) disorder to be kept" until federal officials collect brain tissue for testing, the USDA said. "However, this did not occur in this case." The USDA said it was investigating the reason.

USDA officials and veterinarians have stressed that a cow could stagger and fall because of a broken bone or other illnesses, not just because of mad cow disease.

 

[PORKER]

Feds secretive about new mad cow case

Associated Press

Nov. 18, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A second case of mad cow disease may have turned up in the United States but the suspected animal had not entered the food chain, Agriculture Department officials said
Thursday.

The officials released few details and refused to say where the possibly diseased animal was found. They said it would be four to seven days before more could be confirmed, a delay that livestock industry representatives said would cause turmoil in the beef market.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, attacks an animal's nervous system. People who eat food contaminated with BSE can contract a rare disease that is nearly always fatal, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

The possible case comes 11 months after the United States had its first case of mad cow disease. Japan and other countries are still maintaining bans against U.S. beef as the result of the earlier case.

Suspicions about another case of the disease came because of an inconclusive test result, officials said. "The inconclusive result does not mean we have found another case of BSE in this country," said Andrea Morgan, associate deputy administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

She said the inconclusive results "are a normal component of screening tests, which are designed to be extremely sensitive so they will detect any sample that could possibly be positive."

"It is important to note that this animal did not enter the food or feed chain," Morgan said. "USDA remains confident in the safety of the U.S. beef supply. Our ban on specified risk materials from the human food chain provides the protection to public health, should another case of BSE ever be detected in the United States."

Morgan said initial efforts had begun to trace back the animal from where it was tested to the farm from which it originated.A 'HA hum

 

[Mike]

Guess they been chasing this old girl and her herdmates for about eight months!

 

[PORKER]

A lie is a LIE , So I Say ,WHAT the H do they know now that they then knew BEFORE??????????????????DNA WHAT????????CHICHEN **** EATERS???????????????????????

 

[PORKER]

PIGS NOW SUSPECT IN DEVELOPMENT OF BRAIN DISEASE

April 10, 1997

Manitoba Co-operator

Jim Romahn

A coalition of consumer groups is pressing the U.S. government to

include hog rations in its ban on bone and meat meal from

ruminants (cattle and sheep) processed by rendering companies.

Dr. Michael Hansen of the Consumers Union is raising concerns by

pointing to a 16-month study in 1979 80 that was unable to get to

the root of the reason why 106 pigs arriving at a hog packing

plant showed signs of a nervous disorder.

Some were trembling and were partially crippled in their hind

quarters. Dr. Masua Doi, the veterinary meat inspector at that

plant at Albany, New York, asked for help from a pathologist who

examined brains and prepared some slides.

Dr. Karl Langheinrich, the pathologist in charge of the tests at

the U.S. Department of Agriculture lab at Athens, Georgia, said

one of those slides looks similar to encephalopathy in mink.

Neither Doi nor Langheinrich were able to determine the cause of

the central nervous system disorders affecting the 106 pigs,

picked out of shipments totaling about 350,000 hogs.

Langheinrich's mention of mink relates to problems that surfaced

in Wisconsin where officials believe the mink might have been

infected by eating beef from downer cattle.

It's those types of links that prompted the United Kingdom to ban

the use of meat and bone meal in all animal rations. The United

States and Canada are proposing similar bans, but so far have

limited it to ruminant rations beef and dairy cattle and sheep

and have not included poultry or pigs.

Hansen is part of a coalition of U.S. groups that want the bans

extended to include hogs, meaning ways a ban on bone and meat

meal going into hog rations and a ban on rendering companies

using hog material picked up from packing plants as material for

any feed rations.

The coalition is pressing for three things the ban related to

feeds, thorough inspection of hogs as they arrive at packing

plants and more research to determine if scrapie in sheep or

bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle could have a

counterpart in hogs.

Scientists in England fed beef from BSE-infected cattle to hogs

and have yet to detect any problems in the six years the trials

have been under way, but Hansen says the design of that

experiment is flawed.

"We believe that as a top priority the U.S. Department of

Agriculture should conduct follow-up studies to look for

potential Central Nervous System/Transmissible Spongiform

Encephalopathy cases in pigs," Hansen has written to Dr. Stephen

F. Sundlof of the Center for Veterinary Medicine, part of the

Food and Drug Administration, at Rockville, Maryland.

Hansen also wants scientists to take another look at the slides

and other information collected in the 1979 80 study to check

against what's been learned about bovine encephalopathy (BSE or

mad cow disease).

But the National Meat Association, which speaks for 600 meat

packing companies, says this would be going too far.

"Consumer confidence in the meat supply is unnecessarily and

unscientifically undermined when a whistleblower-advocate turns

one 1979 pathological sample that showed interesting phenomenon'

into a study' and a demand to the Secretary of Agriculture for

sweeping actions," the National Meat Association said in a news

release.

The meat packers' association says pigs have never been

identified as a concern in a 10-year study and said no cases of

BSE turned up in the brains of 5,427 cattle that were tested.

Hansen counters that "they were looking for the wrong thing,"

that the study did not focus on downer cattle and that hogs are

slaughtered before they are six months old, so are unlikely to

show any symptoms of a disease that has an incubation period of

three to eight years.

Hansen conceded that officials don't know what was in the rations

of the 106 pigs that displayed nervous disorders in the 1979 80

study.

"That's the type of thing that requires further research," he

said.

The Consumers Union has gained letters of support from David

Carney, chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection

Locals (unions representing meat inspectors), from Dr. Edward

Menning, retired executive vice-president of the National

Association of Federal Veterinarians, from Linda Golodor,

president of the National Consumers League, Dr. Dale Boyle,

executive vice-president of the National Association of Federal

Veterinarians, Bradley Miller, national director of the Humane

Farming Association, Diane Neidle of the Consumer Federation of

America, Elizabeth Dahl of the Food Safety Program in the Center

for Science in the Public Interest, Rodney Leonard, executive

director of the Community Nutrition Institute and Felicia Nestor,

food safety director of the Government Accountability Project,

which helps whistleblowers.

Dr. Sundlof of the Food and Drug Administration said one of the

problems with broadening the ban is disposing of all the material

going through rendering plants.

In Europe there are trade tensions between the United Kingdom,

which wants clearance to resume beef exports, and countries on

the mainland that want to continue the ban.

The British say they now have the situation, that began to

develop in 1986, well in hand. Since then, about 165,000 cattle

have been afflicted. Last year medical researchers indicated

they're worried a new strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease might

be caused by eating meat or other products from BSE-infected

cattle.

Medical officials are maintaining a close watch on all cases of

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and especially a particular strain

that seems to be striking people of a younger age. CJD has

typically been a disease of people older than 60, but recently a

few in their teens and 20s have been infected in the United

Kingdom.

In a separate letter to Dan Glickman, the U.S. Secretary of

Agriculture, the group says the 1979 80 study by Dr. Doi

indicates government inspectors are probably missing a lot of

pigs that have symptoms of central nervous system disorders. Dr.

Doi started watching more closely in November, 1978, and by

February, 1980, he had identified 106 pigs and he set them aside

for three to four days so he could check them closely.

During calendar year 1979, Dr. Doi identified 57 pigs out of

350,000 coming through the plant at Albany, New York. Government

inspectors at all of the other hog packing plants in the U.S.

identified only 22 more, for a total of 79 that year.

The coalition argues that if all inspectors had been watching as

close as Dr. Doi, they should have picked out about 13,500 pigs

i.e. .01628 per cent to match the percentage Dr. Doi

identified.

In the letter to Glickman, which was signed by the same people

listed above, the coalition says that "by law, no animals with

central nervous system disorders may be approved for human food."

The coalition argues that 90 to 95 per cent of hogs are moving to

slaughter without adequate pre-slaughter inspection.

In 1979 80, Dr. Doi prepared a film of 13 of the animals and sent

tissue to the Georgia lab in an unsuccessful effort to find out

what was causing the problems with the pigs.

Dr. Doi said that in the early stages, these pigs were excitable

and nervous, they would squeal, smack their lips, grind their

teeth, chew and knaw, foam at the mouth and had stiff limbs,

tics, weakness in their hind quarters and tremors.

Those in more advanced stages of sickness were depressed, their

legs crossed over, they kneeled and crawled and some were

crippled in their hind quarters.

 

[frenchie]

A lie is a LIE , So I Say ,WHAT the H do they know now that they then knew BEFORE??????????????????DNA WHAT????????CHICHEN s*** EATERS???????????????????????

yep them is chicksh**t eaters .... was this last Texas cow not rendered?

What a great system you boys have.

 

[Murgen]

I still wonder how many slipped through like the Washington cow. Wasn't that the USDA that was running that ship too?

 

[PORKER]

Good Thought Murgen,JUST HOW MANY???????

 

[mrj]

How will all this vindictive and silly gossip help in solving the BSE problems?

Or do you just want everyone in USDA and the meat packing industry simply jailed and throw away the key? Or permanently eliminated? Just what is it you people want?

Have you forgotten that this is a relatively new problem and that the best of science takes time to solve complex problems?

What if everyone concerned is doing the best they can under the circumstances and all you who love to hate USDA and packers are causing delays by your non-productive attacks? Does that thought ever enter your minds?

MRJ

 

[PORKER]

MRJ QUOTE;Have you forgotten that this is a relatively new problem and that the best of science takes time to solve complex problems?

NEW PROBLEM????20 yrs and BSE is still HERE ,MRJ,ITS just that some people in Gov. come from the sector of industry that want to PROTECT their turf an cover it up or sweep it under the rug and hope no one will notice.

 

[CattleCo]

Can you get a divorce on the grounds your spouse ate Mad Pig, Mad Cow, Mad Lamb.................and came down with "MAD WIFE"???? :roll:
I suppose all Pit Bulls that attack have "MAD DOG"??? :roll:

 

[mrj]

MRJ QUOTE;Have you forgotten that this is a relatively new problem and that the best of science takes time to solve complex problems?

NEW PROBLEM????20 yrs and BSE is still HERE ,MRJ,ITS just that some people in Gov. come from the sector of industry that want to PROTECT their turf an cover it up or sweep it under the rug and hope no one will notice.

{Yes, NEW PROBLEM! Relatively speaking. How long did pneumonia exist before there was a cure for it? Maybe hundreds of years??? For a more recent one, think about AIDS......at least it gets lots of funding. How much has been spent to investigate and research BSE to date? I think we may be expecting too much, too soon and of course, all the anti-USDA blame and conspiracy stuff just diverts from the real problems. }

MRJ

 

[Mike]

MRJ:"all the anti-USDA blame and conspiracy stuff just diverts from the real problems."

The USDA is the problem. Their inexcusable mistakes are feeding the media with plenty of reason to doubt their BSE testing program, with good reason.
I hate the thought of these people protecting my livelihood.
Just like Dr. Weber disallowing the Western Blot test, common sense should have told him that technology is getting better everyday.

 

[mrj]

MRJ:"all the anti-USDA blame and conspiracy stuff just diverts from the real problems."

The USDA is the problem. Their inexcusable mistakes are feeding the media with plenty of reason to doubt their BSE testing program, with good reason.
I hate the thought of these people protecting my livelihood.
Just like Dr. Weber disallowing the Western Blot test, common sense should have told him that technology is getting better everyday.

{I'm not sure what you are saying about Dr. Weber and the Western Blot test. What was the time frame? What was the context? What was said before and after that little statement you attribute to him? What is your goal here? MRJ}

 

[PORKER]

{I'm not sure what you are saying about Dr. Weber and the Western Blot test. What was the time frame? What was the context? What was said before and after that little statement you attribute to him? What is your goal here? MRJ}

Give it up MRJ,just face the music, force's beyond NCBA's control and USDA 's Status Quo leadership are in for a big fall from the OIG in what will be called The Great Cattle Coverup.