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RICK PERRY AND HOW HE HANDLES MENTALLY CHALLENGED IN TEXAS

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Despite Reforms, Abuse Continues at Texas Institutions for Disabled

by Emily Ramshaw and Becca Aaronson October 23, 2011

MEXIA — At the Mexia State Supported Living Center, on the sun-bleached site of a former World War II prisoner-of-war camp an hour east of Waco, residents with profound disabilities and behavioral problems spend their days doing repetitive chores: sticking paper into shredders, folding towels, sorting nuts from bolts. And, in some cases, being physically abused, despite a sweeping federal settlement signed in 2009 to prevent it.

In the last two years, a Mexia worker was caught on video pushing a disabled resident down and stepping on his throat while other employees looked on. A staffer goaded one resident into hitting another with a belt, causing bloody wounds and a trip to the emergency room. A direct care worker showed residents pornographic pictures and tried to get them to perform oral sex on him; another sexually abused two residents.

This pattern of abuse appears pronounced in Mexia, where roughly half of the disabled residents are alleged criminal offenders and nearly a third are under age 21. But two-and-a-half years after Texas officials signed an agreement with the U.S. Attorney General's office aimed at improving conditions in the state's 13 institutions — following a U.S. Justice Department investigation that found avoidable deaths, civil rights violations and systemic abuse — a Texas Tribune review of facility monitoring reports and employee disciplinary records shows mistreatment is still relatively commonplace. And though there's been some evidence of improvement, the state's federally designated disability watchdog group Disability Rights says that halfway into the five-year settlement agreement, not even a quarter of its requirements have been met.

"It's all just as bad," said Beth Mitchell, Disability Rights' supervising attorney. "The numbers suggest less physical abuse, but we still see a lot of really significant cases. I can't tell you that there's one shining example of a wonderful facility, because there's not."

Officials with the Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the state supported living centers, point to evidence of compliance, from advances in security to improvements in staffing. Nearly 3,500 security cameras have been installed across Texas' institutions for the disabled. Each facility has an independent investigator to monitor abuse. New employees are now fingerprinted and run through background checks before they're hired, and existing employees are subject to random drug tests.

Today, 94 percent of facility jobs are filled, a marked improvement over past years, even with the influx of more than a thousand new positions established under the settlement agreement. Staff turnover has dropped. And there are now more than three employees for every resident, in part because the census at the state supported living centers has dropped by nearly 800 residents since late 2008.

But despite this falling population, more consistent staffing and annual spending that has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2006, abuse allegations have continued to rise steadily, with the percent of confirmed allegations hovering at 9 percent. The agency attributes this to better investigations: In the last fiscal year, 375 workers were fired or forced to resign because they abused or neglected disabled residents, more than in any of the previous three years.

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Texas' efforts thus far. But Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman Cecilia Fedorov said meeting the terms of the agreement is intended to be a "long-term" process and that "milestone dates" laid out in the agreement are guidelines, not deadlines.

"While progress toward and achievement of substantial compliance has been slower than anticipated by the state," she said in a statement, "efforts continue to be sustained in every facility."

Federal investigators have a lengthy history with Texas' state-supported living centers, formerly known as state schools. The Justice Department sent a team into a Lubbock facility in 2005, releasing a highly critical report in 2006 that cited more than 17 deaths at the institution in the previous 18 months.

Clearly not swayed by the improvements state leaders had made, in 2008, the Justice Department announced it would investigate conditions in all 13 Texas institutions. Four months later, investigators published a scathing rebuke, saying residents' constitutional rights had been violated, and threatened legal action if Texas didn't resolve the problems.

In May 2009, four years after the initial investigation in Lubbock, state leaders signed a five-year, $112 million settlement agreement with the U.S. Attorney General's office, pledging to improve standards of care, increase oversight and monitoring, and enhance staffing.

On a recent visit to the 500-acre Mexia State Supported Living Center, many of these efforts were visible, from paper signs listing the phone number of an abuse and neglect hotline to strategically placed surveillance cameras to the nondescript dormitory office that's home to a state abuse investigator. A sign at the entrance to the property advertised: "Now hiring!"

The workers on duty that morning — many of them veterans with decades of experience — helped residents with their daily tasks, from planting carrots in a garden to removing staples from paper for shredding. They showed off squeaky clean cement and linoleum-floored dormitories, an on-site hair salon, a café with a juke box and old movie posters. They shuttled residents between bedrooms and bathrooms and therapy sessions, interacting with a familial warmth that made the facility's confirmed abuse allegations seem hard to fathom.

Yet firing records show awful abuse continues, and not just at Mexia. In the years since the settlement agreement was signed, a staffer at the Lubbock State Supported Living Center beat a resident he was trying to shave and slammed his head into a cabinet. An employee at the Richmond State Supported Living Center was captured on video kicking a resident in the legs, punching him in the neck and chest and striking him on the head. And a staffer at the Abilene facility kicked a resident in the head eight times. At Mexia, an employee started a romantic liaison with a resident, sending the resident nude photos and calling the resident's cell phone 452 times. Another worker there failed to supervise a resident, who was able to construct a Molotov Cocktail.

In late spring, seven staffers at the Corpus Christi State Supported Living Center were fired for abuse allegations that still haven't been disclosed. That's the same facility where dozens of employees were fired in 2009 for forcing disabled residents into staged fights. Five were convicted of crimes.

Fedorov, the Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman, said the agency has zero tolerance for any abuse or neglect whatsoever. She said for the most part, the workers at these facilities are amazing — but that with any public entity, from a school district to a hospital system, there will at times be bad apples.

"You have good days and bad days anywhere," she said. "No matter what you do, from fingerprints to employment history, bad things sometimes happen."

But watchdogs say that's not an acceptable explanation. Whether the Justice Department will acknowledge it, they say, Texas is not living up to its end of the bargain — as evidenced by the results of frequent status reports released on each facility by independent monitors.

Mitchell said the federal settlement requires facilities to come into compliance with 171 provisions by the end of the agreement — and that they should have made "substantial" progress on at least 150 of them so far. On average, she said, the state supported living centers have only met 20 percent of those 150 provisions, according to Disability Rights' analysis of facility monitoring reports. The Richmond and Corpus Christi state supported living centers haven't even broken 13 percent, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said despite reductions in staff turnover, keeping qualified people in their direct care or nursing jobs is still a major problem. She said breakdowns in communication still prevent residents from getting the proper therapy and treatment they need. And while security cameras have reduced abuse, it still happens outside their view. In some cases, Mitchell said, facilities will come into compliance with certain standards — and then fall back out of it again.

"As much as the department wants to continue to say they have fixed their problems, we don't see that, and I don't think the monitors see that," Mitchell said. "The fact that we're still seeing a lot of abuse cases that are pretty significant — the only lucky thing is that now they're being caught on camera."

http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/abuse-neglect-texas-disabled-institutions/

Perry Downplayed Allegations at Centers for Disabled

by Emily Ramshaw

Texas Governor Rick Perry, Department of Aging and Disability Services, Disabilities, Rick Perry Issues

Enlargephoto illustration by: Bob Daemmrich / Caleb Bryant Miller / Todd Wiseman

Part two of two.

Yesterday: Two years after Texas leaders signed a federal agreement to improve care at the state's institutions, not even a quarter of its terms have been met, and mistreatment is still commonplace.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign hinges on one overarching message: that states perform best when left to their own devices and federal regulators should butt out. Yet during his decade-long tenure in the governor's office, Perry and his staff repeatedly downplayed the severity of abuse and neglect allegations at Texas' state-run institutions for the disabled — until conditions became so dire that the U.S. attorney general was forced to intervene.

"They haven't taken it seriously," said Joe Tate, a policy specialist with Community Now!, an organization that supports the closure of Texas' institutions for the disabled. "We hear all the time from lawmakers that there's not the political will to make changes. That political will — the knowledge that we have deadly, dangerous institutions — could come from the governor's office."

Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the governor's office has taken reports of abuse and neglect in Texas' state-supported living centers seriously from the very beginning. Early in his first term, he signed legislation and issued an executive order designed to improve conditions and give disabled residents more options to move out of the institutions.

The Tribune thanks our Supporting Sponsors

In 2005, when he learned problems in the state-supported living centers had not abated, his office said he made sure the Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees Texas' 13 institutions, had the resources to fund reform.

"Gov. Perry is committed to ensuring the safety of the residents in these facilities, and we take each of these claims very seriously," Nashed said. "We continue to monitor the progress they are making toward meeting the terms of the agreement."

But a look back at the timeline of abuse reports — and the response of the governor's office to them — paints a far more nuanced picture.

After the U.S. Department of Justice released a report critical of conditions at the Lubbock State School in 2006 — saying there had been more than 17 deaths there in 18 months — the governor's office suggested the problems had already been solved.

"Some would like to ramp up another emotional issue," Perry spokesman Robert Black said at the time, referring to a recent abuse and neglect scandal in Texas' juvenile justice system, the Texas Youth Commission (TYC).

When a 2007 Dallas Morning News investigation found hundreds of mentally and physically disabled residents of the state-supported living centers had suffered serious abuse at the hands of those paid to watch over them, Perry's office cautioned against any assumptions that the system was flawed and said despite reports of physical and sexual assault, the centers shouldn't be compared to the abuse-ridden TYC.

"It's important not to sensationalize these incidents," then-spokeswoman Krista Moody said. "They should not be portrayed as though they happened yesterday and no action has been taken."

And in August 2008, when the Justice Department announced it was going to investigate conditions inside all of Texas' institutions for the disabled — not just in Lubbock — Perry's office was nonplussed.

"We expected that [the Department of Justice] would expand their investigation to all state schools as they have done in other states," spokeswoman Allison Castle said. She added that the governor is "always interested in ways to improve state government."

Four months later — and two years after the original Justice Department report — the U.S. attorney general's office sent Perry a 60-page letter threatening legal action if Texas didn't resolve the problems, including residents dying of preventable conditions and hundreds of employees being fired for abuse and neglect.

Only when faced with legal action and monetary damages did Perry's tone shift: In February 2009 he declared protecting the residents of Texas' institutions for the disabled a legislative emergency. In May 2009, the state reached an agreement with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to spend $112 million over five years to improve care and enhance staffing at the institutions.

Asked at the time why it had taken so long to pass needed legislation, Perry said that health and human services agencies have "always been difficult to address" and that Texas was a big state with lots of needs. "My focus has always been, when an issue bubbles up to the top, to bring in the best people you can find," he said.

Halfway through the five-year settlement agreement, Texas' federally appointed watchdog group says the state has met just 20 percent of the standards required to comply. To this, too, the governor's office is taking a glass-half-full approach.

"The governor expects DADS to continue to work toward full compliance of the settlement agreement," Nashed said. "While there is still work to be done, each facility and their staff continue to make significant progress toward substantial compliance, including better reporting, investigation, prosecution and firing of individuals who commit these crimes.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-state-agencies/aging-and-disability-services/perry-downplayed-abuse-institutions-disabled/


Boy Dies Of Restraint-Related Asphyxiation

by Emily Ramshaw and Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle 11/8/2010

A 16-year-old boy has died of an apparent restraint-related asphyxiation at the Daystar Residential Treatment Center, the same facility where children with disabilities were forced to fight each other a couple of years ago.

Michael Owens died Friday night after he stopped breathing at the Manvel facility, outside of Houston. A monitor who was ordered to the facility in light of the forced fights has since left Daystar and was not there when the death occurred, according to the Houston Chronicle.

A news release indicates Brazoria County authorities are conducting an investigation into the child's death. Daystar attorney John Carsey said he hadn't heard about Friday's death. "That's news to me," he said.

Earlier this year, the Tribune and the Houston Chronicle revealed that workers at Daystar provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight of biting and bruising as staffers laughed, cheered and promised the winners after-school snacks.

The fight was one of more than 250 incidents of confirmed abuse and mistreatment in residential treatment centers during the past two years, based on the Tribune/Chronicle review of state records.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/corpus-christi-fight-club/boy-dies-of-restraint-related-asphyxiation/


IF slick rick is elected, it will be AMERICA FOR THE RICK, BY THE RICH, AND ONLY THE RICH...
 
Today, 94 percent of facility jobs are filled, a marked improvement over past years, even with the influx of more than a thousand new positions established

Nearly 3,500 security cameras have been installed across Texas' institutions for the disabled. Each facility has an independent investigator to monitor abuse. New employees are now fingerprinted and run through background checks before they're hired, and existing employees are subject to random drug tests.

On a recent visit to the 500-acre Mexia State Supported Living Center, many of these efforts were visible, from paper signs listing the phone number of an abuse and neglect hotline to strategically placed surveillance cameras to the nondescript dormitory office that's home to a state abuse investigator. A sign at the entrance to the property advertised: "Now hiring!"

But despite this falling population, more consistent staffing and annual spending that has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2006, abuse allegations have continued to rise steadily,

In the last fiscal year, 375 workers were fired or forced to resign because they abused or neglected disabled residents, firing records show awful abuse continues

the agency has zero tolerance for any abuse or neglect whatsoever. She said for the most part, the workers at these facilities are amazing — but that with any public entity, from a school district to a hospital system, there will at times be bad apples.

they hired more, spent more.. and fired more.. yet it continues..

maybe it is a union problem?
 
TexasBred said:
What happened to the offenders???


nothing happens to the offenders of abuse on the mentally challenged in Texas most of the time.


however, thanks to the media, and the cell phones that captured these disgusting events of abuse on the mentally challenged, one of the ring leaders finally did a plea bargain. however the abuse on the mentally challenged across the state of Texas is rampant, and has been for years, and slick rick perry knew about it.




Mentally Disabled Forced Into 'Fight Club' at Texas Home


By ANGELA M. HILL, JOSEPH RHEE and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)

May 12, 2009

Terrified residents at a Corpus Christi, Texas, state school for the mentally disabled were forced to be part of a brutal "fight club" operated by night shift employees, who made videos of the sessions with their cell phones, the newly released videos show.

On the videos employees can be seen and heard laughing and prodding the residents to fight.

Watch "Nightline" at 11:30 p.m. ET for Brian Ross' full report.

One resident is seen on the video trying to run away from his attacker and a large group of employees and residents tracking him through the halls. When cornered, he wails and moans and tells the employees, "I will behave."

The videos were discovered by police in March when one of the school employees left his phone at a hospital and it was turned over to police. In an effort to find its owner, officers saw the disturbing videos.

A judge ordered the tapes released to an attorney suing the state on behalf of a former resident also forced into the "fight club."

"It happened for over a year and it happened for many nights out of the week," said the attorney, Bob Hilliard.

Hilliard's client, Armando Hernandez, says he was told he would "go to prison" if he did not fight.

Hernandez, who is mentally disabled, says he was fearful to even tell his mother of what was happening inside at night.

"They say 'snitches get stitches,'" Hernandez told ABC News.

ABC News

Terrified residents at a Corpus Christi,... View Full Caption


A judge ordered police to provide the tapes to Hilliard on Friday for use in his lawsuit against the state, without any restriction on their use. They were played twice in open court.

"There are no words as strong as the faces of these residents," Hilliard said. "It's a place past fear. It's a place where they have almost accepted that the school where they're locked into could very well end up being a coffin for them."

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the state schools, says the agency was "shocked and disgusted by the unconscionable actions of a few employees." Spokesperson Cecilia Fedorov said the department has taken a number of steps to "stop this kind of abuse again," including hiring additional security and increased supervision of night shifts.

Former Employees Indicted, Charged With Causing Injury to a Disabled Person

Six former employees were indicted last Thursday on charges of causing injury to a disabled person.

Prosecutors identified the ring leader as Timothy Dixon, 30, who police say can be heard on the video calling the play-by-play of the fight as if he were a ring announcer.

Dixon and the others are to make their first appearance in court at an arraignment hearing next week.

The cell phone videos are the latest example of troubling conditions at the 12 Texas schools for the developmentally and mentally disabled.

More Than 800 Employees Suspended for Abusing Facility Residents

A federal civil rights investigation, completed last December before the cell phone videos were discovered, found that more than 800 employees had been suspended or fired "for abusing facility residents" since 2004.

The federal report, sent to Texas Governor Rick Perry, concluded, "numerous conditions and practices at the Facilities violate the constitutional and federal statutory rights of their residents."

Perry, a Republican, introduced "emergency legislation" in February designed to make the state schools safer.

Some state legislators say the problems began with Perry administration budget cuts in 2003 that reduced money for health and human services in Texas.

"I think what you are starting to see now are the negative effects of those decisions," said State Representative Abel Herrero, a Democrat who represents Corpus Christi.

A spokesperson for Governor Perry told ABC News the governor was too busy dealing with the state legislature to provide an interview on the new cell phone videos.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mentally-disabled-forced-fight-club-texas-home/story?id=7556740



In a surprising move, Guadalupe De Larosa, 23, accepted a plea agreement from prosecutors Wednesday, prior to the second phase of arguments before a jury and after initially pleading not guilty. He admitted to three counts of injury to a mentally disabled individual and was sentenced to four years in prison.


http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/texas-fight-club-organizer-pleads-guilty-harming-mentally/story?id=10062303




MENTALLY DISABLED FORCED TO FIGHT, PERRY TO BUSY



http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video?id=7572576


http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/video?id=7570686


http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video?id=7564554



More abuse found at Texas school for disabled

Some workers are accused of forcing the residents into fights


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30831811/ns/us_news-life/t/more-abuse-found-texas-school-disabled/



There should be no denying that staff members who work for Texas State Schools for the cognitively and developmentally disabled are, largely, kind-hearted, competent, gentle souls who care deeply for the residents they serve. They are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated.

But there is a smaller population of staff throughout the Texas State School system that gives the upstanding caregivers a terrible name: those who inflict rampant abuse and neglect on -- in many cases, helpless -- victims who reside in the institutions.

Until pay is raised, drug screenings are implemented, and training & auditing becomes significantly more rigorous, the conditions for Texas' profoundly retarded residents (the ONLY residents who could potentially benefit from institutionalization) will remain alarmingly dangerous.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ZVuVhnaoo
 
He has not bothered you flipper, maybe he should take you to task! You have the same problems as some you mention :D :D :D :D :D
Seek help for your fascination with Perry, in is unhealthy
 
hypocritexposer said:
Why haven't the Feds done anything about this, since their investigation in 2008?


Is everybody on a 4 year coffee break?



Texas republicans don't take handouts from the Government, right ?

Texas republicans want less government, and want the feds to stay out of their business, right ?

SO this is all on slick rick perry.

IF perry is elected, he would probably just let the handicapped, mentally challenged, disabled, all fend for themselves. they are just about doing that right now, and have been since he has been in office.

a vote for slick rick perry, is a vote for corporate greed, it is a vote for the rich, and rich only. look at his nuclear dump donors, look at his hpv vaccine donors, look at his polluter donors. just look at what he said today about his tax plan, the rich get richer off the back of the poor and middle class.

for Pete's sake, wake up America. ...
 
flounder said:
hypocritexposer said:
Why haven't the Feds done anything about this, since their investigation in 2008?


Is everybody on a 4 year coffee break?



Texas republicans don't take handouts from the Government, right ?

Texas republicans want less government, and want the feds to stay out of their business, right ?

SO this is all on slick rick perry.

IF perry is elected, he would probably just let the handicapped, mentally challenged, disabled, all fend for themselves. they are just about doing that right now, and have been since he has been in office.

a vote for slick rick perry, is a vote for corporate greed, it is a vote for the rich, and rich only. look at his nuclear dump donors, look at his hpv vaccine donors, look at his polluter donors. just look at what he said today about his tax plan, the rich get richer off the back of the poor and middle class.

for Pete's sake, wake up America. ...


so obama told the Feds. to take a 4 year coffee break because Perry wanted it that way :lol: :lol:
 
i'm ready 'brother' !

once again you speak not of what you know of there hapolong.

ya know there hopalong, i really feel sorry for you.

i hate to waste time with your ignorance. but this time i will.

i have no fascination for slick rick perry. i have hate.

slick rick perry was ag com'r and then Gov Texas and helped cover up the Texas mad cows and mad cow feed that is in Texas. he and his officials lied about the amount of mad cow feed that could kill a cow i.e. perry's officials claim that 5.5 grams of mad cow feed could kill a cow. fact is, that's enough to kill many cows, a small herd (purina, Gonzales, Tx.). sporadic CJD has now been linked with atypical BSE in North America a decade later, and other TSE prion disease in other species here in the USA and North America. my mother died from an exceedingly rare strain of the sporadic CJD's in Texas. sporadic, just a name that means they don't know, or they did not want to know $$$ Texas has mad cow disease.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE P01-05 January 30, 2001 Print Media: 301-827-6242 Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: On Dec. 23, 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that a cow in Washington state had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease). As a result, information on this Web page stating that no BSE cases had been found in the United States is now incorrect. However, because other information on this page continues to have value, the page will remain available for viewing.

FDA ANNOUNCES TEST RESULTS FROM TEXAS FEED LOT

Today the Food and Drug Administration announced the results of tests taken on feed used at a Texas feedlot that was suspected of containing meat and bone meal from other domestic cattle -- a violation of FDA's 1997 prohibition on using ruminant material in feed for other ruminants. Results indicate that a very low level of prohibited material was found in the feed fed to cattle.

FDA has determined that each animal could have consumed, at most and in total, five-and-one-half grams - approximately a quarter ounce -- of prohibited material. These animals weigh approximately 600 pounds.

It is important to note that the prohibited material was domestic in origin (therefore not likely to contain infected material because there is no evidence of BSE in U.S. cattle), fed at a very low level, and fed only once. The potential risk of BSE to such cattle is therefore exceedingly low, even if the feed were contaminated.

According to Dr. Bernard Schwetz, FDA's Acting Principal Deputy Commissioner, "The challenge to regulators and industry is to keep this disease out of the United States. One important defense is to prohibit the use of any ruminant animal materials in feed for other ruminant animals. Combined with other steps, like U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) ban on the importation of live ruminant animals from affected countries, these steps represent a series of protections, to keep American cattle free of BSE."

Despite this negligible risk, Purina Mills, Inc., is nonetheless announcing that it is voluntarily purchasing all 1,222 of the animals held in Texas and mistakenly fed the animal feed containing the prohibited material. Therefore, meat from those animals will not enter the human food supply. FDA believes any cattle that did not consume feed containing the prohibited material are unaffected by this incident, and should be handled in the beef supply clearance process as usual.

FDA believes that Purina Mills has behaved responsibly by first reporting the human error that resulted in the misformulation of the animal feed supplement and then by working closely with State and Federal authorities.

This episode indicates that the multi-layered safeguard system put into place is essential for protecting the food supply and that continued vigilance needs to be taken, by all concerned, to ensure these rules are followed routinely.

FDA will continue working with USDA as well as State and local officials to ensure that companies and individuals comply with all laws and regulations designed to protect the U.S. food supply.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2001/NEW00752.html

NEWS RELEASE

Texas Animal Health Commission

Box l2966 •Austin, Texas 78711 •(800) 550-8242• FAX (512) 719-0719

Linda Logan, DVM, PhD• Executive Director

For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710,

or [email protected]

For Immediate Release--

Feed Contamination Issue Resolved by FDA

Although many of you may have heard the latest regarding the resolution of the cattle feed contamination situation in Texas, I wanted to ensure that you received this statement issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency in charge of regulating feed components. The FDA has said the cattle involved are to be rendered and the material will not enter ruminant or human food channels. The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) will provided assistance to the FDA as requested and needed.

FDA ANNOUNCES TEST RESULTS FROM TEXAS FEED LOT

Today (Tuesday, Jan. the Food and Drug Administration announced the results of tests taken on feed used at a Texas feedlot that was suspected of containing meat and bone meal from other domestic cattle -- a violation of FDA's 1997 prohibition on using ruminant material in feed for other ruminants. Results indicate that a very low level of prohibited material was found in the feed fed to cattle.

FDA has determined that each animal could have consumed, at most and in total, five-and-one-half grams - approximately a quarter ounce -- of prohibited material. These animals weigh approximately 600 pounds.

It is important to note that the prohibited material was domestic in origin (therefore not likely to contain infected material because there is no evidence of BSE in U.S. cattle), fed at a very low level, and fed only once. The potential risk of BSE to such cattle is therefore exceedingly low, even if the feed were contaminated.

According to Dr. Bernard Schwetz, FDA's Acting Principal Deputy Commissioner, "The challenge to regulators and industry is to keep this disease out of the United States. One important defense is to prohibit the use of any ruminant animal materials in feed for other ruminant animals. Combined with other steps, like U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) ban on the importation of live ruminant animals from affected countries, these steps represent a series of protections, to keep American cattle free of BSE."

Despite this negligible risk, Purina Mills, Inc., is nonetheless announcing that it is voluntarily purchasing all 1,222 of the animals held in Texas and mistakenly fed the animal feed containing the prohibited material. Therefore, meat from those animals will not enter the human food supply. FDA believes any cattle that did not consume feed containing the prohibited material are unaffected by this incident, and should be handled in the beef supply clearance process as usual.

FDA believes that Purina Mills has behaved responsibly by first reporting the human error that resulted in the misformulation of the animal feed supplement and then by working closely with State and Federal authorities. This episode indicates that the multi-layered safeguard system put into place is essential for protecting the food supply and that continued vigilance needs to be taken, by all concerned, to ensure these rules are followed routinely.

FDA will continue working with USDA as well as state and local officials to ensure that

companies and individuals comply with all laws and regulations designed to protect the U.S.

food supply.

---30--

http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/News/pr/2001/101FEED_ISSUE_RESOLVED.pdf

TEXAS also renders it's suspect mad cows, instead of testing for BSE/TSE ;

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Statement May 4, 2004 Media Inquiries: 301-827-6242 Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

Statement on Texas Cow With Central Nervous System Symptoms On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed.

FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse.

FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed). Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA.

Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).

FDA is sending a letter to the firm summarizing its findings and informing the firm that FDA will not object to use of this material in swine feed only. If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed. Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs.

To protect the U.S. against BSE, FDA works to keep certain mammalian protein out of animal feed for cattle and other ruminant animals. FDA established its animal feed rule in 1997 after the BSE epidemic in the U.K. showed that the disease spreads by feeding infected ruminant protein to cattle.

Under the current regulation, the material from this Texas cow is not allowed in feed for cattle or other ruminant animals. FDA's action specifying that the material go only into swine feed means also that it will not be fed to poultry.

FDA is committed to protecting the U.S. from BSE and collaborates closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all BSE issues. The animal feed rule provides crucial protection against the spread of BSE, but it is only one of several such firewalls. FDA will soon be improving the animal feed rule, to make this strong system even stronger.

####

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01061.html

TEXAS also submits suspect mad cow tissue samples for testing 7+ months LATE, something that is suppose to be done in 48 hours, but this only after an act of Congress and thanks to the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG ;

USDA ANNOUNCES BSE TEST RESULTS AND NEW BSE CONFIRMATORY TESTING PROTOCOL

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2005 -- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has received final test results from The Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England, confirming that a sample from an animal that was blocked from the food supply in November 2004 has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Johanns also directed USDA scientists to work with international experts to thoughtfully develop a new protocol that includes performing dual confirmatory tests in the event of another "inconclusive" BSE screening test. ...snip...end

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/06/0232.xml

Media/Press For Immediate Release: June 29, 2005 Contact: Allen Spelce or Beverly Boyd (512) 463-7664

Results Of BSE Test Announced

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Agriculture reported today that DNA has confirmed the 12-year-old cow testing positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – commonly known as mad cow disease – was from a Texas herd. The cow, which was originally tested and sampled in November 2004, was blocked and removed from the human food supply last year at the time of testing.

"Texas cattle producers are committed to ensuring that the nation's beef supply remains safe for all consumers both here and abroad," Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs said. "It is important to remember that this animal was banned from the food or feed chain and that long-standing safeguards have been in place to protect public health."

Because the animal was unable to walk, it was removed from the food supply and was processed at a facility that handles animals unsuitable for human consumption. The carcass was incinerated.

The infected cow was born before the industry's ban on feeding ruminant-derived protein to cattle.

"Because of progressive steps taken by the U.S. cattle industry and the government and the strong firewalls in place, the American beef supply remains safe. For more than two decades, the government and industry have taken precautions to protect the public health," Combs said. "Following the discovery of a Canadian-born cow with BSE in Washington state in December 2003, additional safeguards were added."

In 2003, USDA banned from the human food supply any cattle that are unable to walk or show signs of possible neurological disease. In addition, USDA mandates that material that would most likely carry the BSE agent, such as the brain and spinal cord, be removed from the food supply.

"Last year I met with British veterinarians, researchers and cattle producers in the United Kingdom to learn how the United Kingdom had handled its outbreak of BSE. Their system had clearly been inadequate. This is not the case in the United States," Combs said. "We have had a nearly 20-year plan with effective safeguards.

"Our strong vigilance should assure consumers that the United States has the safest beef supply in the world," Combs said.

Texas is the leading cattle state in the nation with 13.8 million head or 15 percent of the total U.S. cattle inventory. In 2004, cattle added $8 billion to the Texas agricultural economy with a total economic impact of $14 billion on the state's economy.

Return to Media/Press Index

Send Questions and Comments to: [email protected]

http://www.agr.state.tx.us/media/press_releases/0605/com_062905.htm

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - 7:21:57 PM TX Gov. Comments on Mad Cow Disease

From news release:

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry issued the following statement today on the announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that a cow recently tested for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – commonly known as mad cow disease – is from a Texas herd.

"I want to urge calm and reassure the public that they can have the highest confidence in our beef supply, and the safeguards we have in place to protect the public from the spread of BSE. There is not, nor has there ever been, a known instance of BSE contaminating the food supply in Texas or anywhere else in the United States. The animal in question was not processed into food or any other product. Texans can be sure that the beef they buy at their local supermarkets or restaurants is as safe today as it was yesterday, and I encourage Texans to continue to enjoy Texas beef products."

http://www.kten.com/article.asp?id=8833 http://www.agr.state.tx.us/media/press_releases

how in the hell can beef be safe in Texas after getting caught lying about a Second MAD COW in TEXAS. they did not render that stumbling and staggering cow that showed all signs of BSE without any test at all for nothing. i wish Govern Perry would show me his mad cow crystal ball. we still feed cattle to cattle in TEXAS in 2005 for pete's sake. another mad cow official that is married to the industry. in fact, we feed a single cow 5.5 grams of ruminant feed in Texas, this is _documented_, probably more than that.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Rick Perry, Texas, BSE aka mad cow disease, CJD, and 12 years of lies there from

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2011/08/rick-perry-texas-bse-aka-mad-cow.html

MAD COW DISEASE, TEXAS STYLE

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_23850.cfm

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Galveston, Texas - Isle port moves through thousands of heifers headed to Russia, none from Texas, Alabama, or Washington, due to BSE risk factor

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/galveston-texas-isle-port-moves-through.html

see mad cow feed in commerce ;

Saturday, November 6, 2010

TAFS1 Position Paper on Position Paper on Relaxation of the Feed Ban in the EU Berne, 2010 TAFS

INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR TRANSMISSIBLE ANIMAL DISEASES AND FOOD SAFETY a non-profit Swiss Foundation

http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2010/11/tafs1-position-paper-on-position-paper.html

Archive Number 20101206.4364 Published Date 06-DEC-2010 Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Prion disease update 2010 (11)

PRION DISEASE UPDATE 2010 (11)

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/f?p=2400:1001:5492868805159684::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,86129

Monday, September 12, 2011

BSE PRION Agriculture Animal Feed Question House of Lords Thursday, 8 September 2011

snip...

It is clear that the designing scientists must also have shared Mr Bradleys surprise at the results because all the dose levels right down to 1 gram triggered infection.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040523230128/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/ws/s145d.pdf

it is clear that the designing scientists must have also shared Mr Bradleyâs surprise at the results because all the dose levels right down to 1 gram triggered infection.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030526212610/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/ws/s147f.pdf

Experimental BSE Infection of Non-human Primates: Efficacy of the Oral Route

Holznagel, E1; Yutzy, B1; Deslys, J-P2; Lasmézas, C2; Pocchiari, M3; Ingrosso, L3; Bierke, P4; Schulz-Schaeffer, W5; Motzkus, D6; Hunsmann, G6; Löwer, J1 1Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Germany; 2Commissariat à l´Energie Atomique, France; 3Instituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy; 4Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease control, Sweden; 5Georg August University, Germany; 6German Primate Center, Germany

Background: In 2001, a study was initiated in primates to assess the risk for humans to contract BSE through contaminated food. For this purpose, BSE brain was titrated in cynomolgus monkeys.

Aims: The primary objective is the determination of the minimal infectious dose (MID50) for oral exposure to BSE in a simian model, and, by in doing this, to assess the risk for humans. Secondly, we aimed at examining the course of the disease to identify possible biomarkers.

Methods: Groups with six monkeys each were orally dosed with lowering amounts of BSE brain: 16g, 5g, 0.5g, 0.05g, and 0.005g. In a second titration study, animals were intracerebrally (i.c.) dosed (50, 5, 0.5, 0.05, and 0.005 mg).

Results: In an ongoing study, a considerable number of high-dosed macaques already developed simian vCJD upon oral or intracerebral exposure or are at the onset of the clinical phase. However, there are differences in the clinical course between orally and intracerebrally infected animals that may influence the detection of biomarkers.

Conclusions: Simian vCJD can be easily triggered in cynomolgus monkeys on the oral route using less than 5 g BSE brain homogenate. The difference in the incubation period between 5 g oral and 5 mg i.c. is only 1 year (5 years versus 4 years). However, there are rapid progressors among orally dosed monkeys that develop simian vCJD as fast as intracerebrally inoculated animals.

The work referenced was performed in partial fulfilment of the study "BSE in primates" supported by the EU (QLK1-2002-01096).

http://www.neuroprion.org/resources/pdf_docs/conferences/prion2007/abstract_book.pdf

Simian vCJD can be easily triggered in cynomolgus monkeys on the oral route using less than 5 g BSE brain homogenate.

http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion%20Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf

WE know now, and we knew decades ago, that 5.5 grams of suspect feed in TEXAS was enough to kill 100 cows.

look at the table and you'll see that as little as 1 mg (or 0.001 gm) caused 7% (1 of 14) of the cows to come down with BSE;

Risk of oral infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in primates

Corinne Ida Lasmézas, Emmanuel Comoy, Stephen Hawkins, Christian Herzog, Franck Mouthon, Timm Konold, Frédéric Auvré, Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra-Etchegaray, Nicole Salès, Gerald Wells, Paul Brown, Jean-Philippe Deslys Summary The uncertain extent of human exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)--which can lead to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)--is compounded by incomplete knowledge about the efficiency of oral infection and the magnitude of any bovine-to-human biological barrier to transmission. We therefore investigated oral transmission of BSE to non-human primates. We gave two macaques a 5 g oral dose of brain homogenate from a BSE-infected cow. One macaque developed vCJD-like neurological disease 60 months after exposure, whereas the other remained free of disease at 76 months. On the basis of these findings and data from other studies, we made a preliminary estimate of the food exposure risk for man, which provides additional assurance that existing public health measures can prevent transmission of BSE to man.

snip...

BSE bovine brain inoculum

100 g 10 g 5 g 1 g 100 mg 10 mg 1 mg 0·1 mg 0·01 mg

Primate (oral route)* 1/2 (50%)

Cattle (oral route)* 10/10 (100%) 7/9 (78%) 7/10 (70%) 3/15 (20%) 1/15 (7%) 1/15 (7%)

RIII mice (ic ip route)* 17/18 (94%) 15/17 (88%) 1/14 (7%)

PrPres biochemical detection

The comparison is made on the basis of calibration of the bovine inoculum used in our study with primates against a bovine brain inoculum with a similar PrPres concentration that was inoculated into mice and cattle.8 *Data are number of animals positive/number of animals surviving at the time of clinical onset of disease in the first positive animal (%). The accuracy of bioassays is generally judged to be about plus or minus 1 log. ic ip=intracerebral and intraperitoneal.

Table 1: Comparison of transmission rates in primates and cattle infected orally with similar BSE brain inocula

Published online January 27, 2005

http://www.thelancet.com/journal/journal.isa

snip...

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/09/bse-prion-agriculture-animal-feed.html

Monday, October 10, 2011

EFSA Journal 2011 The European Response to BSE: A Success Story

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/10/efsa-journal-2011-european-response-to.html

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Transmissibility of BSE-L and Cattle-Adapted TME Prion Strain to Cynomolgus Macaque

"BSE-L in North America may have existed for decades"

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/transmissibility-of-bse-l-and-cattle.html

Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.

snip...

The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle...

http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Risk Analysis of Low-Dose Prion Exposures in Cynomolgus Macaque

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/risk-analysis-of-low-dose-prion.html

===

slick rick perry has made Texas, a state i was born and bred in, a state i love, he has made it a Toxic mess, from making Texas a nuclear dump for 38 states, to making air quality here a cr@p shoot as to whether you live or die from cancer causing chemical emissions and cancer causing chemical dumps.

A summary of the Report of the Mayor's Task Force on the Health Effects of Air Pollution

ABSTRACT Air pollution levels in the City of Houston are considered to be unacceptable by knowledgeable experts and the general public and are likely to cause air-pollution related health effects for Houston residents. Pollutant levels are driven by many sources including: tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and buses; toxic pollutants emitted into the air by more than 400 chemical manufacturing facilities, including 2 of the 4 largest refineries in the U.S.; the petrochemical complex along the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Houston; and many small operations spread geographically across Greater Houston, such as surface coating processes, dry cleaners, gas stations, printing processes, restaurants, charcoal barbecues, and gasoline-fueled lawn maintenance equipment. Mayor Bill White's Task Force on the Health Effects of Air Pollution was formed to identify priority pollutants for the City of Houston. The Task Force considered information on health effects (California EPA & OEHHA, 2002; California OEHHA, 2005; U.S. EPA, 2005, 2006d, 2006e, ATSDR) and both modeled (U.S. EPA, 2006a) and measured ambient pollutant concentrations (U.S. EPA, 2006b, 2006c) to assign 179 air pollutants (hazardous air pollutants [HAPs] and criteria pollutants) to 1 of 5 risk categories: definite, probable, possible, unlikely and uncertain. A dozen of these substances were judged to pose a definite risk to human health. Finally, the distribution of these risks was found to be far from equal. The substances identified as definite risks were found in greater numbers in several East Houston neighborhoods adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel. Full results of the Task Force work can be found in their Report to the Mayor (Sexton, et al., 2006).

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei16/session6/bethel.pdf

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE

(see more photo's of railcars loaded with MOUND COLD WAR NUCLEAR AFTER-BIRTH headed to Texas)

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/08/company-advances-on-plan-for-west-texas.html

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html

December 20, 2010

Don't Trash Texas— Unless You Pay Perry $1.1 Million A billionaire gives the governor $500,000 more to make Texas the nation's nuclear waste dump.

http://info.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/pdf/SimmonsNukeImport.pdf

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/rick-perrys-nuclear-money-mach.html

===

slick rick perry handling of the state schools and the abuse to those folks turns my stomach. my family has personal experience from that. i have seen the abuse.

===

so hopalong, you are very ill informed ???

dang, hopalong, you are not worth the time of the day, and i just wasted about 2 minutes... :???:
 
flounder said:
i have no fascination for slick rick perry. i have hate."
Faster horses said:
flounder, I have no dog in this hunt, but I do know
hate turns to poison and makes YOU sick.

I agree FH, hate is like a cancer.. it seldom effects the person who is hated yet eats away at the person who lets hate infect themselves..

hate is vulgar.. and a person who hates is not worth wasting time on..
 
I didn't read flippers rant but I do suspect he has first hand knowledge of how the Mentally Challenged are treated.

Yep, I bet he's been there, done that. :lol:
 
problem is flipper i know more about you than i really want to!!!!
YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE, that is a sickness that make you a big time nothing!!!!

EH DR terry,,, high school drop out, self proclaimed expert, hater extreme
 

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