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Mad Dubya disease
Here's a disturbing and angry piece by David Shuster at MSNBC.com about mad cow disease, and the Bushies who ignore the problem out of seeming deference to their campaign contributors. Mad cow disease has already laid waste to Britain's cattle industry, and Japan appears to be next. America's cattle industry experts, who apparently don't work for Bush's US Department of Agriculture, are extremely nervous about an outbreak here.
Mad Cow Disease, also called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE, is caused by a mutant protein called a prion. Prions are even simpler than viruses, and almost impossible to kill. You can boil them, fry them, or expose them to temperature high enough to melt lead and, just like that creepy Jason guy in the Friday the 13th Movies, prions just keep coming back for more. Unlike Jason, who uses icepicks and garden implements to dispatch his victims, prions attack your brain, but not in a Fox News kind of way. BSE victims experience rapidly escalating dementia and then, mercifully, death.
The number one route of transmission for BSE is the delightful beef production practice of feeding slaughterhouse waste to cows. That's right, US beef cattle eat bits of tissue from other beef cattle. Commercially produced calf feed, not all but some, contains slaughterhouse waste.
To prevent a BSE outbreak, all the USDA has to do is ban turning American cattle into bovine Hannibal Lecters. That's what the World Health Organization suggests, but the WHO is affiliated with the United Nations, which is about as popluar with the Bushies as veggie burgers at a Texas cattleman's picnic.
According to Shuster:The Department of Agriculture refuses to even consider stronger regulations that would put an end to this disgusting practice. But it gets even worse. The department is doing everything it can to assure the public that our food chain ?is safe.? Thus, we have a ridiculous pep rally like the one on Thursday at the University of Minnesota. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will, as his press release says, ?hold a roundtable discussion regarding the safety of North American beef...? Those invited to participate include USDA officials, producers, packers, and others... Who are the others? Groups that don'?t want more testing and don?t want the government passing regulations that would make calf feed cleaner and thus slightly more expensive. In fact, consumer groups, organic livestock companies, and beef producers who oppose allowing cows to eat cow blood and slaughterhouse waste will not be allowed to participate.
The Bushies are disgusting.
9.6.05 23:05