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'Mad-cow disease' - where do we go from here?
"Mad-cow disease" has made worldwide headlines in recent months, as more than a dozen countries have reported cases of this brain-wasting disease in cattle, which has been linked to a fatal disease in people. No cases of mad-cow disease or its human variant have been reported in the U.S. or Canada. But the news abroad raises a question: Are our safeguards sufficient to prevent similar problems?
The short answer is that U.S. meat seems safe. However, Consumers Union believes the federal government should take added steps to end practices that could undermine the safety of meat. Our Consumer Policy Institute has been fighting for such changes for years.
Mad-cow disease is one of several similar fatal brain diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs. The name is based on their main effect: The infected brain eventually becomes riddled with spongelike holes. In people, the disease is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD; in cows, it's called mad-cow disease; in sheep, it's scrapie; and in deer and elk, chronic wasting disease. All are believed to be caused by a mutant protein that can apparently induce normal proteins to mimic its shape. Evidence suggests that the disease can jump from species to species when a diseased animal is eaten.
To date, 91 people in three European countries have contracted a strain of CJD that is presumed to have come from eating infected beef. At least 80 people in Britain and 2 in France have died. It is not yet known whether eating meat from infected sheep, deer, or elk has caused anyone to contract CJD.
In the wake of the outbreaks abroad, U.S. officials have already taken some action. Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banned imports of live cattle and sheep from countries where mad-cow disease has been reported. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration banned the feeding of ...
- Consumers Union: USDA Proposals to Prevent Spread of Mad Cow Disease Inadequate...
- News wire article from: AScribe Medicine News Service December 31, 2003 700+ words
...AScribe Newswire) -- Consumers Union, independent nonprofit...the spread of mad cow disease as inadequate to...Research Associate at Consumers Union. "USDA Secretary...cattle for mad cow disease." Consumers Union urges USDA to require...
- Consumers Union Offers Advice on Meat Labels That Do and Don't Help Reduce Risk...
- News wire article from: AScribe Business & Economics News Service January 7, 2004 700+ words
Byline: Consumers Union YONKERS, Jan...Newswire) -- Consumers Union (CU), the...risk from mad cow disease. THE MOST HELPFUL...EXPOSURE TO MAD COW DISEASE CAGE FREE FREE...LABELS.ORG Consumers Union launched www...
- Consumers Union wants more info about USDA's mad cow program.(United States...
- Magazine article from: The Food Institute Report August 1, 2005 700+ words
...finding of a possible third case of mad cow disease in the U.S., CONSUMERS UNION, Yonkers, NY announced it had sent a letter...the more than 400,000 cattle tested." Consumers Union specifically requested data on: The geographic...
- Cattlemen Dispute Report Saying Mad Cow Disease May Be in U.S.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News June 2, 2003 700+ words
...publication that mad cow disease is probably in the...are infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform...groups, including the Consumers Union in New York, argue...000 cases of mad cow disease. More than 3.7 million...
- CATTLE BLOOD BANNED FROM FEED SOME BODY PARTS ALSO TO BE KEPT OUT TO PROTECT...
- Newspaper article from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) Le, Phuong Cat January 27, 2004 700+ words
...the human form of mad cow disease may have been infected...beef tainted with mad cow disease in other countries...research associate with Consumers Union, said of yesterday...of contracting mad cow disease in lab experiments...
- USDA REJECTS CALLS TO TEST YOUNGER COWS MAD COW DISEASE UNLIKELY TO SHOW UP...
- Newspaper article from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) Le, Phuong Cat January 30, 2004 700+ words
...possible cases of mad cow disease. And Japan, the biggest...budget to address mad cow disease, including $17 million...system. Because mad cow disease has an incubation period...Federation of America, Consumers Union and others to press...
- Analysis Shows USDA Testing for Mad Cow Disease Uneven.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News January 16, 2004 700+ words
...government testing for mad cow disease in the nation's largest...USDA tests for mad cow disease will not spot it in...U.S. case of mad cow disease was discovered last...the watchdog group Consumers Union. Groups such as the...
- U.S. Inspector General questions USDA's response to mad cow disease.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News July 14, 2004 700+ words
...ongoing response to mad cow disease," said Los Angeles...prevalence of (mad cow disease) in the United States...with New York-based Consumers Union, the publisher of...was detected with mad cow disease in December. USDA...