Mad Cow Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Mad Cow Blog

A suspected victim of  Mad Cow Disease has been identified and his death by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease confirmed.

Milton Eugene Rebarchek of Monument, Kansas died in January and now the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center confirms he died of C-J, which is related to Mad Cow Disease, and  turns the brain tissue spongy.

Mr. Rebarchek's identity and National Prion's findings were made public by his brother, Frank Rebarchek of Scott City,  Kansas.   The victim worked in a packing plant 15 or 20 years ago, according to the brother.

Where the victim was exposed remains unkown.   The incubation period for C-J disease can run to decades and the diagnosis requires testing brain tissue.  It is always fatal.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob can come from blood transfusions and can be hereditary in very rare cases. On average, 250 to 300 cases are reported in the United States

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The largest beef recall in United States history occurred largely because of video evidence that at least a couple "downer cows" made it into the food supply.

Now comes word from the Animal Welfare Institute, a 57-year old non-profit that wants to abolish so-called "factory" farming and achieve humane slaughter practices, that it has records from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) of 501 humane-handling or slaughter violations involving "downer cows."

The violations apparently occurred in the 18 months prior to March 2004.    The records tell of a downed cow being pushed 15 feet with a forklift. Other companies were cited for dragging downed but conscious animals, letting downed cattle be trampled and stood on by others and, in one case, using "excessive force" with a rope and an electric prod to get a downed cow to stand.

The USDA records indicate that more than 10 percent of the humane-slaughter violations issued by the department involved animals, mostly cattle, that could not walk.

"Downer cows" are much more likely to be carrying diseases like Mad Cow, E. coli, and salmonella.   Since an undercover video tape surfaced of a Chino, CA slaughterhouse that was forcing "downer cows" into the "knock" or kill box, USDA has been under pressure to stop such animals from entering the human food supply.

For more, check out the USA Today story here.

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From reading the newspapers today, you would think that Steve Mendell, who owns Westland and managed Hallmark, who were partners in the Chino slaughterhouse, was given a rough time on Capitol Hill yesterday.

Mendell gave the impression that he is not a very curious man.   He had not looked at a second Humane Society video tape that actually showed "downer" cows being forced into the "knock" box at the Chino slaughterhouse.   That narrated video was the "smoking" gun that caused the United States Department of Agriculture to demand Mendell make the largest recall of beef in US history.

USDA was suppose to send him a copy.  It never did.  He never bothered to go looking for it on the Humane Society website where it was available to anyone.  After it was shown to him by the House Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, Mendell amended his testimony to acknowledge that at least two "downer" cows had made it into the food supply in violation of USDA policies.

Sure, Mendell went through some discomfort before the Subcommittee.  He clearly does not like watching the Humane Society video tapes.  He wanted to say the tapes showed there was an animal welfare problem, not a food  safety issue.  After the second tape, he had to admit to both.

For the most part, however, Mendell came across as a victim.  A  CEO who could produce documents, training manuals, and numerous government and third party audits.   But, he was personally clueless as to what was going on in the pens and on the floor of the slaughterhouse.  "Obviously, my system broke down," he said.

Best places to go for stories are: The Chicago  Tribune; The New York Times; and the Los Angeles Times.

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Mad cow disease is an awful way to die. Contracting it is a little like coming down with Alzheimer’s, with the body and brain both deteriorating — except that it affects people of any age, not just the elderly. It is terrifying even to think about.

Enough time has passed on the breaking news that was the Chino slaughterhouse that writers are weighing in with analysis pieces.   The quote above was from the New York Times story that ran over the weekend by Joe Nocera.  It ran the business section and can be found here.

Nocera does a good job of logging all the events that followed the secret video taping of extreme cruelty to "downer" cows inside the Chino meat processing plant that is owned by Hallark/Westland.   He then gets into the controversy, writing that:

You see, downer cows — animals that are not standing on their feet when they are slaughtered — are said to have an increased risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (B.S.E.), the dreaded mad cow disease

Today there is another analytical story out on "downer cows" by the Chicago Tribune's Stephen J. Hedges.  It ran in the Buffalo News and can be found here.  Hedges notes that:

But the video also has focused new light on a practice that some animal welfare and food safety experts contend is an old problem: the use in beef production of dairy cows that are spent and barely able to stand, due to calcium depletion from being milked intensively for years.

If we put aside concerns about the nation's school lunch program and all the problems surrounding the biggest beef recall in history, we still cannot help be being struck by the fact that all of this is occurring without causing anyone illness nor even being considered much of a health risk. 

But the potential threat from "downer" cows and Mad Cow Disease has sure captured everyone's attention.  So read on and remember, the pictures with some of these stories are graphic.  We've decided not to put anymore of them here.  At least for now.

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Edward T. Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture, this week was defending the status quo when it comes to "downer" cows.  USDA's current policy is that if a cow on the way to slaughter goes down,  there should be additional inspection by a veterinarian, who might rule the animal is healthy enough to get whacked.

The Humane Society of America wants a complete ban against putting "downer" cows in the human food supply, and the organization that is responsible for the undercover video of the now closed Chino slaughter house went to court this week to get its way.  The same suggestion was given to Schafer by Democrat Senators.  Example:

"We cannot allow a single downer cow to enter our food supply under any circumstances," said Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin.

Kohl called for installing cameras in slaughterhouses.  Today, Stephen J. Hedges, who works out of the  Washington Bureau of the Chicago Tribune, published a piece that really does an excellent job of making sense out of all of this "downer" cow business.  Hedges writes:

USDA and beef industry officials were quick to acknowledge, then discount, an obvious health concern presented by the videotape of downer cows at the Chino plant: mad cow disease.

The inability of a cow to stand is considered a symptom of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), though cattle may go down for a number of reasons, including ailing or broken limbs, exhaustion and lack of water.

BSE deteriorates a cow's nervous system and brain, and can similarly afflict humans who eat meat infected with BSE.

The rest of the Chicago Tribune story can be found here.

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