Here Is Story on Canada's Mad Cow No. 15

Posted on November 18, 2008 by Mad Cow

Whitney McFerron at Bloomberg News is following the discovery of the 15th Mad Cow in Canada since May 2003.

Canada has this routine down pretty well.  It just issued  a report on the investigation into the likely cause of Mad Cow No. 13, 14 is still under investigation, and 15 was found on a farm in British Columbia.

According to Bloomberg:

``The age and location of the infected animal are consistent with previous cases detected in Canada,'' the agency said. Regulators are also tracking down other animals in the cow's herd when it was born, the agency said. Testing for the disease began in 1992 in Canada, and was broadened in 2003, according to the Canadian regulator's Web site.

In 1997, Canada and the U.S. banned the use of cattle feed containing ground-up cow tissue, which scientists say is the way most animals contract the brain-wasting infection. As in other recent cases in Canada, the sick cow was born after the ban.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as BSE or mad-cow disease, has been linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide. Eating meat from BSE-infected animals has been tied to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an incurable human illness that destroys brain tissue.

Last year, the U.S. eased most restrictions on Canadian beef and cattle after determining the animals pose ``minimal risk'' for mad-cow disease. The U.S. has confirmed three cases of the disease since December 2003, including one in an animal born in Canada. 

Here's Canada's official statement on the 7-year old dairy cow.


 

 

Tags:

Study Finds French Covered Up Their Mad Cow Problem In Early 1990s

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Mad Cow

Why did nine French citizens die from variant Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of Mad Cow Disease or BSE, between 1996 and 2006?  

Mad Cow Disease or BSE was discovered in England in 1986, resulting in the slaughter of  herds by the millions and bans on British beef exports that lasted for years.  With no British beef being consumed in France, why were there deaths?

A study ordered by a Paris judge has answered that question:  French deaths from Mad Cow disease were due to its presence in French herds at a time when the government and industry said they didn't have a problem.

According to the UK's Mail: The revelation that BSE was rife in France in the early 1990s comes a decade after its illegal ban on British beef drove many UK farmers into bankruptcy. 

 

The report also exposes the hypocrisy of France's insistence that during the 1990s British herds were riddled with mad cow disease, while French beef was safe to eat.

Check here for more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: