Comments on: California Cow Is Mad

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:33:20 +0000

Yes, in the US. I’m not sure what your knowing means.

By: ConsoleatLaw

ConsoleatLaw — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:54:03 +0000

Only 4 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease since 1993? I find this very hard to believe since I personally know 2 people who were infected and ultimately died of the disease! There is cause for ALARM!

By: Wow

Wow — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:41:28 +0000

“And despite the scarcity of BSE and CJD in the US”

Is this because it is scarce, or that it is scarcely reported?

The UK government wanted to call it not BSE so that their beef could be sold to France.

Note too that the USA do not want to say whether there are any GMOs in their exports. So it’s not like “not saying” isn’t something that they’re willing to do, is it.

By: george.w

george.w — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:33:06 +0000

I want twenty bucks every time I hear an official say anything like “There is really no concern for alarm here…”

Then at least I could get lunch for me and the mrs. Unless the official in question has told us that there’s no cause for alarm in whatever the lunch is made of.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:40:20 +0000

Yeah, it seems possible that this is a BSE variant that jumped from an innocuous prion to a pathogenic one in situ. Probably happens now and then.

By: g724

g724 — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:46:14 +0000

It would be interesting to know in what county this cow originated, and how this particular cow came to the attention of authorities to the point where it was tested.

And despite the scarcity of BSE and CJD in the US, there’s no way I’m ever going to eat in a restaurant that has “brains” on the menu (in Mexican restaurants the things to watch out for are “sesos” and “cabezas”). Anything nasty that gets into the brain of a cow or other meat animal, has a sufficiently high probability of passing the blood/brain barrier in humans that I don’t want to mess with it. There are plenty of other things to eat without taking that risk.

However I have no fear of (pasteurized) dairy products, and at this very moment I’m enjoying some ice cream.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:08:29 +0000

It is highly unlikely that this cow had the same form of mad cow disease seen in England. Sporadic cases are known to happen that are not related to being fed contaminated feed (atypical). This incident should not reflect badly on the safety of our beef supply.