MORRISON: Mad cow disease -- a good way to stop beef consumption

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

By Joyce Morrison

link to article

OPINION -- There is a story about a disgruntled farm wife who could never be satisfied and she was known to put a slant on situations to gain sympathy. Unhappy with her son who farmed on 50/50 shares with her, she told family members, "He got a whole cow to butcher and I only got half a cow. He is robbing me."

Not thinking through what she said, the family was furious at this son for robbing his mother. Finally, someone woke up and asked, "What happened to the other half of your cow?" The farm wife knew she had been caught and sheepishly had to admit she didn’t need a whole cow and had sold the other half.

In the fast pace we live, we choose not to take the time to "think" about what we hear or read. We jump to our own conclusions based on the media spin that forms the thoughts of the nation not thinking to question what happened to the "other half."

In the environmental world, people have been responding to the environmentalists' spin in the same way the farm wife's family did about the son. They heard what she said, but did not let it sink in unless it affects them.

The mad cow mania has hit home. This dreaded cow disease has arrived in the United States. But before we are quick to panic, let’s look at the "other half" of the story.

Some very serious research and tracking has been in place since 1986 when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), aka mad cow disease, was first discovered in England.

In the tragic outbreak in England, 3.7 million head of cattle were destroyed, with the hopes of eliminating any possible residual effects of the disease. Health officials in the United States and other countries have been putting measures of prevention in force to keep any occurance of BSE from happening as it did in England.

Both the cow in Canada and the one in the United States were traced to their origin, proving the tracking system is working.

"Only 140 people (153 updated figure), worldwide, have ever contracted variant CJD and there is no proof that the disease was directly attributed to the consumption of contaminated meat products," Trent Loos of Faces of Agriculture said this week.

Scientists say BSE does not spread from animal to animal or from animal to humans. The leading theory is BSE only spreads to animals through the ingestion of contaminated feed.

Health officials tell us the meat and milk of a BSE diseased animal are not contaminated and are safe for consumption. The disease is contained in the brain and spinal column, parts which are not used in the meat market.

How many people in the world died of the contagious flu this week alone? How many people died in car accidents this past week? We still go out in public where the flu could be spread. We still drive our cars.

The list is very long of the risks we take each and every day. Consider these statistics and then calculate your risks of eating beef.

We are talking about 153 people worldwide having contracted this BSE type lethal disease (which is a variant called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)) in humans.

In both the United States and Canada, a single infected cow was reported. One cow among millions of healthy cows. Are there more infected? Maybe. But now the USDA is putting in place their prevention safeguards and the chances of any infected animal reaching the food market are very slim.

As of December 1, 2003, a total of 153 human cases of Variant CJD had been reported in the world: 143 from the United Kingdom, six from France, and one each from Canada, Ireland, Italy, and the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. case was reported in a patient who lived in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States.

In August, 2002 the first confirmed case of variant CJD was diagnosed in Canada. However, all the evidence indicates that in this case, the individual was infected in the United Kingdom. There have been no subsequent cases of variant CJD in Canada.

Germany put down 40,000 cows because of a problem in Bavaria with three herds. This is a massive overreaction to the disease.

BSE is not to be taken lightly and the cause should be found. We certainly do not want the situation England had to face. Both Canada and United States scientists are working systematically and by the book to get the answers.

Canada does not permit cattle that are sick or down to be slaughtered for food. The cow with BSE in Canada was caught before it ever reached the food chain. Regardless, they have lost $8 million dollars a day over this one episode which they could have swept under the carpet and no one would ever have known it even existed.

The USDA has federal and state meat inspectors that are responsible for keeping every single cow that is not fit for food consumption from entering the food market. Integrity on the part of the shipper, processor and inspector are essential to keep our food safe and the public has the right to expect that protection.

If there are cover-ups in the beef industry, they should be disclosed. The public deserves honest answers and they should expect the truth from the USDA and other agencies. What is not needed is media hype making for hot news using unfounded conclusions.

Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and Russia all have imposed various bans on American meat since U.S. officials announced the presence of mad cow in the Washington cow.

Canada said they will continue to import cattle from the United States.

Gregg Doud, an economist with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said Friday that "the United States could lose at least $6 billion a year in exports and sagging domestic prices due to the mad cow diagnosis," the AP reported.

"We've lost roughly 90 percent of our export market just in the last three days," Doud said.

Cattle raisers in the United States had recently been enjoying some of the highest market prices in history for their product. Credit for the price increases has been given to the popular Atkins diet as well as the border being closed to the importation of Canadian cattle. Ironically, following the discovery of this one single cow with BSE, a panic market plunged the cattle market.

What really causes BSE? Apparently no one knows for certain. Most believe it is from the feed supplement. However, Mark Purdy, an organic dairy farmer from Somerset, England has a different theory.

Purdy refused to spray his cattle with organophosphates, a chemical required by the British government to be used to fight the warble fly. Purdy went to court to challenge the order and he was exempted from using the spray on his farm. BSE was not found in Purdy’s herd. Purdy studied the disease when it hit England and argues that mad cow disease is not caused by a virus but is a result of organophospate pesticides and toxic mineral overload.

Purdy believes the combination of milk replacer given calves and organophosphates used to spray the cattle for the warble fly creates a combination that produces extreme accumulations of manganese in the brain.

"I just hope that the beef industry in America realizes that we’re not as 'way out' as has been suggested. The industry is shooting itself in the foot by rejecting the link to toxic mineral excess and organophosphate pesticides. We have accumulated so much hard evidence now-more than all other theories," Purdy said in his article "Animal Pharm."

Dairy cattle seem to have been more prone to the disease. When a cow has a calf, the calf nurses the collostrum or first milk from the cow. It is then taken from the cow and fed a milk replacer which supports Purdy’s theory. The "freshened" cow is then used for milking.

There is still a mystery as to how the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the lethal human form of "mad cow" disease, is actually transmitted.

We might give mention to another group who is promoting the mad cow disease scare.

Newsmax.com ran an article entitled "Pro-PETA Group Hyping Mad Cow Scare." PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is known for their extreme views and how much they detest the meat industry. They turn test animals loose and release animals from places such as mink farms. Some of their tactics are irresponsible.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is "PETA masquerading as a medical charity," according to the Newsmax article.

The American Medical Association has soundly rejected PCRM’s advice in the past, calling the group’s recommendations "irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans" according to the Newsmax article.

They promote strict vegan diets and oppose anyone who eats meat. In I Timothy 4:3, Scripture tells us that there will be those in the latter days who will say we should be "forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

PETA is reported to be buying stock in meat processing companies and restaurants such as Outback Steakhouse and Applebee's Restaurants. PETA reportedly owns shares of Denny’s and Chili’s parent, Brinker International as well as meat processing companies such as Hormel Foods, Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride, according to The Meating Place.

Let’s think about this. Why would an animal rights group buy stock in steak houses and meat processing companies if they didn’t have a plan?

A story hype that you can’t escape in the news is about a virus with a condemning name such as "mad cow disease." Does this sound like good way to keep people from eating beef?

Every day I am in touch with farm wives from across the United States and Canada. Many of these women and their families operate dairy and beef farms. The importance of the small family farm is the closeness they have with their livestock and products. There is integrity on family farms and not one of these farm families would send an animal or product to the food market they would not eat themselves.

Increasingly there has been a move to do away with the small family farm. Financially many have been forced to give up. Some measures being proposed would literally bankrupt the small operation, which is the safest supply of food.

The farm wives I hear from daily are confident enough in their safe beef supply that until there is solid scientific evidence to prove otherwise, they will continue to eat beef and feed it to their families.

For more information on the mad cow disease controversy, the USDA, FDA and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) websites have updated information on the BSE situation.
___________

What are your thoughts concerning the issues raised in this commentary? Write a letter to the editor at letters~illinoisleader.com, and include name and town.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joyce Morrison lives in southern Illinois. She is a chapter leader for Concerned Women for America and she and her husband, Gary, represent the local Citizens for Private Property Rights. Joyce is Secretary to the Board of Directors of Rural Restoration/ADOPT Mission, a national farm ministry located in Sikeston.