Re: [gardeners] Re:OT - Mad cow disease in cats

George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 11 Mar 2001 11:27:51 -0600 

I don't intend to give up my beef and that includes hamburger. If we respond to
all the scares thrown out by the media we'll all be starving to death or dying
of thirst. Big scare around here last year about dioxins in the water supply,
turned out to be a big rumor deliberately spread by a worldwide environmental
group that is trying to shut down all manufacture of chemicals. 

George

bsk wrote:
> 
>   I don't know all that much about Mad Cow Disease and I think that the
> officials also have a whole lot to learn. I understand that the commercial beef
> market ( and other meat animals) does have a lot of unknowns for the consumer
> when they go to the meat counter and even to Mickey D's. I do feel like there
> is a up and coming opportunity for the ranchers to have their own local meat
> market with the animals they have grown to be sold to the public. If there is a
> test that could be done on healthy cows to confirm no evidence of the dreaded
> BSE's this would make his meat "prime" for sure.
>     As a cattle grower like us although we just have about 100 head, which is
> really small by meat production standards, this is a terrifying thing to have
> get into the U.S. What is even worse is the publics own panic over something
> they may not know enough facts about to think rationally when making a beef
> purchase. This is a huge scare to the U.S. meat industry and I for one would
> not feed these feed ingredients just for the simple reason it could wipe me out
> and my family would be without income. Why would a person take care of animals
> in such a way that not only jeopardizes the public but your family?
>      From what I understand there is more of a problem as far as wiping out the
> beef industry with hoof and mouth disease than with Mad Cow. I am beginning to
> think that mad cow disease in the meat industry is or will be similar to the
> AIDS virus when it was first found out by the public. Major terror, some
> deaths, eventual education on avoidance, some new meat production rules and
> checks then the public will get back to understanding and coping with obtaining
> safe meat for the table.Until there is widespread confirmation I would try to
> see that the beef I purchase is U.S. beef not something foreign. How to find
> that out I just don't know. I am just glad we have our own cattle to butcher
> for the table.
>      Take any animal or human, submit them to numerous tests and you will find
> "something" wrong with them caused by something common . Keep it up and we will
> have to use all our knowledge we have gained on this garden list to become
> vegetarians so we can haves something to eat. At least that is until they find
> something wrong with vegetables that will kill us.
> 
> Ranchmama
> **************************
> 
> Margaret Lauterbach wrote:
> 
> > The March 12 Newsweek magazine has a cover story on mad cow disease
> > reporting that cats fed beef byproducts in cat food have developed symptoms
> > of BSE.   Prions seem to reside primarily in the brain and nerve fibers,
> > including the spinal cord. Should Americans stop eating beef?  The article
> > certainly gave me more than pause. I still have some Wranglers in the
> > refrig which I'll toss out, and I won't buy hamburger again.  They haven't
> > found BSE in America, but critics say they would if they looked harder.  Of
> > that British ground mad cow feed, it was shipped all over the world, to
> > more than 80 countries. Indonesia imported some 600,000 metric tons, and
> > Thailand 185,000 metric tons.  These countries are apparently not
> > monitoring for disease in animals there.  Scares me. Margaret L