Mad Cow USA: The Nightmare Is Here

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber's 1997 book Mad
Cow USA warned that unless the US adopted the same strict regulations implemented in Britain, including a ban on feeding rendered slaughterhouse waste as animal feed, mad cow disease would eventually emerge in the US. The US failed to act and late Tuesday the Secretary of Agriculture target="_blank">Ann Veneman announced that the first US case of mad cow disease has appeared in a "downer cow" in the state of Washington. Within minutes of USDA's news conference John Stauber was interviewed on CNN and Rampton or Stauber were interviewed in The New York Times, The Guardian and other media refuting the reassuring spin of the USDA. Center for Consumer Freedom, a tobacco, booze and food industry front group, wasted no time attacking Rampton and Stauber on behalf of its corporate funders such as Excel/Cargill, National Steak & Poultry, Outback Steak House, Tyson Foods, Wendy's, Whitecastle and others. The first case of mad cow disease in North America was found in Canada in May, 2003. You can read an HREF="http://www.maddeer.org/coweatcowworld.html"
target="_blank">interview Stauber gave this August warning that the disease was likely also in the US. In related news, HREF="http://www.nature.com/nsu/031215/031215-14.html"
target="_blank">Nature reports what might be the first case of human mad cow disease spread by blood transfusion. In laboratory experiments blood plasma can spread mad cow-typed diseases, but the US government allows calves to be fed milk formula containing cattle blood plasma as a source of protein.