Submitted by John Stauber on
Since the announcement that mad cow disease has been found in the US, John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton have conducted hundreds of interviews based on their 1997 book Mad Cow USA. The US government and the livestock industry have launched a massive PR campaign to hide the fact that they are not taking the necessary steps to stop mad cow disease in the US. However, some excellent reporting is piercing their PR smokescreen. For instance, the Rocky Mountain News writes that "below the drumbeat of reassurances from government and the cattle industry
that mad cow disease poses no threat to public health, a small universe of
scientists working on a family of related illnesses are finding disturbing
evidence to the contrary. ... Little of this research, nor the wary comments of researchers toiling in relative obscurity, reaches a broad public audience, leaving most people to hear the oft-repeated promises of well-funded interest groups or high-profile public officials. Just last week, for example, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association described mad cow disease solely as an animal and economic problem - not a human health problem."
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