Another Mad Cow, Just Before Turkey Day?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that an "animal tested 'inconclusive' for mad cow disease in two rapid screening tests"; the results of further testing will be released next week. The vice-president of BioRad, the company that manufactures the rapid tests, said, "After two inconclusive results, you have a much higher rate of confirming [mad cow disease]." BioRad estimates the chances of getting two false positives are 1 in 240,000. Cattle trading and fast-food chain and meat industry stocks slumped, but "consumer analysts said a second confirmed case probably wouldn't substantially damp domestic beef demand." Marketing executive Harry Balzer said, "You're going to need a widespread outbreak for this to have an impact on consumption."