Mad Cow Disease in the U.S.

An Excellent Reason To Go Vegetarian

From Organic Bytes #26 - organicconsumers.org. This collection of articles offers the most comprehensive explanation of mad cow disease, and the situation in the U.S. that I've seen in one place. Please pass this information along to your meat eating friends and relations, who most likely won't hear about it in the major media. They deserve to know, even though they may not actually want to know! - Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

"Universal testing of every cow slaughtered for human consumption in the U.S. is the only way to ensure the safety of the American beef supply." - Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. 12-31-03

IS MAD COW DISEASE CAUSING THOUSANDS OF HUMAN DEATHS IN THE U.S.?

Thanks to a massive marketing blitz (funded by scarce taxpayer money) the U.S. Government has been working overtime to alleviate the public's concerns about Mad Cow Disease and its human counterpart Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (CJD). Consumers no longer know who to trust. Regardless, experts on all sides of the political spectrum agree with one basic fact: the two diseases are undeniably connected. Read the article

BREAKING NEWS: HUMAN LIFE MAY BE WORTH AS MUCH AS A NICKEL!

U.S. banned beef imports and frowned upon the UK when Mad Cow Disease related CJD began to take the lives of British citizens, recently revealed documents show little has been done to protect U.S. consumers from similar outbreaks within our own borders. In fact, internal USDA papers dating back to 1991 show that the U.S. government (and related lobbyists) have been basing food safety related decisions on corporate profit margins over human health.
Reference: Rampton, S and J. Stauber; Mad Cow USA Common Courage Press

MILLIONS OF CONSUMERS UNITE

Last year, while the E.U. tested 10 million cattle for Mad Cow, the U.S. only tested 20,526 cows out of 35 million slaughtered. In response to this threat to food safety and consumer rights, the OCA has launched a massive campaign to pressure the USDA into creating standards that emulate those of Japan and the EU. Every day, thousands of citizens are signing on to this important petition. Help the OCA in achieving its goal of gathering over a million petition signatures, demanding that the U.S. Government adopt and enforce:
-Mandatory testing for all cattle brought to slaughter, before they enter the food chain.
-Ban the feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to animals.
Please forward this email to family and friends!
Sign the petition here

Recipe for Disaster--Feeding US Calves on Cattle Blood

The Mad Cow Disease outbreak in the UK sent off global warning signals, regarding various beef industry practices that perpetuate the disease. On the top of this list was the logical push to ban feeding cows to other cows, since the disease spreads via ingestion of infected beef. Despite this, in order to maximize profit margins in the U.S., calves are regularly fed cow blood as a protein supplement. The OCA is coordinating a donation drive to post a quarter page educational ad in the Sunday Washington Post, highlighting the obvious threats of cow cannibalism to the human food supply.