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Subscribe to RSSThe U.S. government has confirmed the first case of mad cow disease in six years, but the government is stressing there is no threat to human health. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.
The U.S. confirmed a new case of mad cow disease this week, and agriculture officials insist there was no danger to human health. But even as government experts investigate how the dairy cow contracted the disease, questions remain about whether the animal was an isolated, mutant cow or part of a larger cluster. There are enormous economical implications, as well as health concerns, to consider. In addition, there is confusion over the different forms of the disease, how it's spread and whether there is a serious threat in the U.S. from mad cow disease.
Q. What is mad cow disease?
A. The disease properly called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, causes a horrible and rapid destruction of the brain and other parts of the nervous system. It came to widespread public attention in the 1980s and 90s when more than 180,000 cattle in Britain were infected and 4.4 million were destroyed to contain the epidemic.
Q. How is it transmitted?
A. In rare cases it can arise spontaneously. But most often it occurs when one animal eats the flesh -- most often the brain or nervous tissue -- of another animal. A unique particle called a prion transmits the disease. It is the only infectious agent that is made up solely of protein. It has no DNA or RNA, or, in other words, no genetic material like viruses and bacteria contain.
Q. What is the human health danger?
A. People who eat the flesh of infected animals can develop a condition with similar horrible symptoms known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or v-CJD. The disorder is not that common. Following the massive outbreak in cows in the U.K., so far 175 people have been infected. There is no cure and none has survived.
Q. Have there been cases of v-CJD in the United States?
A. There have been three cases in the U.S., but health officials say that in each case the victims spent large amounts of time in other countries where they ate infected beef. There are also very rare cases that arise spontaneously, and all are checked out. Lab tests can determine whether the disease came from infected food.
Q. Why was there such a large outbreak in Britain and a few European countries and not the US? Didn’t the U.S. feed its cattle the flesh of dead animals as farmers did in Britain?
A. In the opinion of many experts, the U.S. dodged a bullet. Yes, British and American feeding practices were similar. Britain had an outbreak of a related prion disease in sheep called scrapie and those infected sheep were fed to the cattle. Many experts believe the sheep infection set off the massive outbreak in cattle. After the British disaster, countries around the world stopped feeding livestock the carcasses of dead animals that could set off BSE.
Q. How much BSE is there in the United States?
A. Officials assumed there was none until 2003 when an infected cow born in Canada was discovered in Washington state. After that -- especially because Japan and some other counties temporarily banned the import of U.S. beef -- the U.S. set up a surveillance system. Since then, the system has detected three more cattle, including this latest California case. The surveillance was cut back in 2006 because it was finding so few infected animals.
Q. How reassuring are the official statements that there is no danger to human health?
A. The sick dairy cow was sent to a "rendering" plant that uses dead livestock to make non-food products so it was not headed for a slaughter house. Its meat was never bound for the U.S. food supply.
Q. What about milk from the dairy cow?
A. Prions from infected animals appear mostly in brain, nerve and gut tissues. Prions have been detected in milk, so there may be a slight theoretical danger, but government health officials said the disease is not believed to be transmitted through milk.
Q. What happens next in the investigation?
A. Officials believe this dairy cow’s BSE was the result of a spontaneous mutation. But they need to prove this. So far they say there is no evidence of infected material in the animal’s feed. But they will have to test other animals in the herd to be sure this is indeed an isolated case and not an outbreak.
Q. How worried should we be about mad cow disease in the U.S.?
A. We should encourage continued surveillance, but in my opinion there are many things that present far greater health threats -- even though this one sounds so scary.
Robert Bazell is NBC's chief science and medical correspondent. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter @RobertBazellNBC
Related:
California mad cow 'just a random mutation'
South Korea retailers stop selling US beef in wake of California mad cow
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Out-of-whack sleep habits can cause diabetes
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"False positive" mammogram can signal future cancer
Leave a Comment:
How worried should we be about mad cow disease in the U.S.?
I'm not sure about 1 mad cow, but I saw a whole stye of pissed off pigs the other day...scared me!!
don't quit your day job, buddy.
I worry more about the...MAD PEOPLE
Yes! Of course we should be worried about this! Animals that are kept in sub zero weather conditions in the winter months on the plains and then again in the 100 degree plus weather in the direct summer sun somewhere else on the American plains aren't expected to get some kind of disease that could affect us because they become stressed? Get real.
There is an unfortunate side effect of the UK outbreak. The FDA has banned blood donations from anyone living in England and Eastern Europe (for 6 months or longer) during 1980-1991. I know it affected a LOT of military personnel and their families as a result, myself included.
You are correct. I was a student in England during the latter period of the 80's and still cannot donate blood. I do not even recall eating much if any beef during my stay there.
Are they sure there have been only three cases of v-CJD in the United States? I have known 2 people who have died from it in the US and I find it highly unlikely that out of 3 cases in the entire US, I would personally know 2 of them.
@Heartlight3,
It is highly unlikely that you knew even one. All four reported cases in the US got it eating beef overseas --- 3 in the UK and one in Saudi Arabia. Most likely you knoew someone who got CJD, not v-CJD. There is a huge amount of mis-information around, some of it purposefully planted by PETA and a lot spread by mean-spirited vegetarians.
You know none of this should be surprising. In fact, I am willing to bet if people were educated as to "what" is allowed into our food and water supply, not to mention vaccines, the public lynching mobs would be HUGE. The FDA is pretty much a joke, when you think about it. They tell you WHOLE FRESH MILK is bad for you, and instead you should only drink pastureized (partially cooked) milk. What they don't tell you is that most of the good nutrients are done away with as part of that pasturization process. WHAT they do do though is fortify your milk with chemicals.
Another prime example is the pink slime that was introduced into our food without our ever knowing about it. Now say what you will, some in the beef industry say it is perfectly safe, even the FDA says it is a safe by-product addative. Really? Well Urine is inherently sterile, and you dont see the masses rushing off to drink that self-produced by-product.
And while we are discussing just how safe or unsafe our food is, isn't it ironic and almost criminal that cancer is on the rise, as well as autism, and other defects. One might wonder how and why, but I would certainly believe the CHEMICALS we use to fertilize and the pesticides that are "FDA" approved would probably be a good start. In fact, the misinformation coming out of the FDA concerning dairy products should certainly be substantiated by simple facts. Prior to pasturization, people ate fresh eggs, they drank whole milk straight from the cow, they grew their food and used natural fertilizers and pest control methods, and they were MUCH MUCH HEALTHIER than we are today. They didn't use chemical food preserving addatives to give a 15 year shelf life to a loaf of bread, nor did they parboil their milk and eggs and other food stuffs to call it "safe to eat". In fact, the FDA apparently knows so little about food safety that they need to come up with a "definition" of what is organic.
It is most likely the "by products" of multiple cows being mulched into feed, food, and food addatives that causes problems like this. Perhaps if we got back to basics, and stopped worrying about the mass production of a billion burgers a day, maybe we would all be a little healthier, and our food would be safer than it has been for the past 60 years or so...
I don't care if the disease is found in only a handful of cows, or that the possibility of transmission is one-in-a-bazillion. The fact that it IS present and it CAN be transmitted DOES scare the crap outta me! If you get infected, it is serious stuff. Life altering. Not a joke. I like my health and I don't like to hear "If the food supply is tainted somewhat, at least your chances of getting diseased are extremely remote". Clean up the food supply completely.
Here's my funny, though - Mad Cow, it's what's for dinner.
Chuckle nervously.
I didn't give mad cow a thought before yesterday and I'm not giving a thought now. (Typing this comment notwithstanding!)
Mad cow + pink slime = you have eaten a hot dog right
If all the companys that sell anti-bacterial...knew...humans CAN eat most anything and hysteria is stupid
Then you would not have germ-a-phobes (exploit the stupid)
What is interesting is how little the media discusses how prions work. They cannot be killed through conventional means of sanitation - heat, etc. Only a basic solution can destroy them as they are not living organisms. What is really scary is Mad Cow and dementia are very similar both in symptoms and development. Just last year, research showed alzheimer's could be passed via introduction to brain matter or through inhalation - sound familiar? My guess is within a decade, all forms of dementia will be linked with prions and the consumption of tainted food. Only cancer and heart disease will be more deadly - and since all those diseases take 30+ years to show up, many of us are infected and do not know it. Before you laugh this off, keep in mind that dementia really starting showing up as we started enjoying longer life spans - giving those diseases the time they need to become symptomatic. Have a nice day!
You cannot expect Bazell to explain anything! You may well be right, simply because prion research is still ongoing and the techniques to actually detect them in tissues is still developing. In other words, prions responsible for other conditions could be in our foodchain and/or wildlife [elk carry these for instance] and as yet we cannot specificaly detect them.
musicguy I see your point and your point may have some validity. However I have eaten beef since I was a child and well it's far to late for me if such a thing has happened. I also fully understand how hearty prions are and I also understand that they are not actually living things. I do agree more BSE Alzeimers and Dementia links will be found but I don't believe BSE will ever account for more than a small percentage of the cases. In reality very few who actually eat infected beef become infected. Many scientist think we are missing something either in the environment or in the makeup of the people who eat infected beef. Why do some become ill while others live a long and health life? Why do some folks develop mad cow disease rapidly while others either never develop it or only develop the illness many years after infection. Their could be a genetic characteristic that places some folks more suceptible to mad cow disease than the average person. Think about it. BSE and mad cow can't be new diseases. They had to exist throughout history. In short we just don't have all the answers. Since Beef is an important part of feeding the world it's not advisable to allow people to go hungry or get sick from lack of protein because we fear beef. I think research and further study is what we need to do in order to find a treatment or cure for BSE/ mad cow and perhaps we can find a genetic reason as to why certain people rapidly develop mad cow disease and others never get sick at all. If we did find such a link those at risk can be warned from birth of their suceptiblity to mad cow disease. But the holy grail of this research would be medicine that could stop mad cow disease even after infection. Good Day, Joe.
@musicguy & @Joe,
You're both worrying yourselves needlessly. Prions are surprisingly well understood. They are a normally-occurring protein that is made in the brain, specifically in the medula oblongata. But in the BSE, vCJD, CJD scenario, this protein becomes folded. The three variants fold slight differently, so they can be easily told apart. And this is not a "new" disease. It was described by Hypocrates in the 5th century BC and has been continuously documented ever since and in all relevant countries and cultures. For the most part it arises spontaneously, meaning that without any knoiwn cause, a copy of the protein is created in the folded form. Once it is folded, it has the completely not understood ability to induce new copies of the protein to also be folded. It is not living and cannot be killed and cannot reproduce. The only way to inactivate it is to actually change the molecule, even slightly. Strong bleach will do it, but so will lots of other less harmful chemicals.
It is an extremely safe bet that Alzheimers researchers are all over prions, but none has ever been found. Alzheimers is a form of dementia, but there are lots of other forms. Dementia is just a broad category of pretty much unrelated symptom sets, mostly related to aging. At this point, there is no idea what causes Alzheimers. Researchers have no idea if Alzheimers cause plaques, if plaques cause Alzheimers or it something else entriely different causes both. That's how far they are along with finding a cause. But BSE (mad cow) and dementia share absolutely nothing in common.
Prions may end up being just one of those risks, like meteor strikes, that we just have to accept and live with. We have yet to find a case that originated in the US that was not spontaneous. The assumptions that there is an "infected herd out there somewhere being covered up by the government" is just BS, which is much more common than BSE.
But I wouldn't worry about it. MSNBC started this flap and now they're trying to correct the wrong information that they themselves created.
Joe, musicguy and Chris - Please provide references for your statements. Much of what you state is incorrect.
Readers - don't believe a thing that anyone posts on the Internet in these discussion groups. There are many inconsistencies and falsehood in the posts written by these three people, as well as others. For example, there is no way of knowing whether someone is infected with the disease because as of 2010, screening tests to identify infected asymptomatic individuals, such as blood donors, are not yet available, though methods have been proposed and evaluated (Tattum, M. H., Jones, S., Pal, S., Khalili-Shirazi, A., Collinge, J., Jackson, G. (December 2010). "A highly sensitive immunoassay for the detection of prion-infected material in whole human blood without the use of proteinase K". Transfusion(AABB) 50 (12): 2619–2627. doi:10.1111/j.1537-2995.2010.02731.x. PMID 20561299).
The only way to prove whether someone has Alzheimers and other similar diseases is through analyzing samples of the brain after death. Thus, it is not possible to determine whether someone who ate infected beef is infected before syptoms occur because there is no method currently available that tests for this disease.
@scales - but I can bet we can agree that these "epidemic" proportion diseases like dementia, alzheimers, most cancers, autism, and the like are more and more prevailant today than they were in the 1800s. And NOT because people didn't know what the diseases were, but more likely that they had FAR LESS chemical addatives and dyes added to their food.
I am also willing to bet that even though vaccinations were not as widely available as they are today, people's genetics and their own bodies had to produce tolerances and immunities to the diseases they came into contact with. Their health was not found in some "vitamin" or in some vial. It was based on their immune system, fortified with fresh, wholesome foods - grown and prepared "organically" and naturally, unlike our food is today.
I would also venture to say, the people of the 1800s - even with the "lack of science" we have today, were far more healthy, hearty, and SMARTER than we are in this day and age...
I posted that research in a post below guys - go check it out!
You do realize that people in the 1800s died much younger than today (average was probably 45-50), and so they didn't have to worry have to worry about diseases related to mutations related to cumulative environmental exposure to various agents or spontaneous mutations. Most of the diseases that kill us right now are diseases that occur after most people in the 1800s would already be dead. Anyone who thinks people back then weren't exposed to these agents are just deluding themselves, they just generally died before it affected them. Those that actually lasted past 50 had cancer rates as high as those we have now (except for woman and lung cancer from smoking), but a much lower survival rate.
When you get older, you both get more mutations (since you get exposed longer to mutating agents) and less of an ability to fix them (cell repairs slowly degrade when aging).
Actually Keira the mortality rate as a result of chemical pollutants in our food these days, i.e. the dyes, the preservatives, and the other "addatives" is what I am referring to. People in the 1800s didn't live as long because medicine wasn't as advanced as it is today. But those people ate healthier, were leaner, and suffered far less incidents of cancer, autism, parkinsons, dementia, and the "almost common place" maladies we have today.
What is very interesting is you think those people just died before these diseases could affect them. Rates of Autism are skyrocketing. Down Syndrome, ADHD, ect are more prevailant in the YOUTH than the Geriatric. Mutations are not spontanious as you point out, and most mutations take eons and do not occur with the frequency we are seeing over the span of a few decades. It is also a fact, people of the 1800s did not consume fast food with "ammonia cleaned" slime. They did not have issues with cattle getting mad cow disease, or even worry about such things. Their foods were not some conglomerate of 400 different animals tossed together in some mix so corporations could save money. Their livestock was not fed with antibiotics, hormones, steroids, or any of the "common place" practices used today. Those people did not fear drinking fresh milk or have someone tell them that it was "unsafe".
Again, not everyone lived on the plains, or on farms ect. There were "cities" and the food was still "fresh". They didn't store foods in metal cans that leach aluminum into their food. They didn't use "non-stick, chemically bound cookware", nor did they have the incidents of HIGH CONCENTRATIONS of metals in their bodies LIKE WE DO TODAY. And to retort your claim that people didn't live long in the 1800s because they were not as "healthy" as we are today, I would disagree. I think our life expectancy is longer today because of medical advances, and not as a result of our current lifestyle, or something we are doing to the food supply to make it more healthful.
You can't even pick up anything in the grocery store without needing a degree in chemistry to understand everything on the label. In the old days, a jar of greenbeans contained greenbeans, salt, and water. Have a look at a can of greenbeans today, and I think you will be hard pressed to find fewer than 20 ingredients listed in a simple can of beans.
Also, you need to ask yourself about these anti-biotic resistant strains of diseases we see these days. The diseases mutate to be more resistant to those antibiotics because of our "OVER USE" of those antibiotics. They are used in our livestock, when ever we get the sniffles, and sometimes just because the Dr doesn't want to face some malepractice suit, because "the patient" didn't recieve some pill following a visit.
Who was the genius that thought of feeding sick animals (sheep, for godsake?!) to cattle! What is in the food we buy for our beloved companion animals? Isn't it strange that the one animal they randomly tested just happened to be a "rare mutation"? Laugh it off, America, and get back to watching your tv show. :{
Martha Washington, you obviously do your research & are informed. I also do not buy this is an isolated case nor spontaneous mutation. My guess is this is more prevalent than what we hear.
Unfortunately the products that are deemed unfit for human consumption find their way into the pet food industry. Any 4D (dead, dying, diseased or down) animal is used. This includes animals that are euthanized & roadkill. Plastic bags & collars (decorative or flea) are not removed before rendering. It's disgusting.
I do not buy commercial pet food for this reason. Shoot, I even feel guilty feeding regular, grocery store meats to my dogs. It is graded for human consumption but, really is not quality meat.
Remember the problem with eggs recently. Guess where those eggs ended up? Pet Food!
Only solution is to buy your meats, poultry, dairy & eggs locally from a farmer you know & trust. Though that is not a 100% guarantee it sure lowers the odd of contamination.
I agree. Last time this happened I remember reading that the leftovers went into pet food b/c by the time any symptoms show up the animal is older anyway. Unfortunate for us pet lovers. The article I read was about a cat owner whose 'young' cat had it, 3 years old I think. My cat is 16 and I love my butcher - we've both lucked out so far. That's one lottery I don't want to win.
I agree. Back in the 1800s people drank FARM FRESH milk straight off the cow. Eggs still warm out of the chicken, and food grown with naturally occurring fertilizers and pest control methods. NOT TODAY though. Everything is chemical. Even our drinking water is chock full of "added chemicals to ensure our safety". But the odd thing is, back in the 1800s, people weren't getting cancer from drinking stream water, or eating those processed for life hotdogs, or even the evil unpasturized milk.
And they certainly didn't have to have a debate what so ever about what to feed their livestock, pets, or what was considered "safe" for human consumption. And the brainiacs say we are so more "advanced"...
Support your local farms and support yourself. Even a small container garden will at least ensure you are getting SOME untainted food, provided you are using "heirloom" type seeds.
Yet these people died before 40 anyway... Seriously, there was less cancer because most cancers are for people over 45, when most people in the 1800s would be DEAD already. Look at people who actually survived past 45 and see why they died and tell me there was no cancers or age related diseases back then.
Then Keira explain Autism rates, ADHD, Down Syndrome, and even a steady increase in childhood cancers like luekemia. And there were certainly people that lived well beyond 40 back then. Think about this, If the requirement to be president of the US is you have to be 35 or older, certainly with your logic, most people of the day would be near death. Hardly the case. Look at some of the Great Americans that lived well into their 60s and 70s. Ben Franklin 84 yrs old, George Washington 67, Abe Lincoln 56 (assassinated), Thomas Jefferson 83, and those are just a few. They understood in the 1800s what cancer was, and the most common cause of death was In the 1800s and early 1900s infectious (communicable) diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, and diphtheria were the leading causes of death, followed closely by infections resulting from injuries, such as infection and tetanus. It was far from them dying before they could contract cancer, as Forty-one thousand (41,000) Americans (64 people per 100,000) died of cancer in 1900. This figure equates to more than 112 people per day. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention: "In 2005, an estimated 570,280 Americans-more than 1,500 people a day-will die of cancer." This figure equates to nearly 200 people per 100,000. So your argument of people dying before they could get cancer isn't substantiated by either the American Cancer Society or the CDC. In fact, most cancers today are the result of :
1) Insufficient good quality fats, both saturated and unsaturated.
2) Insufficient good quality protein.
3) Excessive amounts of transfats from refined oils, hydrogenated fats and
overcooking of foods.
4) Excessive amounts of poor quality protein from overcooking and processing
of foods.
5) Lack of digestive enzymes from pancreas failure caused by a lifetime of
eating poor quality foods.
6) Poisons in the food, air or water. Pesticides, PCBs, plastics,
hydrocarbons, trihalomethanes, etc.
7) Excessive ingestion of drugs both recreational and pharmaceutical. This
includes sugar, caffeine, nicotene and alcohol.
8) Nutritional deficiencies of vitamins and minerals, especially B6, C,
proanthocyanidins, magnesium, potassium, selenium, etc.
9) Hormone imbalance, low thyroid, adrenal insufficiency, high estrogen, and
estrogenic factors from environmental poisons.
10) Pathogens weakening the immune system function - parasites, yeast,
bacteria, viruses.
11.) Poor living habits - lack of sleep, exercise, lack of sunshine, meaningful
work and activity.
- - - Extract from Cancer: Prevention and Recovery by John Finnegan and Dr Johanna Budwig (Cancer Researcher and six-time nominee for the Nobel Award in Science and Medicine) --
All of these Keira, are modern "standard practices" Today, UNLIKE those living in the 1800s... I do my research before I spew...
There's a simple answer to this problem. Don't Eat Beef. Its unhealthy.
Yes, instead we should eat genetically modified grains...
This is a really ignorant solution, because it causes way more problems than it solves. You can't solve a complex problem with a simple solution without causing bigger problems. You obviously don't play chess, or not well....
You're both silly. Both beef and GMOs are safe and nutritious (assuming that the beef doesn't have mad cow which would be unlikely). All food is potential deadly due to pathogens but overall, most of our food is safe.
Sorry EmilyinIowa, GMOs are NOT SAFE & conventional, feedlot beef is unhealthy.
Who's lining your pockets?
From what I understand, it takes far more resources per acre to raise a cow than that acre could provide through crops. With ever more people to feed, it makes sense to limit our intake of animal products. They're not as sustainable.
JB - cite your sources for your statements. Oh, don't have any? Why does that not surprise me?
Sorry JB - There are no unsafe GMOs being used commercially at this time. GMOs are not conventional but modifying plants for production and nutrition reasons is as age old as agriculture and is the reason we can eat most of the foods we do today. Most plants naturally have toxins harmful to humans but we have modified them through breeding to make them more available to us. Breeding can also create harmful strains of food and thus isn't inherently always safe. The most prevalent use of GMOs in the US that I know of is BT which is a protein that is found in a common and harmless bacteria already found in much of our food anyway. There are ethical questions about GMOs such as how it impacts small poor farmers but there is no indication of a safety issue. I regret that you fail to understand science or concepts of harm. Maybe someday you can get past your knee jerk ignorant fears...
it is not so much the GMOs but the company -Monsanto-that developed and controls them to the point of suing and harrassing farmers when Monsanto's gmo plants accidentally blow off monsanto controlled land and grows on privately owned land...Monsanto has sued even the poor farmers of India who barely eke a living over gmo crops. Monsanto wants to own the patent on every living thing.
Big ag in this country is even trying to pass laws that would make it nearly impossible to raise your own meat (grass fed) see no nais dot org for more info on this porogram.
I hope they have a lull in exports so they have to sell off the excess to American consumers at a discount. I would love a good steak at half the price.
I personally wish our Canadian govt would grow some balls and shut the imports off at the border the same way the US did when there was ! cow found in Canada a few years ago
We don't have to worry, we have the USDA looking out for us. Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol. I wonder if these people who raise cattle ever eat Meat??
Of course they do, chicken, deer, bear, gopher, anything but beef.
My cows are not mad and rarely get pissed off.
Well if this starts to spread, meat eaters will no longer be allowed to donate blood. I was stationed in Europe when our government purchased local beef to feed the troops. Because of this I have been unable to donate for the last 10 to 12 years.
I am not worried at all, I divorced mine all long time ago.
I'm more worried about Mad Republicans than mad cows.
hahahahahahahahahaha!
Interesting how no one even knew of an "infectious agent" that was not bacteria nor virus before 1982 or so. Definitely leads to the idea that there are most likely more that we just have not discovered.
The Bush Administration used the Mad cow excuse to cut out the Canadian Cattlemen during his first term, literally doubling the cost of a lb. ground beef overnight.
So what gives, here ? What's going to happen ? JMJ
As long as the mad cow dont show up at my door and go postal I am good......
Don't worry. They go to McDonalds instead to the drive up window.
I'm from Britain and i saw how cows were affected and how they were shipped overseas. Their oval is affected and banned in Britain. Meat mechanically recovered from the bones is affected and that includes gelatine which is melted down bones. Employees from slaughter houses were getting this disease just by handling the stuff without gloves and some farmers were affected also. My friends husband was a butcher and she got 'dementia' and died at 47, all her friends thought it was 'mad cow disease'. All this in Britain has been quietly covered up and nothing said about it. None of my family used to eat beef especially $1 burgers, now none of us eat meat of any sort it is too full of pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics etc. I would recommend people to be very afraid of eating cetain parts of beef.
Governor Moonbeam of Mexifornia has BSE or some "late in life mental disorder" and is doing fine? He's trying to sell a boon doggle of a high speed rail project right now! What insanity!Can you imagine! When you include surcharges to taxes,we are tied for first place and Moonbeam wants to raise the taxes for 30 years to pay for a railroad that runs from nowhere to nowhere! It would completely by pass L. and SF.The only people who would ride would be illegals traveling from Palmdale(60 miles from LL) to Fresno ,just to visit relatives! It's a nice project for the union brcause all State projects have to have union workers,even if we could get done cheaper with non union workers! What do they care,they are paying for it!
Did Rosie go off on someone again!Where is that fat cow,these days,falling down drunk in Colinga!
No worries. Americans have zero brains, so why would there be anything to worry about. vote obama or vote romney, who cares, one in the same, dumb americans keep getting screwed and love it.
EAT MEAT!- PEDA (PeopleEatingDeadAnimals)! One would expect a little PETA action on subjects like this! I guess their still celebrating their having "Luck" taken off the air!
EmilyinIowa, please keep eating GMO food. The faster you are off this planet the better for the planet.
You have a better chance of winning the lottery or the Mayans being right than getting v-CJD from eating beef. Good lord people! WTF!!!!
Who the hell can afford a steak these days much less worry if it is safe.
Pardon my ignorance, but I always thought cows were strictly herbivores: grass, hay, alfalfa. Why would farmers ever feed them the flesh of dead animals, if it's not their regular diet? If the answer is "increased beef yield," it's unacceptable.
I'm more worried about being harpooned by a midget clown than I am about Mad Cow Disease.
Also don't forget "Killer Clowns From Outer Space" either.