Bush Administration Removes Safeguards Against Mad Cow Disease

You will be glad to learn that the Bush administration has successfully crafted a response to recently increasing concerns about an increase in the domestic threat of Mad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

From Reuters (emphasis added):

The Bush administration on Tuesday eased regulations restricting the use of cattle parts in certain animal feed, a safeguard considered the main defense against mad cow disease.

The Food and Drug Administration said it would no longer designate a cattle's entire small intestine as prohibited material in cattle feed.

"FDA is amending the rule to allow use of the small intestine in human food and cosmetics, provided that the distal ileum has been removed," the agency said.

Now that madness appears to be the official language, policy and religion of the United States, why restrict it to deer and a few farm animals?

Let 'er rip!

•  Chickens, cows, etc

  have been eating other ground up chicken & cows for years now. I wasnt aware that certain intestinal parts were forbidden, its the brain that is supposedly key to JCD. When animals eat other infected animal brains, they in turn become infected.

  Its all sorts of wrong that chickens/cows/etc are allowed to eat feed comprised of other animals (ususally ones that are sick, keeled over dead or otherwise found to be unsuitable for human ingestion) anyway. Chicken/cows/etc are herbivores.

  Go Veg.

  by ablington on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:30:53 AM PDT

  •  Or

    buy meat from small local humane producers who feed their animals on grass and grain and let you visit their farms. (my personal choice)

    by sarac on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:47:25 AM PDT

•  pet food?

  What gets me is that they apparantly let questionable material, they won't allow into the human food chain, go for pet food.

  Like we want our dogs and cats getting mad cow???

  by lrhoke on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:36:26 AM PDT

  •  not sure, but....

    i think mad cow takes longer than the average dog/cat's life span to incubate.  it's kind of like if someone told you not to eat something because it will cause cancer in 100 years.

    TK

    by TrollKing on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 11:00:17 AM PDT

•  human food?

  And, I'd like to know just what part of a cows intestine is going to be in HUMAN food?
  

  by lrhoke on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:39:50 AM PDT

  •  Ask The

    North American Natural Casing Association.  

    Apparently, intestines (minus the distal ileum--I shudder to ask what that is precisely) are used as natural casings for a wide variety of fine sausage products.  The North American Natural Casing Association lobbied the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture on this issue.

    In deference to the West Coast readers of Daily Kos who may not yet have eaten lunch, I will not provide further details.

    by eafredel on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:48:13 AM PDT

•  Ever hear of sausage?

  Though admittedly, that's (carefully washed) pig intestine, not cow.

  by sarac on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:48:35 AM PDT

  •  Do you feed sausage to OTHER COWS?

    That's the problem. Cows are supposed to be vegetarians. If you feed animal parts to other animals, Mad Cow and similar diseases may be spread to the other animals.

    by dratman on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:53:43 AM PDT

    •  I thought that question was about human...

      Absolutely, feeding animal parts to domestic animals is a revolting criminal practice, and is banned in many better run nations!

      by sarac on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 12:11:52 PM PDT

•  People think I'm nuts

  ...about actually caring about this issue.  I no longer eat beef.  I will eat organic buffalo.  Chicken is no better unless you eat free-range chicken fed actual food instead of ground up chicken parts and chicken waste.

  Basically the bottom line is the rendering industry doesn't give a crap what sprays all over (brains, feces, etc) -- we're not that far from The Jungle.

  Can't eat beef, but can't go veg.  I have to have some kind of meat a couple of times a week otherwise I feel ill.

  Any suggestions?

  by Janusdog on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:51:57 AM PDT

•  Ask any Canadian rancher...

  ... about how effective those 'regulations' are. They've been systematically and routinely ignored probably since their inception.

  The most commonly known secret about the US cattle industry is "Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up": If a cow starts acting wacky, kill it before anyone finds out and bury it. CJD / Mad cow has been roving through US herds for a very, very long time and had little or nothing to do with our beef.

  Of course, the one USDA guy who had the balls to actually speak out on the subject was taken care of very quickly and memory holed.

  by Hatamoto on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:52:40 AM PDT