“I’ve told so many people that [
John Stauber
Author, "Mad Cow U.S.A."; Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, WI
They said it could never happen here. Then in December of 2003 a cow in Washington State was diagnosed with Mad Cow Disease. Then they said it wasn't a big deal. They are still saying that. Investigative reporter John Stauber disagrees. He comes on the show to talk with the guys about what our government is not doing. Is our beef supply more or less safe than England or Japan's? We have few cases of mad cow reported, but is that because we are not looking? Some private sector meat producers wanted to test themselves but the US government prevented them from testing. Private sector testing for mad cow disease is actually illegal. Why? If the government's assertions are true, one would think that they would welcome testing to prove their point.
Has mad cow disease caused disease in humans? In New Jersey? Once this disease infects humans, will it cross into our blood supply? As of now there is no test that can detect it in blood.
All of the risk can be eliminated if we just stop feeding rendered animal products to cows and test all animals BEFORE they enter the food supply, just like in Europe and Japan. Cows are herbivores by nature but in the last 20 years, agribusiness has taken to the unnatural practice of feeding animal protein to cattle and perhaps we are seeing the consequences now. John Stauber asserts that it would increase the cost of beef $.03 to $.06 a pound to test all animals.
MP3 Available: Click here for Part 1 | Click here for Part 2- Links
Podcast Date: 7/21/2005
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