This is one of those ridiculous things that is, well, ridiculous. The power of the market — or stupidity, which may be the same thing — trumping common sense: The Bush administration can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday. (emphasis added) A premium meat […]
Ridiculous Cow Syndrome
Posted by Ben on September 18, 2008
https://www.swordbilled.com/ridiculous-cow-syndrome/
Mad Cow Origins, Part 46
So here’s another thought on the origins of the whole mad cow thing: BSE may have started in cattle because they ate imported animal feed that included infected human remains from Hindu funeral ceremonies in India, a controversial new theory on the origin of the disease suggested last night. Obviously there’s lots of controversy regarding […]
Posted by Ben on January 8, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/mad-cow-origins-part-46/
Yet Another Mad Cow resource
The New Scientist Special Report on BSE and vCJD. Updated with the latest articles and info. Also has a timeline, web links (as opposed to…?), and briefing notes.
Posted by Ben on August 10, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/yet-another-mad-cow-resource/
Fact v. Fiction
The United States has just had its first official case of home-grown mad cow disease. “Just had” in this case corresponding to seven months ago but, well, you know. While it took seven months from the first suspicion of this lone mad cow to positively identify its condition, at least it wasn’t entered into the […]
Posted by Ben on June 25, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/fact-v-fiction/
Mad cow, mad cow, what ya gonna do
New Scientist looks at trials of a drug thought to hold potential in treating vCJD. The trial will look at an anti-malarial drug (of all things) that seems to have some promise in the whole mad cow arena. The Guardian provides a handy-dandy Q&A format article on BSE/vCJD—giving, among other things, a straightforward, helpful explanation […]
Posted by Ben on August 31, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/bse-rundown/
Mad Cow
I’m always interested in new developments in the whole mad cow thing, so imagine my delight when I discovered that the New York Times has a whole section dedicated to BSE articles! Wow! (For the non-registration-inclined, here’s a no-reg link to the latest NYT mad cow article.) (via NYT: “Study Lends Support to Mad Cow […]
Posted by Ben on August 16, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/mad-cow/
Tiger in Your Tank
Into Thin Air. It makes a nice title for a book about a climbing disaster on Mt. Everest, sure. It’s also good science, apparently. A physicist (of all people) thinks that what happened is, the atmospheric pressure changed, whisking oxygen away from the mountaintop and effectively making the top of Mt. Everest almost 1/3 of […]
Posted by Ben on June 12, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/tiger-in-your-tank/
Wednesday Rundown
U.S. plans to test more thoroughly for BSE (mad cow disease), but ignores recommendations that might help to prevent it. Now 500,000 cattle will be tested instead of 40,000, which was the USDA’s previous plan—but cattle will continue to be fed chicken and ruminant remains, as well as “high risk cattle tissue,” i.e., cow brains. […]
Posted by Ben on March 17, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/wednesday-rundown/
Quote: “It’s probably another ‘don’t worry’ observation”
Reuters, February 17, 2004: “Italian researchers said on Tuesday they had found a new variation of mad cow disease… … “They [infected cow’s brains] look much more like the brains of people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD — not the kind that people catch from eating infected beef, but the kind that arises mysteriously in […]
Posted by Ben on February 17, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/quote-its-probably-another-dont-worry-observation/
A Spongiform Timeline, Mad Cow, Mad Cow!
A brief history of that devilish cow-spawned disease, gleaned from Harpers (the history gleaned from Harpers, that is—not the disease). Enjoy! (note: dates refer to week, and not necessarily the exact day of events) 2000 Aug 1: British Health Dept Bulletin states that 500,000 people could die from BSE by 2030. Happy day. Nov 28: […]
Posted by Ben on December 30, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-spongiform-timeline-mad-cow-mad-cow/