Spinning "Mad Cow"
Sick and Diseased Cows were being butchered for your Hamburgers.

Consumers are becoming angry about the way the Beef Industry and the U.S. Agriculture Department Officials are spinning the facts that deal with the recent discovery of a cow with "Mad Cow" disease butchered and put into the U.S. food chain.

First the consumer was told not to worry because when the cow was too sick to walk at the time it entered the slaughterhouse it was tested for "Mad Cow" disease. But they did not tell us that the sick cow was still slaughtered and the meat shipped out to the consumers before the test results were determined.

Then officials had to spin the fact that the meat from the cow with "Mad Cow" disease has already been shipped to consumers and had been in the food chain for several weeks. Again the consumer was told don't worry most people do not eat the brains and meat from the spinal cord. These "spinning" officials then pointed out that the meat from the "Mad Cow" had been sent to eight different states. One meat market in Southern California sold much of the 1,200 lbs. of the meat that was sent to the store in Fountain Valley, Ca. They have recalled the meat but no one in the primarily Asian Community has returned the meat. (Jan. 3,2004)

When the officials were asked if this cow was brought into this country from Canada, that had a case of "Mad Cow" disease, the answer was we don't know. But they did, the cow had a "number tag" in it ear. This tag permitted officials to trace the cow back to its birth place on a farm in Alberta, Canada. (This was a hard fact to spin!)

Now we are told there were 81 cows in Alberta, Canada that were fed cow brains and spinal cord material apparently from "Mad Cows" before they were shipped to the U.S. By this time the "spinning wheel" of so-called facts was over-loaded!

It is almost comical the way Government and Beef Industry Officials try to cover up the fact they take sick, dying, cows that cannot even standup and still butcher them and put them in the U.S. Food Supply so that they will not lose a few bucks of profit. When the "Mad Cow" disease broke out in Great Britain, U.S. law-makers were ready to outlaw the slaughter of sick and dying cows that could not stand, but the Beef Industry talked them out of it. The "spin word" is a "downer" cow. That sounds so much nicer than a sick, dying cow that cannot standup. No one it their right mind would say: "Lets butcher this sick and diseased cow and eat it and hope it does not have "Mad Cow" disease and kill us. About eight years ago the "Mad Cow" disease killed about 130 people in Great Britain.

Now it is going to be the law that you cannot butcher a "downer" cow. Why was this not the law eight years ago so the consumer would be protected?

The Beef Industry has now lost Billions of Dollars to save a few bucks (about $200 per sick cow) on so-called "downer" cows? The Beef Industry Officials need to take course in math and public health.

The consumer wants straight facts, and does not want the meat food chain contaminated for a few extra bucks in the Beef Industries pockets.

And if Government Meat Inspectors cannot tell if a cow is sick and cannot walk, then get new inspectors.

The consumers are tired of being treated like little kids and given phony facts to cover up what is really the greed in the Beef Industry. Consumers are now fighting back!

Filed January, 2004.