Mad Cow Disease
The downer issue took on another dimension when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was found in two North American cows in 2003. Many experts believe that nonambulatory cattle are at higher risk of harboring BSE. As a result on December 30, 2003 the USDA announced an immediate ban on the slaughter of downer cattle for human food use. At issue is how to monitor the hundreds of thousands of U.S. downer cattle (annual estimate) if they are no longer presented for observation and testing at meat packing plants; also at issue is what to do with their remains, and whether they have any non-food value.
Read more about this topic: Downer (animal)
Famous quotes containing the words mad and/or disease:
“Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“The inconveniences and horrors of the pox are perfectly well known to every one; but still the disease flourishes and spreads. Several million people were killed in a recent war and half the world ruined; but we all busily go on in courses that make another event of the same sort inevitable. Experientia docet? Experientia doesn’t.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)