Mad Cow Disease

The United States has spent millions of dollars on PR convincing Americans that mad cow could never happen here, and now the US Department of Agriculture is engaged in a crisis management plan that has federal and state officials, livestock industry flacks, scientists and other trusted experts assuring the public that this is no big deal.

After Seattle, Washington TV station KIRO-TV aired an investigation last year into the cattle industry's continuing sale of downer cows for human consumption, the station came under attack from the industry as well as state and national government regulators.

Sludge researchers, activists, and rural residents exposed to land applied sewage sludges across the nation are boycotting today's summit at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, in Alexandria, Va., organized by the EPA, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and the New England Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA). "We are boycotting this conference because its real purpose is to create an illusion that EPA and the sludge industry are concerned about people getting sick from sludge spreading.

In 1997 Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber wrote Mad Cow USA, warning that that mad cow type diseases were possible in the U.S. Even now, in the face of North America's first case of mad cow disease in Canada, the powerful livestock industry and their friends in government are refusing to adopt the strict British standards regarding animal feeding and testing. USA Today editorializes that "Lax federal regulation and enforcement have left the U.S.