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More about Mad Cow disease

Since mad cow disease is still in the news, check out Cows, Capitalism, and Cover-ups: The Politics and Economics of Mad Cow Disease by Steven Best.

The following is an excerpt:

In Britain, the U.S., and throughout Europe, one finds the same pattern of industry deceptions and government disinformation and delays to bury the issue along with the millions of infected animals and scores of people dying from newly emerging TSE ("Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy") diseases affecting ever-more animal species. As a highly reactive, species boundary-busting, slow but inexorably moving menace, TSEs provoked widespread panic throughout Europe by late 2000. While there are still no officially classified cases of BSE in the U.S., there is strong evidence nonetheless that TSEs have widely infected animal populations and that cases of nvCJD have gone undiagnosed.

The Mad Cow phenomenon provides a compelling case study of the global hegemony of the meat industry, and vividly dramatizes the powerful grip this multi-billion dollar industry of mechanized massacre has over the political system, economies, health and education issues, and the minds of most citizens.2 While many see the meat and dairy industries as providing necessary sources of nutrition for the human diet, the reality is that they are among the most destructive industries on the planet. They are guilty of appalling forms of animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction, creating devastating health effects in human beings, and, now, unleashing a new global plague.

I don't agree with everything Steven Best writes but his article sure makes you think.