Personal Injury Law

All About Banning "Downer" Cows From Food Supply

Edward T. Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture, this week was defending the status quo when it comes to "downer" cows.  USDA's current policy is that if a cow on the way to slaughter goes down,  there should be additional inspection by a veterinarian, who might rule the animal is healthy enough to get whacked.

The Humane Society of America wants a complete ban against putting "downer" cows in the human food supply, and the organization that is responsible for the undercover video of the now closed Chino slaughter house went to court this week to get its way.  The same suggestion was given to Schafer by Democrat Senators.  Example:

"We cannot allow a single downer cow to enter our food supply under any circumstances," said Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin.

Kohl called for installing cameras in slaughterhouses.  Today, Stephen J. Hedges, who works out of the  Washington Bureau of the Chicago Tribune, published a piece that really does an excellent job of making sense out of all of this "downer" cow business.  Hedges writes:

USDA and beef industry officials were quick to acknowledge, then discount, an obvious health concern presented by the videotape of downer cows at the Chino plant: mad cow disease.

The inability of a cow to stand is considered a symptom of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), though cattle may go down for a number of reasons, including ailing or broken limbs, exhaustion and lack of water.

BSE deteriorates a cow's nervous system and brain, and can similarly afflict humans who eat meat infected with BSE.

The rest of the Chicago Tribune story can be found here.

Full post as published by Mad Cow Blog on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).