Cows
11/03/2008 09:39Mad Cow Disease: Stop the Madness!
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OCA Mad Cow Protest - U. of MN, 6/05
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries on the current Mad Cow Crisis in the US, contact: Ronnie Cummins, National Director, OCA: 218-226-4164 or Michael Greger, M.D. 617-524-8064
Take Action!
Mad Cow Disease has now been discovered in the United States. Given the fact that the USDA only tests one cow out of every 2,000, no one really knows how many of these infected animals may have already entered the human food supply.
Sign the Petition
Join tens of thousands of citizens and sign the Mad Cow USA-Stop the Madness petition, demanding that the US Government adopt and enforce the same strict standards required by the European Union and Japan:
Mandatory testing for all cattle brought to slaughter, before they enter the food chain.
Ban the feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to animals.
Stop harassing farmers and food processors who are interested in independently testing their own beef.
Download a Mad Cow Petition
to print and distribute
Related Reading Materials
Mad Cow USA
by Rampton and Stauber
Before there was Fast Food Nation, there was Mad Cow USA. Those who read this book when it first appeared in 1997 were shocked but not surprised on December 23, 2003, when the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced that mad cow disease had been found in America. Six years earlier, Stauber and Rampton warned in Mad Cow USA that government and industry in the US had failed to take the necessary steps to prevent this bizarre and deadly dementia disease from spreading through contaminated feed into livestock and humans. The feeding of rendered slaughterhouse waste to livestock, which spreads mad cow disease and created an epidemic in England, continues to be both legal and widespread in the United States. Dairy calves are literally weaned on cattle blood protein in calf milk formula, while government and industry feed the American public a dangerous diet of outright lies, false assurances and deceptive PR. Read more…
Mad Cow Links
Dave Louthan's Site
I'm the guy who killed that mad cow
Mad Cow Disease Discussion
with Terry Singeltary
Official Mad Cow Disease Archive Worldwide news articles sorted by topic but not labeled by date or country. 8000+ articles on mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, prions, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, BSE, CJD, and TSE.
The Why Files
Overview of Mad Cow
1998 article from The Atlantic Monthly (subscription required)
CJD Watch (International) - Tracking Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease victims.
Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat
by Howard Lyman.
Mad Cow Glossary
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy
TSE: A family of progressive, incurable, fatal diseases caused by prions. Characterized by dementia, and holes in the brain on autopsy. Can be transmitted between mammals when one mammal eats parts of the nervous system (e.g., brain, spinal cord) of another mammal.
Prion
Prion: (pronounced pree-on) Novel infectious agent common to these diseases. Not a virus or bacterium, but an infectious protein which can set off a chain reaction which destroys nerve cells. They cannot be inactivated by most sterilization methods.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
The technical name for Mad Cow Disease - the TSE found in cattle. The form of BSE found in European cattle is probably not the same as that in US cattle.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
A human TSE. The classic form of CJD appears to arise spontaneously, but the so-called "new variant" of CJD (nvCJD) is now known to be the human equivalent of mad cow disease thought to be contracted by eating contaminated beef.
Kuru
Another human TSE, found in Pacific Islanders who ate human brains.
Scrapie
The TSE found in sheep. The probable source of all other animal TSEs.
Downer cow
US industry term for an animal who falls down and dies without an apparent disease. Some people speculate that some US downer cows have a form of BSE with different symptoms from the British form of BSE.
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Since 1998, OCA and its nationwide network of 500,000 members have played a major role in safeguarding organic standards, promoting sustainable agriculture and Fair Trade, and challenging genetic engineering, factory farming, and industrial agriculture.
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Given the political challenges that lie ahead, we need your help now more than ever! We are a member supported organization, so our work depends on donations from concerned citizens and activists like you.
News & Views on Mad Cow Disease, Mad Deer Disease, Chronic Wasting Disease, and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mad Cow/Deer Feature Articles
- US Continues to Violate WHO Mad Cow Guidelines
- USDA Doesn't Go Far Enough to Protect the Public
- American Beef Industry Places Public at Risk (audio)
- Mad Cow Disease: Plague of the 21st Century? (audio)
Daily News: Mad Cow / Mad Deer
- 10/28/08 - Research Indicates One in Four Thousand Humans Are Carriers of Mad Cow-Like Disease
- 10/16/08 - Cow Brains, Spinal Cords to be Banned From Pet Food Starting in 2009
- 09/27/08 - Vermont Farm Leader, Linda Faillace, on Why the USDA Will Not Allow US Beef Producer, Creekstone Farms, to Test Cows for Mad Cow Disease
- 09/25/08 - Mad Cow Disease Kills Mom, Son in Spain
- 08/31/08 - Federal Court Allows USDA to Suppress Testing for Mad Cow Disease
- 08/23/08 - Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease and Veterans and How They are Treated at Death
- 08/21/08 - Mad Cow USA: The Cover-up Continues
- 08/10/08 - Democracy Now Interviews Michael Hansen on Raging Mad Cow Controversy in Korea
- 08/09/08 - South Koreans Fill Streets of Seoul to Continue Protest Against US Beef Imports
- 08/05/08 - Koreans Will Protest US Beef Imports to South Korea When President Bush Visits
- 07/31/08 - South Korea Court Orders TV Station to 'Correct' Mad Cow Report so that U.S. Beef Imports Can Resume
- 07/10/08 - Ten Americans Killed by Mad Cow/CJD-Like Disease
- 07/05/08 - Korean Activists Launch Boycott Against U.S. Beef
- 07/04/08 - Food Safety - Rigging The Game
- 07/03/08 - Prions' Great Escape
- 07/01/08 - Mad Deer Disease: Are Venison Eaters and Hunters at Risk?
- 06/29/08 - How 'Mad Cow' Prions Pose a Threat to All Non-Organic Food Consumers Including Vegetarians
- 06/26/08 - Slaughterhouse Abuse of Downer Cows And Mad Cow Risk Continues
- 06/24/08 - USDA to Korea and the World, Eat That Untested Beef and Like It
- 06/24/08 - Meat Wars: Why Are the Koreans Dissin' our Beef?
- 06/20/08 - Why Koreans Still Reject U.S. Beef: Stop the Madness
- 06/18/08 - Overview of Mad Deer Disease (Chronic Wasting Disease) that is Slowly but Steadily Spreading Across the World
- 06/18/08 - Dallas Morning News Editorial: Korea's Beef With America
- 06/16/08 - NYT Covers Food Safety Deregulation the US Beef Export Crisis
- 06/16/08 - South Korean President Vows Not to Allow Imports of US Beef Over 30 Months Old
- 06/13/08 - Questions on U.S. Beef Remain
- 06/06/08 - Korean Proposal to Lift the Ban on US Beef Imports Mushrooming into a Political Crisis
- 06/02/08 - Mass Public Pressure over Mad Cow Risks Forces South Korea to Delay Resumption of US Beef Imports
- 05/29/08 - South Korea Government to Force Controversial US Beef on Market Despite Continued Resistance from Consumers, Unions, and Grocers
- 05/21/08 - USDA to Ban 'Downer' Beef
- 05/20/08 - Nightly Vigils in South Korea Focus on US Meat Safety
- 05/17/08 - Why Americans, As Well as Koreans, Should Be Worried About Mad Cow Tainted USA Beef
- 05/16/08 - New Neurological Disease Infecting Pig Processing Plant Workers
- 05/13/08 - Koreans Angry that USDA is Blocking Meat Industry Tests of All Cows at Slaughter for Mad Cow Disease
- 05/11/08 - What is USDA Trying to Hide by Denying U.S. Beef Companies Rights to Test Animals for Mad Cow Disease?
- 05/06/08 - EU Proposal to Allow U.S. Practice of Feeding Slaughterhouse Waste to Pigs & Chickens Sparks Outrage in Europe
- 05/06/08 - South Korean Consumers, Worried About Mad Cow, in Uproar over Government Lifting Ban on U.S. Beef Imports
- 05/05/08 - Outrage at European Moves to Feed Animal Remains to Chickens
- 05/01/08 - USDA Isn't on Board With Beef Industry's Downer Cow Ban
- 04/15/08 - S. Korea Aims to Maintain Age Limit, Offal Ban on US Beef
- 04/09/08 - Virginia Woman May Have Human Form of Mad Cow Disease
- 03/26/08 - USDA Admits Sick & Diseased Cattle Are Regularly Being Slaughtered for Human Consumption
- 03/13/08 - Meat Packer Admits Slaughter of Sick Cows
- 03/12/08 - Expert Dr. Michael Greger Says 'Get Downer Cattle Out of the U.S.Food Chain'
- 03/10/08 - USDA Says It's None of the Public's Business Who Ate Recalled Meat
- 03/05/08 - Who's to Blame for the Biggest Meat Recall in U.S. History?
- 03/01/08 - New Case of Mad Cow in Alberta
- 02/25/08 - Massive Beef Recall Fouling U.S. Prospects for Exports
- 02/18/08 - USDA Recalls 143 Million Pounds of Beef Products Already Consumed by Schoolchildren
- 02/18/08 - Huge Beef Recall Issued
- 02/08/08 - USDA Oversight of Food Safety Under Fire
- 02/07/08 - A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota
- 02/05/08 - Schools Drop Burgers From Menu After Downer Cow Scare
- 02/04/08 - Viewers Cringe at Slaughter Video While USDA Spins
- 02/02/08 - Video Reveals Violations of Laws, Abuse of Cows at Slaughterhouse
More Mad Cow Headlines>>
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About Michael Greger, MD
Michael Greger, MD, is the Mad Cow Coordinator for the Organic Consumers Association and the Chief BSE Investigator for Farm Sanctuary. Dr. Greger has been speaking publicly about mad cow disease since 1993. He has debated the National Cattlemen's Beef Association before the FDA and was invited as an expert witness at the Oprah Winfrey infamous "meat defamation" trial. He has contributed to many books and articles on the subject and continues to lecture extensively.
Dr. Greger is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. He can be reached for media inquiries at 206-312-8640 or by email. For periodic updates on Dr. Greger's Mad Cow writings and commentary, send a blank email to
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