Marrael posted about Mad Cow (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis - BSE) several days ago on her blog, and viciously shamed me into doing the same. So here goes.

What's at stake in the Mad Cow story? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Scientists are still at odds about the link between vCJD (the so called "human version" of BSE) and Mad Cow, because we don't know squat about prion-based diseases, really.

That said, read the NYT account of The Case of the Cherry Hill Cluster (or UPI's version of the same material) and decide for yourself. These articles provide great analyses about what the risks of Mad Cow might be and why vCJD may be a bigger problem than we know (it's often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's, which has been on the rise since the 1970's, which, again, may or may not be related to vCJD, becuase, say it with me, class: We don't know crap about prions).

But even without going into the human health risk, and simply taking into account the market reality that Japan, South Korea, and Europe (our biggest beef buyers) are so freaked out by the threat of a human health problem, that just the hint of a Mad Cow outbreak is enough to make billions of dollars in beef sales vanish. Paranoia is reality, as Pynchon said. Because of that, the USDA is obviously playing shell games within shell games to keep any sort of concrete or even meaningful BSE statistical data from being released to the public (read "trading partners").

So if you want to see the progress of the current Mad Cow story, most of it reported by the excellent reporter Steve Mitchell of UPI,  here's a breakdown, just to get it all nice and linear:

1) In December 2003, a cow in Washington state was determined to have BSE.

In this case, the vet on site reported that he was testing a "downer" (sick cow) for BSE. Workers on site contradicted him saying it was walking. This is significant because it's the USDA's policy only to test downer cattle. If BSE were found in a "healthy" animal, it would give credence to critics who say that, because of BSE's lengthy dormancy period, far more cattle should be tested. As Janet pointed out, less than 1% of US cattle are tested for Mad Cow. 

2) 2004 - Nearly 50 countries ban American beef. The blow to Big Beef registers in the billions.

3) April 2004, a gag order was placed by a USDA official on inspectors at a Texas processing plant, called "Lone Star" (!), after it was determined that a downer cow exhibiting central nervous disorders was not tested for Mad Cow. Furthermore, UPI determines that no testing was done at that same plant for the 2 years previous. 

4) May 2004 - Phyllis Fong, the Inspector General at the USDA, calls for a review of the USDA's BSE testing regimen. The USDA starts testing 20K healthy cattle for BSE in June. 

5) July 2004 - The IG determines that the USDA anti-BSE regimen is lame, especially its inability to effectively get a handle on how many cattle might already have BSE in the US. "Extrapolating from the agency's own data, the IG calculated if there are five cases among the high-risk animals, there could be as many as 62 to 781 additional cases in normal adult cattle." Fong also calls the 20K additional USDA Mad Cow tests "statistically insignificant."

6) August 2004 - UPI, after filing for data under the Freedom of Information Act, reports that 500 high-risk cattle went untested for BSE or the incorrect portion of their brains were collected, in 2003 and 2004. "When you look at all that, then how do you expect the American consumer to have any confidence in this, or our trading partners?" Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian, told UPI....He also questioned how the untested animals and the repeated collection of the wrong brain region went unnoticed at the USDA. ..."Somebody (there) should've caught on, but instead it has to be somebody from UPI under the Freedom of Information Act," Friedlander said. "How did it get by so many people?"

7) November 2004 - A "Texas" cow is tested for BSE, and two quick Biorad tests (which look to see if the damage is already done to the brain) come up negative. 

8) February 2005 - The Consumers Union demands that the "November cow" be tested again, this time with the more sensitive and accurate "Western blot" test.

9) May 2005 - UPI reports a Mad Cow cover up in the USDA.

Lester Friedlander (see #6 above) has made numerous accusation in recent years about the USDA's general corruption regarding Mad Cow. Now he says that the USDA's Inspector General is investigating him, which may not be a bad thing, since so far, IG Fong has been openly critical of the USDA's testing regimen.  "Among the accusations Friedlander said the OIG's office is investigating," says Mitchell of UPI, "is an incident in 1991 in which he said Pat McCaskey, a USDA pathologist branch chief, told him not to say anything if he ever found a mad cow case," and, "In another incident, Friedlander said Joe Oziano, a veterinarian from Veterinary Services in Michigan, informed him in 1995 that a cow brain he sent to be tested for mad cow disease at the USDA's lab in Ames, Iowa, was thrown away by lab personnel."

Cover-up aside, the budget process is about to take its toll on a meaningful Mad Cow response. According  to the same UPI article: "The USDA plans to scale back its BSE testing program in 2006. Its proposed mad cow testing budget for fiscal year 2006 would fund testing of only 40,000 animals."

But AgSec Johanns, of course, sees no problem in the most recent BSE findings, released on Friday night (shrewdly) - even when the "November cow" came up positive in a more accurate test this week: 

"Mad cow flap aside, USDA chief wants a good steak."

The USDA needs to knock off the idiotic shell games, heel dragging, and beef industry cheerleading, because there really is nothing to cover-up right now. Though, as I say, we don't know crap about prion-based diseases, you're really more likely to get hit by lightning that contract vCJD from a Mad Cow in your Hamburger Helper. If the USDA were more up front about its research and testing of BSE, (a) it might shed light into BSE's relationship to vCJD, at least on an epidemiological level, and (b) it might inspire a decent tracking and surveillance system for the beef industry, one that would instill confidence instead of peals of shrieking, horrified laughter.

A good tracking system is not imaginary, not impossible, nor is it cost-prohibitive - and it's already in place in the US: In the organic foods industry. Buy organic meat and it can be traced to the warehouses that took posession of it, the processor who killed and butchered the cow it came from, and the farmer who raised it. You can also get the certifier who certified it organic and the organic inspector's report -  all within 24 hours in most instances.

Most importantly? Cow blood, tallow, or other potentially BSE-infected proteins are never fed to organic beef cattle. Ever.

Case closed.

The system will include a nationwide virus database, epidemic analysis and information sharing among foreign experts, and regular announcements to the public, the Jun 1 report said. The information was attributed to Ma Juncai, assistant director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology.

A great idea whose time has come, but then there's this from the same article:

Chinese officials have denied rumors of human cases associated with the outbreak.