On Feb. 1, 2000 US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman declared
a scrapie "emergency that threatens the sheep and goat industry of
this country," effectively admitting that the disease, with 20 known
strains, is out of control. "The sheep thing in the US is demonstrably
worse," says Pringle. "They know they've got scrapie in thirty-nine
states, that there are a lot of really infected flocks, and they
know those flocks are being eaten by people, and there's no effort
to keep scrapie out of the human food chain. They've gotten away
with murder."

Interesting....it fails to mention what has been done to help control
scrapies. The USDA encourages sheep flocks to use ear tags that are
registered with USDA to allow for tracking of infected sheep back to the
original flock and then the flock is destroyed. I think its sad when people
write e-mails and focus only on the bad, not the good.

AND....since when does Oprah have an educated scientific opinion on things?
She is just a fat vegetarian who blames all the worlds problems on cows. I
dont think any one can say too much untill they have been in the farmer's
shoes and understand the industry. Personally, I like to read about how
products from ruminants prevent cancer as well as many other problems.

back to the cows....

Sarah


Oprah Has a Cow

The possibility that Mad Cows might be stumbling around the American
ranch was first brought to the American mainstream by the Oprah
Winfrey Show and guest Howard Lyman of the Humane Society of the
United States, a former cattle rancher turned vegetarian. After
Oprah swore off hamburgers on national television, meat consumption
plummeted and the Texas Cattleman's Association stupidly amplified
the issue by immediately suing Winfrey. Oprah won the suit and
subsequent appeal, brought under Texas' "veggie libel law," which
makes it illegal to slander a food product. "Long live free speech,"
she said upon news of the Feb. 1998 verdict. "This has been one of
my most painful experiences, but it has made me a stronger person.
. . I refuse to be muzzled."

Transcript:

Oprah's report on Mad Cow Disease April 15th, 1996

Oprah: You said this disease cold make Aids look like the common
cold?

Howard: Absolutely.

Oprah: That's an extreme statement you know?

Howard: Absolutely, and what we're looking at right now is we're
following exactly the same path that they followed in England. Ten
years of dealing with it as public relations rather than doing
something substantial about it. 100,000 cows per year in the United
States are fine at night, dead in the morning. The majority of those
cows are rounded up, ground up, fed back to other cows. If only one
of them has Mad Cow Disease, has the potential to effect thousands.
Remember today, the United States, 14% of all cows by volume are
ground up, turned into feed, and fed back to other animals.

Oprah: But cows are herbivores, they shouldn't be eating other cows.

Howard: That's exactly right, and what we should be doing is exactly
what nature says, we should have them eating grass not other cows.
We've not only turned them into carnivores, we've turned them into
cannibals.

Oprah: Now see, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me just ask you
this right now Howard. How do you know the cows are ground up and
fed back to the other cows?

Howard: Oh, I've seen it. These are USDA statistics, they're not
something we're making up.

Oprah: Now doesn't that concern you all a little bit, right here,
hearing that?

Audience: Yeah!

Oprah: It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://disinfo.com/pages/article/id906/
See extensive hot links to references at the web site.
Also see Kirchheimer's newer, more extensive article
"Bovine Bioterrorism and the Perfect Pathogen: Mad Cow Disease is
Sweeping the World, including the USA" in the 2002 book
"Everything you Know is Wrong" ISBN 0-9713942-0-2