question about Mad Cow mess

[MORTARDUDE]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3840651/

I excepted the following from the above link ..my question is at the bottom.... :

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New regulations will prohibit the use of so-called "downer" cows for food. Downer animals, including the one U.S. cow that tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, can no longer move on their own. They are already scrutinized by inspectors and checked by veterinarians because they are considered at higher risk for health problems. The stricken cow would have been barred from slaughter for human food under the rules announced Tuesday.

The Department of Agriculture will also ban from the food supply any cattle brains, spinal cords and lower intestines, all of which can harbor the deformed proteins known as prions that cause BSE. And skulls from older cows will no longer be able to undergo a process known as advanced meat recovery, which uses machinery to scrape meat from bones, Veneman said. Concerns have been raised about the recovery method because of the possibility that nervous system tissue, which may contain prions, could get into the meat.

Additionally, the USDA will expedite plans currently in development for a national system to identify and track all cattle.

The new rules will require meat from any cow that is being tested for BSE to be withheld from the food supply until testing is completed, a process that will usually take about two days, according to USDA officials. Currently, meat from the carcass could be sent on for processing even while the animals' brains and spinal cords are being tested.

The use of air-injection systems, which drive a bolt through a cow's skull to kill it quickly, will be banned. And many body parts of older cattle -- brains, spinal cords, eyes and more -- will be classified as specified risk materials, which will prohibit them from human consumption.

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Well, DUH !!! After all the fear, paranoia, bad press, and economic calamity brought on by this disease in the United Kingdom, Canada, and among elk and deer, etc. in the USA, why has it taken this long to do the right thing ? I am sure it is about money. Anyway, it stinks.

Larry

[Keith_Hixson]

Larry,

The Washington State Beef Associations says that downer cows were only 1/2 of 1 percent of all beef processed in Washington. I don't know what the nation wide stats would be but it would be a very small portion of the total beef industry. However, as you say it was a little pocket change for mostly dairy farmers to get a little extra from an old or dying cow. I find it deplorable practice. We always buried our downers as a kid. Took a back hoe and stuck down eight feet. Then grew hay over them. I don't think my folks would have even thought about putting a downer in the food chain.

I think its an unethical practice. And this comes from an "old" farm boy.

Keith

[reeb]

Larry:

VERY GROSS ;

BUT TO THE POINT !!!!!!

enough.......