Alabama cow tests positive for mad cow disease
- From: C. S. <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:33:21 -0600
Alabama cow tests positive for mad cow disease
Third U.S. case could cripple the beef industry
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 3:53 p.m. ET March 13, 2006
WASHINGTON - A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease,
the Agriculture Department confirmed Monday, the third case in the
U.S.
The animal was a beef cow but hadn?t entered the food supply for
people or animals, said the department?s chief veterinarian, John
Clifford.
A routine test last week had indicated the presence of the disease.
Results were confirmed by more detailed testing at a government
laboratory in Ames, Iowa, Clifford said.
U.S. investigators have found two previous cases of mad cow disease.
The first was in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington
state. The second was last June in a cow that was born and raised in
Texas.
The cow spent the past year at an Alabama farm, he said. The
department is investigating where the animal was born and raised.
The animal appears to have been at least 10 years old, Clifford said.
Analysts said the animal?s age will be a key factor in determining
consumer and trader reaction.
If the cow were born after 1997, it would mean the animal became
infected after a feed ban that was put in place to prevent the
disease. If it was born before 1997, the cattle industry could argue
the feed ban continues to work in preventing the disease.
In the two previous U.S. mad cow cases, the infected animals were born
before 1997.
?If it was born after the feed ban in the United States it is a bigger
problem, because it would be harder to say our system is working
well,? Jim Robb, a Livestock Meat Information Center economist, said
on Saturday after the preliminary results were announced.
Countries worldwide banned U.S. beef after the country?s first mad cow
case, but many of those bans have been lifted.
Japan, once the top overseas buyer of U.S. beef, briefly lifted its
ban, but it reinstated it in January after receiving a shipment of
U.S. veal that contained some banned parts.
This third mad cow case could make it difficult for negotiators to
convince Japan to resume purchases of U.S. beef.
First discovered in Great Britain in 1986, mad cow disease destroys
the brain in cattle.
A similar, fatal disease can affect people who eat meat from infected
cattle, according to scientists. More than 140 people, mainly in
Britain and Europe, have died from the disease.
Different types of tests indicated the presence of mad cow disease in
the Alabama cow. Two versions of the initial ?rapid? screening test
suggested the cow had the disease, and a more detailed Western blot
confirmed that finding. The department is still doing a third type of
test, immunohistochemistry, or IHC, and will release those results
later in the week.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11809760/
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