 In
the February 3 New York Times, Donald G. McNeil
interviewed Dave Louthan, who slaughtered the cow on
December 9 that was later discovered to have had Mad Cow
Disease. He disputes the official statement that the
diseased cow was a "downer" and says,
"Mad cows aren't downers. They're up and they're
crazy." This means they'll be much harder to
identify, unless every single cow is tested. He also
says that during slaughtering, debris from the spinal
cord, where the dangerous prions lurk, "runs all
over the beef."
When Louthan heard the
misinformation about the diseased cow being a
"downer," meaning a cow that can no longer
walk, he began writing and e-mailing newspapers and
government agencies. He says the cow was only identified
as having the disease due to a "fluke" and
accuses the Agriculture Department of parking cars
outside his home "trying to scare me." He
claims one agent ordered him to stop sending e-mail.
He says the cow with Mad
Cow Disease came from another ranch in Washington State
and was "a good walker." The only sign of
disease was that her eyes were "all white, bugging
out" and she was extremely restless. He thinks that
not enough cattle are being tested for the disease
because, "One mad cow is a scare, but two is an
epidemic. They absolutely, positively don’t want to
find another."
Louthan also says that
current slaughtering methods contaminate the entire
carcass with spinal cord debris, meaning all the meat
could become contaminated, not just the parts which
harbor disease prions. McNeil writes that, "…
splitters cleave the spinal column from neck to tail as
hot- water jets blast fat and bone dust off the
saw." This slurry, containing potentially dangerous
spinal material, flows over the beef, which is then
cleaned by spraying with hot water and vinegar, neither
of which will kill the prions.
Louthan lost his job
after he told TV news reporters he was sure the Mad Cow
had already been ground into hamburger and eaten.
Related Stories
|
