>I'd like to see testing of at least all noticeably diseased cattle,
>deer, elk, and rabbits and those who test positive not being able to
>be used in human or animal foods.  Testing -- which is easy, fast,
>and affordable -- would be most fair to the consumers as well as the
>producers.
>
>[Moderator's note: I don't think the typical BSE test used in the United
>States is particularly fast at all, as far as I've researched.  BIG]
 
It may be that they aren't using the better ones available.  There is
an excellent NY Times Article on the topic in which a Noble Laureate
who got his Nobel by figuring out Prions (the cause of Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathies) says there are such tests (and discusses
how and why the current levels of testing done recently on U.S. Beef
are not sufficient):
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/national/25WARN.html
 
>Ever since he identified the bizarre brain-destroying proteins that
>cause mad cow disease, Dr. Stanley Prusiner, a neurologist at the
>University of California at San Francisco, has worried about whether
>the meat supply in America is safe...
>
>He spoke over the years of the need to increase testing and safety
>measures...
>The department had been willfully blind to the threat, he said.  The
>only reason mad cow disease had not been found here, he said, is that
>the department's animal inspection agency was testing too few animals...
>This nation should immediately start testing every cow that shows signs
>of illness and eventually every single cow upon slaughter, he said he
>told Ms. Veneman.  Japan has such a program and is finding the disease
>in young asymptomatic animals... Fast, accurate and inexpensive tests
>are available, Dr. Prusiner said...
 
This would be an approach which would allow the diseased ones to be
removed from the food supply for anyone, including ferrets who DO get
TME and cases of that have been traced to food in
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1826023&dopt=Abstract
 
> J Gen Virol. 1991 Mar;72 ( Pt 3):589-94.
> "Epidemiological and experimental studies on a new incident of
> transmissible mink encephalopathy."
 
http://w3.aces.uiuc.edu/AnSci/BSE/TSE_Other_Animals.htm#tme
 
The meat from diseased U.S. cattle has been being sold under the current
relaxed inspection standards.  Here is some verification:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Mad-Cow.html?hp
including:
>Investigators disclosed Sunday that they have found meat cut from a
>Holstein sick with mad cow disease was sent to four more states and
>one territory.
 
AGAIN: the chances of getting it are rare, especially since humans don't
as often eat brains, intestines, etc. here in the U.S. as elsewhere.
Still, it is an avoidable risk.  It should also be an avoidable risk
for our companion animals.  Both cats and mink have been demonstrated to
have forms of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy acquired through
infected diet.  Ferrets have been shown to have Transmissible Mink
Encephalopathy and to be able to acquire TSEs from multiple origins.
 
[Moderator's note: Right -- fast tests ARE available... we just don't
use those in the U.S.!  Crazy, I agree.
 
Though if you think the solution is vegetarianism (which I certainly
support, even though I don't practice it myself), note that 49.6% of
food-borne illnesses last year in the US was caused by PRODUCE, not by
meat, according to CSPI.  Just putting things into perspective... BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4376]