dreadedmonkeygod . net

Wow. I'm really annoyed now. I was listening to NPR last night on the way home from work, and got some more information about the whole Mad Cow thing.

I was initially shocked that after three confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, aka "Mad Cow Disease," in the U.S., the Agriculture department was scaling back testing, mysteriously claiming that testing for BSE is "not a food safety measure."

Last night's story on the radio was about a Creekstone Meat Packing, who want to test all slaughtered animals for BSE, so they can re-establish shipments to Japan, which banned U.S. beaf after the first confirmed case of BSE. But the U.S. Agriculture Department has forbidden Creekstone to do so. I was, again, shocked.

But NPR, being NPR, got the bit of the story that Forbes left out.

It turns out that BSE can only be detected in cattle more than 30 months old. Since most cattle are slaughtered at around 20 months, tests performed on them will always be negative, regardless of whether the cattle are diseased. So, testing all slaughtered cattle will just create a false sense of security.

Kudos to NPR for including the Agriculture Department's reasoning. And shame on Forbes for leaving it out. This is too important to screw up, and if our government is going to make sensible desicisons, they're going to need an informed public.