If USDA surveillance efforts are not working, how did they find mad cow disease?
The single cow discovered to have mad cow disease in Washington state is likely the tip of the iceberg. Mad cow disease (or a variant of it) has existed in the U.S. for at least fifteen years, according to research published in 1993 by Dr. Richard Marsh of the University of Wisconsin, whose findings suggest the presence of an unrecognized BSE-like disease in the United States. The discovery of a BSE-positive downer cow in Alberta, Canada in February 2008 is particularly troublesome, given the similarities between the Canadian and American cattle industries, and that livestock are frequently transported across the Canadian-American border. Like the United States, Canada has a ban on the use of cattle meat or byproducts in cattle feed, a measure which should have prevented this most recent case from occurring.
