Cows, capitalism, and cover-ups: The politics and economics of mad cow disease

Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science, 2001 by Best, Steven

Mad deer and elk disease - "Chronic Wasting Disease" (CWD) - is now reaching epidemic levels and spreading rapidly throughout Canada and six Western states (up to 1 % of the elk and up to 15% of the wild deer in Colorado and Wyoming are infected).24 In addition, some 350 diseased deer have been imported to game farms throughout Wisconsin where they freely interact with concentrated populations of animals.25 Human populations are in danger of contracting a TSE from deer and elk through consumption of venison and the widespread and unregulated use of elk antler for its alleged powers to enhance sexuality, relieve arthritis, and so on. Indeed, in the past few years, three young hunters died of CJD contracted from exposure to infected deer meat. In one case, the venison that tested positive for CWD was ground up and mixed in with meat from hundreds of other deer to be used for sausage.26 As in the agricultural sectors of Britain and the U.S., American wildlife officials downplay or deny the dangers of a TSE epidemic, and rely on sporadic and voluntary testing. More cautiously, however, the FDA held public meetings in January 2001 to determine whether hunters should be allowed to donate blood.27 The FDA also considered extending the 1998 ban beyond people who visited Britain for more than six months between the period of 1980-1996 to include those long-term residents of France, Ireland, and Portugal.28

If BSE agents have contaminated mink and other species, there is no reason to believe they have not also infected cattle or human beings, since prions (or slow viruses, or whatever they are) have no respect for species boundaries. Indeed, the U.S., like other nations throughout the globe, has been a prime dumping ground of British MBM products. In the midst of the BSE epidemic in Britain, hundreds of cattle and tons of rendered products were imported into the U.S., with both their specific origin and ultimate destination untraced. In December 2000, the United Nations estimated that:

At the height of the mad cow epidemic in Britain at least 500,000 tons of untraceable bovine byproducts were exported from Britain to Western Europe and other nations around the world, including the United States.

British export statistics show that 20 tons of 'meals of meat or offal' that were 'unf it for human consumption' and probably intended for animals were sent to the United States in 1989. And 37 tons were exported to the United States in 1997, well after the government banned imports of such risky meat. No one has tried to trace this meat or to determine whether it was allowed into the United States.29

In 1996, after Britain admitted the link between BSE and nvCJD, the U.S. government's idea of "regulation" was to allow various aspects of the meat industry, such as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and the American Sheep Industry Association, to institute a "voluntary ban" on using ruminant protein in ruminant feed. At the same time, the government permitted other industries, such as the North American Rendering Industry and the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), to reject voluntary measures on the grounds that meat and bone meal (MBM) additives are safe, that regulation represents a capitulation to crackpots and scientifically ungrounded fears, and that preventative measures are too expensive.30