# Mad cow! Mad cow! Run away!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 24, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771 "2003-12-24T02:54:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/21 "2003-12-24T14:59:16Z")
Come on guys, no one wants to live forever. Give me a double qtr w/cheese. ---
**Author:** ![KeithT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@KeithT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithT)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/22 "2003-12-24T16:52:45Z")
See, now - times like this I am grateful that I’m a piggyvore. 😃 Beef? Pshaw. Gimme some back bacon and ribs! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/23 "2003-12-24T17:04:45Z")
Glad to see most of you (with the probable exception of **ryanv** ) get the underlying message here. We are once again supposed to react with alarm and fear over something that may or may not affect our daily lives (I suspect “not”). The ongoing media blitz to stir paranoia in America continues unabated. ---
**Author:** ![ouisey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@ouisey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouisey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/24 "2003-12-24T17:05:18Z")
Maybe now that Americans have their very own mad cow, I can donate blood again. I haven’t been allowed to for the past four years due to living in the UK between 1980 and 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/25 "2003-12-24T17:23:44Z")
Hi from the beef capital of Canada - I’m having a serious case of Schadenfreude today. When our _one_ stinking little cow was discovered before it even went to the slaughterhouse and the US went completely ballistic and all “WE’LL NEVER EAT CANADIAN BEEF AGAIN! UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!”, Albertans backed our beef industry like I have never seen before. I was never so proud to be a transplanted Albertan as I was this summer. And just for the record, our beef industry has been decimated by what happened this summer. To put that in terms people can understand, the guy next to me in line at Safeway is a rancher who’s being forced to sell his family ranch because the beef cattle that he managed to keep alive through the drought and feed shortages of the last three years are now worthless. **That’s** what this really means. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/26 "2003-12-24T17:37:10Z")
I, for one, welcome our new mad cow overlords, and will be visiting my local butcher a little more often. **featherlou** and **RyanV** , while I understand the schadenfreude, please note that it’s most definitely not the entire country that’s screaming that Canadian beef is unclean:[ > [@](#): > > ]([http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4285155.html](http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4285155.html))In Wilmont, Minn., Brake was feeding his 4,000 head of cattle when he received a call with news of the new case. > > He had long been sympathetic to the plight of Canadian ranchers and urged that the border not remain closed for seven years, as some protection-minded ranchers wanted. > > “Those guys up there are more like our brothers than foreigners,” he said. “And now we know what our brothers were going through.” It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a case is found in Australia within ten years. ---
**Author:** ![GoHeels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@GoHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoHeels)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/27 "2003-12-24T20:18:53Z")
**featherlou** : > [@](#): > > Hi from the beef capital of Canada - I’m having a serious case of Schadenfreude today. When our _one_ stinking little cow was discovered before it even went to the slaughterhouse and the US went completely ballistic and all “WE’LL NEVER EAT CANADIAN BEEF AGAIN! UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!”, Albertans backed our beef industry like I have never seen before. I was never so proud to be a transplanted Albertan as I was this summer. Right on. I think Michael Moore is an ass, but I couldn’t help but agree with his underlying message of media-inspired paranoia in Bowling for Columbine. It sucks that we freaked out like little pussies about the Canadian beef thing. ---
**Author:** ![RyanV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@RyanV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyanV)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/28 "2003-12-24T20:30:49Z")
Ino: You know we just had to get it out of our systems 🙂 Hopefully, the federal government of the U.S. will help out the ranchers a lot more than the Canadian federal government helped out the Canadian ranchers during this period. It was only a matter of time until a case was discovered anyhow. Anyone read “Fast Food Nation”? That pretty much sums it up. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/29 "2003-12-24T21:16:14Z")
This is no joking matter! In fact, it’s an udderly serious matter! ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/30 "2003-12-24T22:01:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doctor Jackson \* > \*\*Mexican Onions! Run away! Run away! \*\* Brilliant! To date, fecal-contaminated produce has killed more humans than Mad Cow disease. We live in a society controlled by fear mongers. RESIST THE FEAR! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/31 "2003-12-24T22:14:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doctor Jackson \* > To all the smug vegetarians out there, I have only this to say: > > Mexican Onions! Run away! Run away! Onions always made me sick; I’ve been trying to tell people for years that they’re foul… > [@](#): > > _Originally posted bySmall Clanger_ > You should be OK unless there’s brain or spinal-cord bits in your burger. You do know what goes into burgers? I wouldn’t trust the slaughterhouses enough to keep things sufficiently clean and thus avoid this. However, we have one not-even-confirmed case, so naturally (being a good little media-following zombie here) it’s time to panic! Run screaming! Aiiiieeee! I’m rather liberal-leaning, but think Michael Moore’s a bit shrill. However, as another poster mentioned earlier, I also saw a lot of truth in his “media panic” thesis in _Bowling for Columbine_. There’s a difference between creating an informed public versus scaremongering. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/32 "2003-12-24T22:28:21Z")
Honestly, I wish half the people with strong opinions on _Bowling for Columbine_ had actually seen it. I think the message got lost in all the Gun/NRA sniping to come later, which is sad, really. Powerful film with a LOT to say. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/33 "2003-12-24T23:20:58Z")
I didn’t see B4C. I’ve been fed up with “media panic” since the Rodney King riots. ---
**Author:** ![HomerIU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HomerIU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomerIU)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771/34 "2003-12-25T03:35:11Z")
I happen to disagree with most everything said on here so far. ``` First of all, I fail to see where the media is telling us to panic over this. They reported the one case, as they should. I don't think its been overblown or overdone (no pun intended). Further, it is the first case ever documented in this country, so their is cause for concern that it may not be the only case. If they did not report on the case, people would be all over the media for a "cover up" and "conspiracy" by the meat industry to keep it under wraps. I am not saying any of you would react like that, but really this is a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation for the media. Michael Jackson is an example of overblown media coverage. Joe Horn is getting way more attention than he deserves for a good receiver on a mediocre NFL team. Mad Cow disease is something that should be seriously thought about in this largely carnivorous country. Second, for all the vegetarians that seem happy and smug this happened, I am sure the thousands of workers in the meat industry whose jobs are threatened by this situation appreciate your sympathy. BSE is not necessarily transmitted just by eating brain. Other forms of spongiform encephalopathies have been shown to be transmitted in other ways. CJD, the human form, has been shown to be transmitted via transplantation of dura mater, the lining around the brain that is not part of the brain itself. The diseases in this group are so rare and difficult to diagnose in humans that truly saying for sure how they may be transmitted is difficult. I would not assume that eating brain is the only way to be afflicted by the disease. This is a potentially deadly disease that could become introduced into the meat supply. No matter how rare or unlikely that is to happen, some consideration needs to be given to what is being and should be done to prevent the spread of the disease. ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-cow-mad-cow-run-away/220771.md?page=1)