Cosmic Iguana - Voice of the Evil Doers

The government doesn't test enough cows. The government doesn't even test the right cows. The government forbids you from testing cows, even if you want to.

All these have been posted right here on this web site. Do a search on "mad cow" here, because I am tired of repeatedly bringing this up.

But mark my words, we WILL have a mad cow epidemic within the next 5-10 years because the government's policy is consistent in only one regard: protecting its short-term ass. As for the long-term, that's some one else's problem. But at least one part of the government is finally addressing one part of the problem:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government investigation on Tuesday gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture poor marks in testing cattle for mad cow disease, saying the agency was neglecting to test the majority of cattle most at risk.

"The problems identified during our review, if not corrected, may ... reduce the credibility of any assertion regarding the prevalence of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in the United States," said the USDA's Office of Inspector General. A draft report was provided by the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee.

The report said that despite a much-advertised expanded surveillance program the USDA was not testing adult cattle that died on the farm and had failed to test hundreds of cattle condemned due to possible central nervous system disorder -- a symptom of mad cow disease and many other diseases.

"A process for obtaining samples from animals that died on the farm has not been developed," the report said.... [*]

Pretty pathetic, huh?