mad cow disease

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US Hit With 4th-Ever Mad-Cow Death

But Texas sees 'no public health concerns,' thinks victim picked it up abroad

(Newser) - The Centers for Disease Control is confirming the fourth-ever American death from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a degenerative brain disorder linked to mad cow disease. But before you get worried, know that the state of Texas finds "no Texas public health concerns or threats associated with this case." The...

Mad Cow Was Lame, 'Recumbent'

Animal was 10 years old: USDA

(Newser) - Officials previously said that the California Holstein with mad cow disease had shown no signs of the illness . Now they say it was lame and had taken to lying down, the AP reports. It was "humanely euthanized after it developed lameness and became recumbent," according to the USDA....

Mad Cow Discovery? Chalk It Up to Pure Luck

Infected cow showed no signs of the disease

(Newser) - This may not help you sleep better tonight. The discovery of mad cow disease in California was the result of ... luck, reports the AP . It explains that the state's dead cows are transported to a central California facility, where a very small number of the carcasses are tested. Officials...

S. Korea Stores Yank US Beef Over Mad Cow

Mad Cow scare affects two major retailers, but EU, Japan keeping cool

(Newser) - Two of South Korea's biggest grocery chains have temporarily halted the sale of US beef in response to the latest mad cow scare . "Not that there were any quality issues in the meat," a spokesman for the country's third-largest chain tells the AP , "but because...

Mad Cow Disease Shows Up in California

Authorities say food chain is safe

(Newser) - For the first time since 2006, US officials have confirmed a new case of mad cow disease, this time in California. The dairy cow's illness was detected during routine testing at a rendering plant by the USDA. None of the affected cow's meat got into human food, the...

EU Rules Starve Spanish Vultures

(Newser) - Madrid’s regional government hopes to relax EU laws that call for rotting livestock to be removed from fields—a precaution against mad cow disease—because the removal denies carrion-munching vultures a meal, the AP reports. “When a sheep or cow dies in the countryside,” said one ornithologist,...

Docs Alarmed after Mad Cow Linked to Plasma Transfusion

Risk of infection with fatal disease was previously said be very low

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the first case of mad cow caused by tainted blood plasma, the Telegraph reports. The elderly British man, who died from other causes, received blood transfusions years before doctors imposed restrictions to halt the spread of the fatal disease. Scientists had previously insisted the 4,000 people...

FDA Rules Block Import of Prized Danish Sperm

US running low on popular 'Viking' sperm, barred by Mad Cow safeguards

(Newser) - FDA rules banning European sperm imports are driving some would-be American mothers to desperation, the Washington Post reports. Sperm from Danish donors used to be a popular import. But regulations to safeguard the US from a human form of Mad Cow disease have shut down the supply and sperm banks...

S. Korean Cabinet Offers to Resign Over US Beef Imports

Cabinet offers resignation as 1m prepare to march

(Newser) - The entire South Korean government has offered to resign in the face of a popular protest triggered by the lifting of import restrictions on US beef. The Korean government withdrew a ban introduced to prevent mad cow disease, setting off demonstrations expected to bring a million people onto the streets...

USDA to Ban 'Downer' Cattle
 USDA to Ban 'Downer' Cattle 

USDA to Ban 'Downer' Cattle

Bid to boost confidence in beef

(Newser) - The USDA plans to ban all so-called "downer" cattle from the food supply to safeguard consumers from illnesses such as mad cow disease. Such animals are too weak or injured to walk, which can often be an indication of illness. Disturbing video of workers in a California slaughterhouse using...

US Scrutinizes Calif. Meat Packer
US Scrutinizes Calif. Meat Packer

US Scrutinizes Calif. Meat Packer

Video raises questions about safety of school food supply

(Newser) - The US Department of Agriculture is looking into a California meat distributor following the release of a video showing animal abuse at a Chino slaughterhouse, the Los Angeles Times reports. Westland Meat was immediately suspended from its contract to provide beef to federal school lunch programs because of its practice...

Top 10 Incurable Diseases
Top 10 Incurable Diseases

Top 10 Incurable Diseases

Medicine marches on, leaving behind some ailments that defy understanding

(Newser) - Doctors have successfully performed a face transplant, but the cure for the common cold still eludes them. LiveScience ponders the diseases that got away.
  1. AIDS
  2. Alzheimer's disease
  3. The common cold

12 Stories