BSE-a little prespective

[Anonymous]

I received these facts in an email from another producer and thought I would share it with everyone I could, I think it put's some prespective on the BSE issue, wish I could get this to one of the major networks... maybe the spin they put on this could be a little nicer to we producers.

1. There are nearly one hundred million cattle in the USA. One critter may be diseased. The fact that the USDA inspection system inspects every bovine processed in the USA and found one in 100,000,000 is pretty impressive. VERY IMPRESSIVE! If some one eats the brains or spinal cord, and if this critter is a carrier one or two people "could" contract the disease in a 3 to 5 year incubation period. With this in mind, consider these........

Oregon State University estimates that 1000 people die annually in the USA from eating poultry with salmonellosis. Due to this real fact did anyone decide not to eat a turkey for Christmas/Thanksgiving Dinner? for this reason? Hear any News Alerts on this?

3. People who die in automobile accidents this Christmas weekend in the USA, will be double all the people who have ever died from BSE. In the entire history of BSE 132 people have died, and 122 of those deaths in Great Britain.

3. Did the last fish you ate get inspected by a USDA veterinarian for poison mercury? No! No inspection is required on fish yet the main source of mercury people consume is from fish.

4. More money is spent on blood tests and specimen inspections on a processed steer for food safety than the total price of 4 fresh chickens.

5. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 37,000 traffic fatalities are projected for 2003. Are we seeing special TV alerts on traffic fatalities?

There are many health risks. The risk of any person contracting BSE in this day and age of inspections and lawsuits is very slim indeed. We have to decide if the risk of contracting BSE is equal to all the convulsions that the Media and the government are going through.

Let's put this into perspective, with 1000 deaths annually from Salmonellosis, there have been 8000 deaths in the USA alone from Salmonellosis since BSE was discovered. That means that there are 6,060% more deaths from Salmonellosis in the US alone than all the cases of BSE in the entire world. Where is the outcry?

Share this information with everyone you can. In my opinion, the fall out from this will hit us, the producers, as always. The USDA decides to announce this when the sale barns are closed, the markets are running short hours..nice of them to hand us this special little present the day before Christmas Eve. And if I hear one more governement official say, "I am going to eat beef for dinner" I will scream. The implication is negative...

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[Anonymous]

"The fact that the USDA inspection system inspects every bovine processed in the USA and found one in 100,000,000 is pretty impressive."

I agree that perspective needs to be applied to everything especially BSE but before you get sending this around I don't think the USDA inspects every single bovine processed in the USA. Do you believe that?

Also the fact that the meat from this animal entered the human food chain is both irresponsible and trageic. There was a recall done 2 days ago and it had not been recovered as of last night. Hold of on touting the inspection system as a saviour at least until the correct their huge screw-up!

I for one am not impressed. Will our consumers be?

 

[Anonymous]

From the USDA site...... "The inspection and grading of meat and poultry are two separate programs within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Inspection for wholesomeness is MANDATORY and is paid for out of tax dollars. Grading for quality is voluntary, and the service is requested and paid for by meat and poultry producers/processors."

I am impressed.. I am not touting the wonderful nature of the USDA, my point is that the spin on this is horrendous, especially considering all the other "dangers" out there.

To effectively shut down an entire industy in any country for ONE cow with this disease is an HUGE overreaction. I somewhat understand the "live cattle export" issues. We do a terrible job in regard to Mexican cattle..hence the re-introduction of TB to Texas, brought in from Mexico cattle. Has anything changed? Yes, the Texas producers have to test for TB every 6 months and the Mexico cattle just continue to come in. pftttt

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[Anonymous]

> From the USDA site...... "The
> inspection and grading of meat and
> poultry are two separate programs
> within the U.S. Department of
> Agriculture (USDA). Inspection for
> wholesomeness is MANDATORY and is
> paid for out of tax dollars.
> Grading for quality is voluntary,
> and the service is requested and
> paid for by meat and poultry
> producers/processors."

> my point is that the spin on this
> is horrendous

Does that mean you agree saying every animal in the US is inspected right when you are talking about BSE is a spin? About 20,000 animals were tested for BSE last year in the US, and the USDA is not very forthcomming with those records.

> To effectively shut down an entire
> industy in any country for ONE cow
> with this disease is an HUGE
> overreaction.

I'll take that as saying what the US did to Canada was/is wrong. Our industry has been brought to the brink by the continued delay of not opening the border based on science. Now with this case, will the science change? I bet the politics will. Too bad this will affect our prices as much or more than it will American prices.

Jason

 

[Anonymous]

> Does that mean you agree saying
> every animal in the US is
> inspected right when you are
> talking about BSE is a spin? About
> 20,000 animals were tested for BSE
> last year in the US, and the USDA
> is not very forthcomming with
> those records. Jason

No Jason, I am saying our beef supply is safe and there are infintely MORE health risks regarding many other food items. So where is the front page coverage on that? It is not there! I am saying the media is hyping to the point of ridiculous.

> I'll take that as saying what the
> US did to Canada was/is wrong. Our
> industry has been brought to the
> brink by the continued delay of
> not opening the border based on
> science. Now with this case, will
> the science change? I bet the
> politics will. Too bad this will
> affect our prices as much or more
> than it will American prices.

I hate that the Canadian borders are closed. I have several friends in Canada and know the financial hardship they are suffering and have suffered. This is not an "us" and "they' problem within the cattle industry, US and Canada. We just need to put this into a proper perspective, here as well as in Canada or anywhere else.
> That is my entire point..

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