I would not sell to the public any animal that I would not eat myself.
To me eating a sick a animal, is like eating road kill .I would eat an animal if I saw how it got injured i.e it stepped in a hole and broke its leg.
Industry resisted warnings over beef
During a House debate last summer over a possible ban on using sick and injured cows for meat, Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., held up a photo of a crippled cow and cautioned that such "downer animals" carried the highest risk for mad cow disease.
But Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, a powerful rancher, countered that the government's screening program was tight enough to prevent any problems.
"The picture the gentleman is showing, that sick animal, will never find its way into the food chain," Stenholm said. "Period."
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Though some scientists had long warned that mad cow disease would eventually appear in the United States, cattle owners and meat packers repeatedly resisted calls for a more substantial program to test for the disease, and the Agriculture Department went along with them.
Congress came close three times to banning the sale of meat from downer cows, ones that are too sick or hurt to amble into slaughterhouses, only to see the industry's allies block each bill at the last moment.
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The nation's meat inspection system has undergone sweeping changes, with the government shifting much of the responsibility for safety to meat companies.
Beef production has become increasingly concentrated and industrialized.
Many packing plants now use advanced systems to extract more meat close to the animals' bones and spinal cords, increasing the chances that possibly risky tissue from their central nervous systems could end up in hamburgers and other processed meat.
Some scientists wonder if government officials, even now, appreciate the full extent of the dangers.
For moreâ¦
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7584713.htm
To me eating a sick a animal, is like eating road kill .I would eat an animal if I saw how it got injured i.e it stepped in a hole and broke its leg.
Industry resisted warnings over beef
During a House debate last summer over a possible ban on using sick and injured cows for meat, Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., held up a photo of a crippled cow and cautioned that such "downer animals" carried the highest risk for mad cow disease.
But Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, a powerful rancher, countered that the government's screening program was tight enough to prevent any problems.
"The picture the gentleman is showing, that sick animal, will never find its way into the food chain," Stenholm said. "Period."
-----------------------------------
Though some scientists had long warned that mad cow disease would eventually appear in the United States, cattle owners and meat packers repeatedly resisted calls for a more substantial program to test for the disease, and the Agriculture Department went along with them.
Congress came close three times to banning the sale of meat from downer cows, ones that are too sick or hurt to amble into slaughterhouses, only to see the industry's allies block each bill at the last moment.
------------------------------------------
The nation's meat inspection system has undergone sweeping changes, with the government shifting much of the responsibility for safety to meat companies.
Beef production has become increasingly concentrated and industrialized.
Many packing plants now use advanced systems to extract more meat close to the animals' bones and spinal cords, increasing the chances that possibly risky tissue from their central nervous systems could end up in hamburgers and other processed meat.
Some scientists wonder if government officials, even now, appreciate the full extent of the dangers.
For moreâ¦
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7584713.htm