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News archives

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

USDA Orders New Rules After Mix-Up On Mad Cow Case
Washington, D.C. - Government scientists in Ames who conduct tests for mad cow disease must overhaul their procedures after incorrectly ruling that a sick cow was healthy. The new procedures will be reviewed by scientists at an internationally recognized laboratory in Britain before they are put ... Continued...

China Coy On Bird Flu
BEIJING -- China has said it was dispatching experts to stop the misuse of an anti-viral drug on poultry and denied a report that officials encouraged farmers to use it, possibly making it ineffective for treating deadly bird flu in humans. A US newspaper said Chinese officials encouraged farmers to... Continued...

Monday, June 27, 2005

USDA Stance On Mad Cow A Tough Sell
WASHINGTON -- In announcing the nation's second confirmed case of mad cow disease, Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns pointed out that the disease is so rare in the United States that it was like searching for "a needle in a haystack." It's a point he made repeatedly, and indeed, Johanns had... Continued...

Sunday, June 26, 2005

For Months, Agriculture Department Delayed Announcing Result of Mad Cow Test
Although the Agriculture Department confirmed Friday that a cow that died last year was infected with mad cow disease, a test the agency conducted seven months ago indicated that the animal had the disease. The result was never publicly disclosed. The delay in confirming the United States' second... Continued...

DNA Analysis Will Be Used To Find Origin Of Diseased Cow
The government hopes DNA analysis can pinpoint the herd of the cow that tested positive for mad cow disease and lead investigators to the source of the animal's brain-wasting illness, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian said yesterday. Genetic testing is needed because of mistakes in ... Continued...

Canada to Keep Border Open to U.S. Beef
TORONTO (AP) -- Canada, which two years ago was prohibited from exporting its cattle to the United States after a mad cow scare, has no intention of closing its borders to U.S. beef after Washington announced that a cow tested positive there, Canada's agriculture minister said. The comments from ... Continued...

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Retesting Reveals Mad Cow Case; USDA Criticized for First Clearing Animal of Disease
New tests have confirmed that a Texas animal that federal officials earlier declared to be free of mad cow disease did have the brain-wasting ailment, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced yesterday. The definitive testing, done in England over the past two weeks, showed that the ailing anima... Continued...

Testing Changes Ordered After U.S. Mad Cow Case
Substantial changes in the nation's mad cow testing system were ordered yesterday after British tests on a cow slaughtered in November confirmed that it had the disease even though the American "gold standard" test said it did not. "The protocol we developed just a few years ago to conduct the te... Continued...

Friday, June 24, 2005

USDA Press Conference Confirming 2nd Case of Mad Cow in US
TRANSCRIPT OF MEDIA CONFERENCE WITH REMARKS MADE BY AGRICULTURE SECRETARY MIKE JOHANNS, DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER, ANIMAL PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, AND DR. DANNY MATTHEWS, TSE PROGRAM MANAGER, VETERINARY LABORATORIES AGENCY, WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND - WASHINGTON D.C. - JUNE 24, 20... Continued...

Usda Announces BSE Test Results And New BSE Confirmatory Testing Protocol
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2005 -- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has received final test results from The Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England, confirming that a sample from an animal that was blocked from the food supply in Nove... Continued...

How to Bury a Mad Cow
Late Friday, June 24, is a perfect time to bury bad news in Washington, DC. That's when Mike Johanns, the United States Secretary of Agriculture held a news conference. He announced that a beef cow suspected last November to be positive with mad cow disease, and finally properly tested, was indeed ... Continued...

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Avian Flu Could Become Top '08 Issue. Seriously.
While Washington, D.C., is consumed by issues ranging from the important (Iraq) to the downright petty (Tuesday's apology by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin), there's something huge lurking out there to really worry about: infectious diseases. The journal Foreign Affairs highlights the thr... Continued...

10 Years Later Minnesota's Biomass Energy Mandate Fails To Deliver
MINNEAPOLIS - A new report concludes that the Minnesota biomass mandate, rather than jump-starting a new industry using new energy crops, has become little more than a very costly waste-to-energy program. David Morris, Vice President of the Minneapolis based Institute for Local Self-Reliance and aut... Continued...

Monday, June 20, 2005

Vietnamese Bird Flu Doctor has Bird Flu
HANOI - A Vietnamese doctor who treated bird flu patients has contracted the disease himself, a state newspaper reported on Friday. The male doctor had been taking samples from carriers of the H5N1 virus, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said without specifying how he contracted the disease. Hi... Continued...

Mad Cow DNA May Offer Clues to Latest US Case
WASHINGTON - DNA from the brain of an aged beef animal could show why there were conflicting results from US mad cow tests and if the disease arose spontaneously, a British expert told Reuters on Friday. Danny Matthews, head of the research and surveillance program for transmissible spongiform... Continued...

Bird Flu Drug Rendered Useless; Chinese Chickens Given Medication Made for Humans
HONG KONG -- Chinese farmers, acting with the approval and encouragement of government officials, have tried to suppress major bird flu outbreaks among chickens with an antiviral drug meant for humans, animal health experts said. International researchers now conclude that this is why the drug will ... Continued...

Animal Being Tested Might Have New Form Of BSE
At least one scientist believes that the so-called "November cow" currently being retested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy in England, might have an atypical form of the disease. Juergen Richt, a senior USDA scientist based at the agency's lab in Ames, Iowa, told Reuters that while there is... Continued...

Gaps Remain in Mad Cow Disease Defenses
WASHINGTON American cattle are eating chicken litter, cattle blood and restaurant leftovers that could help transmit mad cow disease -- a gap in the U.S. defense that the Bush administration promised to close nearly 18 months ago. "Once the cameras were turned off and the media coverage dissip... Continued...

Saturday, June 18, 2005

How Pigs Could Be Launchpad For Bird Flu Pandemic
The frustrating search to unravel the bird flu sweeping south-east Asia in the hope of estimating the likelihood of a human global pandemic took another twist yesterday. A virologist from Hong Kong warned pigs could provide a launchpad, even if birds carrying the virus, which is causing havoc in... Continued...

Friday, June 17, 2005

'Unusual Pattern' Prompted OIG To Order New Test On November Cow
Agriculture Department Inspector General Phyllis Fong says she ordered new tests on brain tissue from a cow declared free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy last November because OIG auditors noticed "an unusual pattern of conflicting test results" while reviewing USDA's testing program for the dis... Continued...