Mad Cow Disease: Should You Worry?

 Mad Cow Disease: Should You Worry?

Cows grazing in a field. Who knows how many have mad cow?

By Claire Ricketts

The U.S. Agriculture Department were recently checking all of the milking cows in California. What were they checking for? Mad cow disease. Many think it is only an expression, but mad cow disease actually does exist, and it was found on four different cows since 2006. The disease luckily hasn’t gotten out yet, but some people say it is only a matter of time.
    Mad cow disease is a simple way of saying Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE. It is contracted from eating the meat or drinking the milk of one of the affected cows. It is a sometimes fatal brain disease, and affects the senses, such as sight, hearing and perception, often starting out small but getting worse as time goes on. Mad cow disease hasn’t been a serious problem since the 80’s, but could it be again?
    The USDA are definitely doing their best to keep the disease in check. The dairy farm where mad cow was located has stopped all of its exports until all cows are checked and ready to keep milking. The U.S. is currently not taking any beef or milk exports from other countries, and all health requirements are being promptly met. Mad cow disease hardly ever occurs in a cow over the age of 30 months, but officials say you can never be too sure.
    A concerned citizen, Sarah Freeman, says that “There no evidence at this point of how the cow who had mad cow disease acquired the disease. They could have acquired it through the feed supply, in which case other cows could have the disease that we don't know about.” The USDA tests cows randomly for mad cow disease, but in some people’s opinions, they only test a very small percentage. “[Mad cow disease] is a much larger problem than the USDA wants to make it seem to be,” says Ms. Freeman.
    There are health officials that are worried, but many say that this is not going to be a problem. The catch is, California is not the only place where traces of mad cow disease was found. South Korea recently halted all exports of beef because there was a chance that their cows could be infected as well. This is not just a national problem. If mad cow disease affects even one person, it could grow into a global beef-sanitation frenzy. The disease is just devastating enough to cause a minor panic, even if it was caught by only one citizen.
    The cause of BSE to cows is unknown. There is currently no known cure. Doctors were working hard back when mad cow disease was a real problem, but they have slowed now. Not very much is known about mad cow disease. All that people do know is that it catches, it transfers, and it kills.

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