Mad about mad cows

Mad cow disease still threatens the United States because the government and beef industry have stifled discussion instead of erecting any safeguards -- and Madison's own John Stauber is mad as hell. Well, mad as heck, anyway. Is he so mad he's not gonna take it anymore? Hard to say. But here's how his article starts. Read it all at CommonDreams.org

"A popular Texas bumper sticker reads: "The only mad cow in America is Oprah." Not anymore with the USDA announcing that the first home-grown case of mad cow to be discovered is a Texas beef cow. . . [T]he failure of the United States to take the measures necessary to stop the spread of the fatal dementia dubbed mad cow disease resulted from a successful PR campaign by industry and government that to this day has fooled most of the press and the public into believing that all necessary steps were taken long ago. A major part of the effort to spin and intimidate media coverage involved suing Oprah Winfrey under the Texas Food Disparagement Act after she aired a program April 16, 1996, examining mad cow risks in America."