This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ----__JNP_000_73fb.2669.134c Thought I'd send this to the list, since the Mad Cow topic has been making the rounds. It's from Gene Gerue on the homestead list. Sallie - Zone 6 - SW Ohio ----__JNP_000_73fb.2669.134c Content-Type: message/rfc822 From: Gene GeRue To: "Homestead mailing list" Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 10:18:02 -0700 Subject: Oh, cow, wherefore art thou parts? 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Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. --=====================_80531468==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable EDITORIAL OBSERVER The Whole Cow and Nothing but the Whole Cow By VERLYN KLINKENBORG Published: January 20, 2004 In the mid-1990's, British officials had been trying for almost a decade to= =20 respond to the appearance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow=20 disease, in a herd near Ashford, England. At first, they simply dismissed=20 public concern or proclaimed their faith in British beef. Even when humans= =20 began dying of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease =97 the human equivalent of= =20 B.S.E. =97 government officials found it hard to act coherently. They had= the=20 one excuse that we lack: they didn't know what they were confronting. In=20 time, the British government put in place a set of prohibitions against the= =20 use of meat and bone meal as food for cattle and against the sale of=20 certain kinds of offal for human consumption. Those steps have seriously=20 reduced the incidence of mad cow disease. The British government also introduced a strict system for tracking every=20 cow in the country, something we are only now edging toward. By the=20 mid-1990's in England, you could follow a cow's paper trail right up to the= =20 slaughterhouse door. But what then? Live cattle almost certainly can't=20 spread mad cow disease. Dead cattle can, if the wrong things are done with= =20 them. After a decade of wrangling, the British decided to create an system= =20 to track cow parts. It sounded like a good idea, but it was never completed. The reason is that= =20 the parts of a slaughtered cow go everywhere. The official British B.S.E.=20 Inquiry Report put it this way: "It has been said, and not altogether=20 facetiously, that the only industry in which some part of the cow is not=20 used is concrete production." The problem isn't just global meat. It's=20 global cow. Here's the scale of the question. In 2002, commercial slaughterhouses in=20 the United States killed 36,780,000 cattle and calves. How much of a cow=20 carcass becomes meat depends on whom you talk to. The United States=20 Department of Agriculture says 70 percent, some knowledgeable cattle buyers= =20 say 63 percent, and the British government's studies say 53 percent. Even=20 the U.S.D.A.'s figure means that if you add up the non-meat remains of the= =20 cattle slaughtered annually in this country, you would have a herd of 11=20 million whole animals. You can begin to see why it seemed like a smart idea= =20 to feed bovine meat and bone meal to other cows =97 the practice, now= banned,=20 that transmitted mad cow disease in the first place. There's just so much=20 of the stuff. What isn't meat leaves the slaughterhouse for the rendering plant. There it= =20 is converted into basic raw materials that are processed all around the=20 world into a thousand different forms, most broken down all the way to=20 their molecular components, into proteins and fats and fatty acids. Just=20 how widely these are dispersed industrially can be gauged from a letter=20 sent out from an office of the Food and Drug Administration in 1992, asking= =20 manufacturers of dietary supplements to check the sources of bovine "neural= =20 and glandular tissue(s) or tissues extracts" to make sure they were not=20 contaminated. Letters also went out to the manufacturers of "drugs,=20 biological drugs, medical devices and biological device products," to the=20 manufacturers of veterinary drugs and animal feed, and to the makers and=20 importers of cosmetics. In fact, the list is nearly endless. Vaccines are often prepared in media=20 that may contain byproducts from slaughtered cattle. Until recently,=20 heparin, a widely prescribed anticoagulant, was made from bovine mucosa and= =20 lung, and steroids come from adrenal glands. Chemicals derived from bovine= =20 tissue appear in plastics, paper coatings, rubber and asphalt. Glycerin=20 appears in countless products. Collagen is a bovine byproduct. Some of these products ?? vaccines, for instance ?? are strictly= regulated,=20 and many of the industrial uses of cattle parts derive from cow parts that= =20 are not associated with mad cow disease. In fact, it is possible to stand=20 back and marvel at the industrial ingenuity that has found so many uses for= =20 what looks utterly useless as it comes out of the slaughterhouse. The logic= =20 behind this ingenuity is blunt. The F.D.A., explaining why vaccines are=20 prepared with cattle byproducts, said: "Cow components are often used=20 simply because cows are very large animals, and thus much material is=20 available." It isn't clear whether we would be better off, environmentally and=20 economically, if other raw materials, not from animals, were used for=20 products made from cow parts. But the inventiveness that converts cattle=20 tissue into thousands and thousands of apparently nonagricultural products= =20 ?? like gelatin capsules and jet engine lubricants ?? also provides part= of=20 the economic rationale for expanding the global cattle herd, regardless of= =20 the consequences. It's easy to grasp the problem of feeding bovine blood=20 and bone meal to cows. But economic pressure forces the use of cow parts=20 further downstream, until blood and bone meal are fed to farmed fish. Without the industrial market for bovine byproducts, the size of the cattle= =20 herd in the world could never have grown as large as it has. When people=20 talk about industrial farming, they usually refer to the often deplorable=20 conditions in which livestock is raised these days, usually confined in=20 close quarters, often indoors. But you might also call the capacity to turn= =20 a cow into fabric softener a kind of industrial farming as well, a kind we= =20 all participate in, whether we know it or not, whether we choose it or not. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/20/opinion/20TUE4.html --- You are currently subscribed to homestead as: salliejr@juno.com To unsubscribe send an email to listproc@listserv.oit.unc.edu with UNSUBSCRIBE HOMESTEAD in the body of the message. --=====================_80531468==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable EDITORIAL OBSERVER
The Whole Cow and Nothing but the Whole Cow
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: January 20, 2004
In the mid-1990's, British officials had been trying for almost a decade to respond to the appearance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in a herd near Ashford, England. At first, they simply dismissed public concern or proclaimed their faith in British beef. Even when humans began dying of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease =97 the human equivalent of B.S.E. =97 government officials found it hard to act coherently. They had the one excuse that we lack: they didn't know what they were confronting. In time, the British government put in place a set of prohibitions against the use of meat and bone meal as food for cattle and against the sale of certain kinds of offal for human consumption. Those steps have seriously reduced the incidence of mad cow disease.
The British government also introduced a strict system for tracking every cow in the country, something we are only now edging toward. By the mid-1990's in England, you could follow a cow's paper trail right up to the slaughterhouse door. But what then? Live cattle almost certainly can't spread mad cow disease. Dead cattle can, if the wrong things are done with them. After a decade of wrangling, the British decided to create an system to track cow parts.
It sounded like a good idea, but it was never completed. The reason is that the parts of a slaughtered cow go everywhere. The official British B.S.E. Inquiry Report put it this way: It has been said, and not altogether facetiously, that the only industry in which some part of the cow is not used is concrete production. The problem isn't just global meat. It's global cow.
Here's the scale of the question. In 2002, commercial slaughterhouses in the United States killed 36,780,000 cattle and calves. How much of a cow carcass becomes meat depends on whom you talk to. The United States Department of Agriculture says 70 percent, some knowledgeable cattle buyers say 63 percent, and the British government's studies say 53 percent. Even the U.S.D.A.'s figure means that if you add up the non-meat remains of the cattle slaughtered annually in this country, you would have a herd of 11 million whole animals. You can begin to see why it seemed like a smart idea to feed bovine meat and bone meal to other cows =97 the practice, now banned, that transmitted mad cow disease in the first place. There's just so much of the stuff.
What isn't meat leaves the slaughterhouse for the rendering plant. There it is converted into basic raw materials that are processed all around the world into a thousand different forms, most broken down all the way to their molecular components, into proteins and fats and fatty acids. Just how widely these are dispersed industrially can be gauged from a letter sent out from an office of the Food and Drug Administration in 1992, asking manufacturers of dietary supplements to check the sources of bovine neural and glandular tissue(s) or tissues extracts to make sure they were not contaminated. Letters also went out to the manufacturers of drugs, biological drugs, medical devices and biological device products, to the manufacturers of veterinary drugs and animal feed, and to the makers and importers of cosmetics.
In fact, the list is nearly endless. Vaccines are often prepared in media that may contain byproducts from slaughtered cattle. Until recently, heparin, a widely prescribed anticoagulant, was made from bovine mucosa and lung, and steroids come from adrenal glands. Chemicals derived from bovine tissue appear in plastics, paper coatings, rubber and asphalt. Glycerin appears in countless products. Collagen is a bovine byproduct.
Some of these products ?? vaccines, for instance ?? are strictly regulated= , and many of the industrial uses of cattle parts derive from cow parts that are not associated with mad cow disease. In fact, it is possible to stand back and marvel at the industrial ingenuity that has found so many uses for what looks utterly useless as it comes out of the slaughterhouse. The logic behind this ingenuity is blunt. The F.D.A., explaining why vaccines are prepared with cattle byproducts, said: Cow components are often used simply because cows are very large animals, and thus much material is available.
It isn't clear whether we would be better off, environmentally and economically, if other raw materials, not from animals, were used for products made from cow parts. But the inventiveness that converts cattle tissue into thousands and thousands of apparently nonagricultural products ?? like gelatin capsules and jet engine lubricants ?? also provides part of the economic rationale for expanding the global cattle herd, regardless of the consequences. It's easy to grasp the problem of feeding bovine blood and bone meal to cows. But economic pressure forces the use of cow parts further downstream, until blood and bone meal are fed to farmed fish.
Without the industrial market for bovine byproducts, the size of the cattle herd in the world could never have grown as large as it has. When people talk about industrial farming, they usually refer to the often deplorable conditions in which livestock is raised these days, usually confined in close quarters, often indoors. But you might also call the capacity to turn a cow into fabric softener a kind of industrial farming as well, a kind we all participate in, whether we know it or not, whether we choose it or not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/20/opinion/20TUE4.html
---
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