In the never ending saga of mad cow disease. Yes, as you can tell, this is a quick press release. I am trying to finish up a ghosted article about some nasty infectous microbes before I head to Canada for a conference, and I really don’t want to miss a day of posting. So here we are, Mad Cows.

MAD COW USA: SHOOTING THE MESSENGER

In the wake of recent news reports that the government had attempted to cover-up another case of Mad Cow disease, an internal feud has erupted inside the USDA. The most recent case of Mad Cow Disease was detected in a Texas cow that was slaughtered in November of 2004. At that time, the USDA claimed tests for the disease on the suspect cow were negative and that the cow was healthy.

But several weeks ago, after a public outcry by the OCA and other public interest groups and internal USDA accusations of improper testing, USDA Inspector General Phyllis K. Fong reopened the case and ordered new tests on the remains of that cow, the results of which turned out to be positive. The USDA has since admitted that its testing procedures are not stringent enough, but instead of creating policy that would upgrade testing for Mad Cow, the agency has begun to focus its energies on attacking Fong. This week, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns, who was appointed to his position by President Bush earlier this year, said Fong had no right to reopen this case and should not have implemented further tests for Mad Cow disease. According to Johanns, Fong’s discovery of the second case of mad Cow disease in the U.S. is behavior that will not be tolerated within the agency.

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