Livestock Worries
Posted May 04, 2001
In the late 1980s, the European farming community faced a new threat: mad cow disease, a viral infection in sheep and cattle that can be transmitted to humans. The
virus attacks the brain in humans and has already killed about 80 people in Europe in just over a decade.
So far, mad cow disease has been contained to Europe and has not entered the United States. However, the possibility that it could enter the U.S. has been recognized
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Health, the beef industry, and many consumer groups.
The dangers of mad cow disease go beyond just the health of people. The mere appearance of the mad cow virus in the United States could be devastating to the meat
industry. In Europe, there have been massive slaughters of livestock suspected of being infected.
Although the U.S. government has had a ban on the import of British beef since 1989, there are other ways for the mad cow virus to make its way into the country. In
late March 2001, the U.S. government seized several hundred Belgium-bred sheep suspected of carrying the disease. Over a thousand cows were quarantined in Texas earlier this year because
they were exposed to contaminated feed.
In the dark shadow of mad cow, another livestock disease – foot-and-mouth disease – is breaking out across Europe and even causing havoc on some farms in the U.S.
Foot-and-mouth disease is harmless to humans, but it is devastating to livestock. It infects cows, pigs, and sheep by causing blistering sores in their mouth and on their hooves.
Although there are heavy vaccination programs throughout Europe and the U.S., infected livestock has been destroyed before the disease can spread. Already, the U.K.
has slaughtered several hundred thousand animals around the country while the Netherlands also has initiated a nationwide slaughter to wipe out the disease.
So far, the U.S. has been spared of foot-and-mouth and mad cow diseases. Mad cow never has shown up in the U.S., and the last occurrence of foot-and-mouth disease
was in 1929. However, even one outbreak of either disease could be catastrophic for farmers. In the last foot-and-mouth outbreak, entire herds were slaughtered, costing farmers $4 million.
If an outbreak happened today in the U.S., the University of California estimates it will cost farmers $14 billion.
Activity
Use the Internet to learn more about the virus that causes mad cow disease. What are the symptoms of foot-and-mouth and mad cow disease? Use a map of Europe
to trace the spread of mad cow disease.
References
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