Mad Cow USA: The Unfolding Nightmare - Softcover

Rampton, Sheldon; Stauber, John

3.76

41 ratings by Goodreads

9781567511109: Mad Cow USA: The Unfolding Nightmare

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567511104 ISBN 13: 9781567511109

Publisher: Common Courage Press, 2003

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The human death toll from British mad cow disease is doubling every three years. A version of mad cow disease unique to the U.S. is killing deer across North America; young hunters are dying from it. Did they get it from U.S. deer? Or from U.S. cattle or pigs that were fed "rendered byproduct" from slaughterhouse waste? With a new chapter of their 1997 book, Rampton and Stauber reveal a terrifying tale of governmental neglect and industry malfeasance.

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Review:

Mad Cow U.S.A. is not the book to read before you go out for a steak. In fact, it's not really a book to read before eating anything; this chronicle of government cave-in to pressure from the food industry just might scare away your appetite. Authors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber argue that both the American and British governments colluded with beef producers to suppress important facts about interspecies transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease"--facts that might have prevented gruesome deaths. Could a British-style BSE epidemic happen in America? In a 1996 TV talk show, Oprah Winfrey attempted to ask the same question, only to find herself slapped with a lawsuit by a group of Texas cattlemen. Their grounds: the so-called agricultural product disparagement laws currently on the books in 13 states; these laws prohibit people from questioning the safety of any agricultural product, shifting the legal burden of proof from the food industry to its watchdogs. What happens when anyone who speaks out about problems with our food supply can be sued into silence? Rampton and Stauber fear grave consequences for public health, and they make a convincing case against these laws--and, inadvertently, for vegetarianism.

From the Publisher:

John Stauber is the founder and executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy.

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