I’ve been fretting about BSE contamination here in the U.S. since 2000.  It’s incredibly nasty stuff if everything I’ve read is reliable.  The infectious agents can be spread not only by consumption but by utensils that have been disinfected by normal processes; the same agents may not be destroyed by incineration. 

BSE is about as bad as anything a science fiction novelist could dream.

Hubby hasn’t really believed me all these years when I’ve ranted about the meat supply in this country.  I know he thought I was being irrational when I told him we weren’t eating any game meat while on vacation in Colorado last year; as an avid life-long hunter, he’s always believed game was the healthiest thing a human could eat.  He didn’t really understand my fears about chronic wasting disease and its potential relationship to BSE.

Until he saw that damned cow skittering around on television, I don’t think he thought BSE was real.

Sometimes it really annoys me to be so right.  In this case, I could be dead right.

It worries me that a large part of the American public is like my hubby, in denial and unbelieving until they’ve already seen that single, downer cow on television.

At this moment I’m really concerned not so much about the muscle meat from the one cow; it’s either been yanked from the markets or been consumed by this point in time.  The real problem is the processing plant(s) that handled that one cow; what did they do to decontaminate their equipment?  Did they pull all the equipment they used off the plant floor and replace it?  Highly doubtful, don’t you think?

As one ex-cattleman pointed out – years ago now – if there’s one infected cow, there’s many more.  He wasn’t alluding to contamination in processing either, only to rates of contamination/infection in live herds.  One mad cow is the tip of the iceberg…

This Christmas Day we enjoyed what will probably be our last standing rib roast for quite some time.  It’s probably too late; the stuff’s already working its way through the food chain.  I’ll have to hope that the steady reduction of beef consumption will send a message to cattlemen, processors, retailers and the government makes it clear we need effective and responsible regulations, regulatory enforcement and safe food NOW.  We’ve needed them for quite some time, going back to 2000 when the nature of BSE’s potential as an epidemiological agent became apparent in the UK.

What really adds insult to this injury is that a company like Walmart can demand new product identification and tracking technology and have its way in a very short period of time, but that the American public can’t demand and expect the same thing from its food suppliers. 

Why is it that companies like Walmart didn’t put an emphasis on this new technology to protect its customers?  They sell beef at Super Walmarts, don’t they?

Agh, what am I thinking?  I’m assuming that a corporation actually has more and better ethics than our government.

Slap me back into reality, will you, while I can still feel it?

6:00:09 PM    comment []

Isn't this the cutest little thing?

Damn, I wish Christmas and my birthday hadn't already come and gone; I'd have put this on the verlanglijstje (wish list)!

God, I am such a geek-wannabe...

2:16:22 PM    comment []

The World Future Society’s forecasts for 2004 have been published.  This year’s “Top Ten List” almost seems like a throw-away; there are few surprises. 

1. Genetically modified crops may surpass natural crops in acreage planted by 2020. Crops could be 100% genetically modified by the end of the twenty-first century, according to some optimistic experts. —Molitor, Sep-Oct 2003, p. 42

2. Two-thirds of the world's population will be chronically short of water by 2050. "Water wars" are now imminent in places like Kashmir, where Pakistan's water supply is controlled by India. —Cetron and Davies, Jan-Feb 2003, p. 40

3. How do you walk? Security people will be watching. Your unique swagger, stagger, or shuffle will speak volumes. "Gait analysis" could soon join fingerprinting and retina scans in the identification technology toolbox. —Jan-Feb 2003, p. 6

4. Voters are vanishing worldwide. Voter turnouts have dropped in established democracies, with record lows in the United Kingdom (59% in the 2001 parliamentary elections) and the United States (51% in the 2000 presidential election). Some countries, such as Australia, Singapore, and Belgium, have made voting compulsory, helping boost participation rates to above 90%. —Nov-Dec 2002, p. 6

5. Earthquakes will become deadlier. These future deadly earthquakes won't be more powerful, but they will kill more people simply because there will be more people to kill, particularly in the world's largest cities. Half the world's megacities, with multimillion populations, are located near potential magnitude 7.5 earthquakes. —Futurist Update, June 2003

6. We may be able to engineer longer lives for ourselves. Genetic engineering can double a worm’s life span. Mice are living 50% longer with the help of genetic inventions. Thanks to the human genome project, scientists are closer to identifying ways to decelerate human aging. —Magalhães, Mar-Apr 2003, p. 49

7. Polar bears extinct by the year 2100? Global warming is melting polar bears’ Arctic hunting grounds and threatens to prevent new ice from freezing. If the trend continues, polar bears could starve off in the next 100 years. —July-Aug 2003, p. 6

8. More Americans will go it alone. People in their prime family-forming years are opting out of family life. Since 1970, the proportion of 25- to 34-year olds who live alone rose from 4% to 10%. The proportion of 35- to 44-year-olds living alone rose from 3% to 9% in that time. If these trends continue, look for more solo-living in the future. —July-Aug 2003, p. 13

9. Physicians may soon have ways to help paralyzed people move their limbs by bypassing the damaged nerves that once controlled their muscles. Researchers are already able to get rats to do things by stimulating the pleasure centers in the rats' brains. —Nov-Dec 2002, p. 45

10. You may be wearing your power on your sleeve. Fabrics containing flexible solar cells may soon be possible as researchers overcome obstacles such as losing current when fabrics are bent. Solar textiles could one day be used to provide clothing for emergency workers or as solar-powered carpets for tents in refugee camps. —Sep-Oct 2003, p. 2

After perusing the list I had a sense of “So what?”

What about you?  Any surprises?  What exciting prediction do you think they missed?

Hmm.  I take it back, there's one surprise -- but it's an invisible corollary, not on this list.

Want to bet the real reason for taking Iraq wasn't just its oil but its water?

1:10:20 PM    comment []