WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.
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Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for mad cow disease.

The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.

Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.

"They want to create false assurances," Justice Department attorney Eric Flesig-Greene told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, since the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers.

"This is the government telling the consumers, `You're not entitled to this information,"' Frye said.

Chief Judge David B. Sentelle seemed to agree with Creekstone's contention that the additional testing would not interfere with agency regulations governing the treatment of animals.

"All they want to do is create information," Sentelle said, noting that it's up to consumers to decide how to interpret the information.

Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Three cases of mad cow disease have been discovered in the U.S. since 2003.

The district court's ruling last year in favor of Creekstone was supposed to take effect June 1, 2007, but the Agriculture Department's appeal has delayed the testing so far.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/09/mad.cow.testing.ap/index.html

Why would we stop testing?

to infect more cows and blame it on the liberals and al queda. honestly i may cut out beef all together if thats passed.

Unless I'm reading this wrong I don't see the big deal as a whole, they aren't lowering the testing standards. What is a big deal is a company not being allowed to do more thorough testing if they want. Really though, future beef will be no less tested than it has been.

The only reason anyone would eat beef in America today is because the public has a very poor understanding of what prions are.

THE SHIT THAT CAUSES MAD COW (AND KRUEZFELD-JAKOB DISEASE IN HUMANS) IS NOT ALIVE. The disease is caused by an organic molecule that can reproduce itself in huge numbers, like DNA can, but it is not a living thing by itself. It's not even as sophisticated as a virus, which is just a short strand of RNA inside a crystal shell. People have contracted KJD by using bonemeal flower fertilizer that came from cows whose carcasses were incinerated. INCINERATED. And setting the cow tissue on fire did not kill the thing that causes the disease.

If you get KJD, you probably won't know for decades. And if you do, the symptoms are pretty similar to Alzheimers or age-related dementia. You can't accurately diagnose it without doing a biopsy of brain tissue, which of course you can't do until you're dead. Chances are you could die of it without anyone ever knowing that you had it, and probably no one would ever consider testing you for it.

If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.

How can you tell when a cow is angry?

THE SHIT THAT CAUSES MAD COW (AND KRUEZFELD-JAKOB DISEASE IN HUMANS) IS NOT ALIVE. The disease is caused by an organic molecule that can reproduce itself in huge numbers, like DNA can, but it is not a living thing by itself. It's not even as sophisticated as a virus, which is just a short strand of RNA inside a crystal shell. People have contracted KJD by using bonemeal flower fertilizer that came from cows whose carcasses were incinerated. INCINERATED. And setting the cow tissue on fire did not kill the thing that causes the disease.

If you get KJD, you probably won't know for decades. And if you do, the symptoms are pretty similar to Alzheimers or age-related dementia. You can't accurately diagnose it without doing a biopsy of brain tissue, which of course you can't do until you're dead. Chances are you could die of it without anyone ever knowing that you had it, and probably no one would ever consider testing you for it.

If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.
Some necessary corrections to Big Swami's mostly-accurate take:

- It's CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob), not KJD.

- Only vCJD (v=variant) is associated with Mad Cow and meat-eating. There are other flavors of CJD that may be genetic or have mysterious factors that lead to their cause.

- Doctors can obtain a brain biopsy before the patient is dead. Even a biopsy from a living patient is sometimes insufficient to point to CJD. But, if really unlucky, things are badly enough gone where the doctor can SEE the symptoms of CJD even if the biopsy can't discern it further.

- Testing for CJD has a serious risk of spreading the disease. Not only is testing not considered, but it's actively contraindicated unless there's some very compelling reason otherwise.