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Mad
Cow Disease comes to America
Swaraj
Singh
America
just had its first Mad Cow disease case. This happened in Sunny
Dene Ranch in Mabton, 40 miles south of Yakima. Yakima is the
largest city in the central part of Washington state. Yakima is 30
miles south of Ellensburg, where we live. Yakima is the fruit
capitol of Washington state. Orchards around Yakima produce more
apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries probably more than
anywhere else in America or in the world. South of Yakima, there are
many dairy farms and cattle ranches where beef is raised. Most of
the labor on the farms, orchards, dairy farms, and ranches is
Hispanic and is generally poor with a high unemployment rate. The
adverse publicity of Mad Cow disease is going to hurt this area
more.
The scientific name
for Mad Cow disease is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE),
because it causes degeneration of the brain, resulting in the
formation of tiny holes in the brain which become like a sponge. The
name "Mad Cow disease" comes from mad seizures of the cow
months or years after the infection. This disease can also affect
human beings if they consume cattle products contaminated by Mad Cow
disease. This leads to a fatal degenerative brain disorder called
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (VCJD) . The disease is carried by
infection carrying abnormal proteins which are known as prions. The
American scientist Stanley Prusiner won the Nobel prize in 1997 for
his work in the area of prions.
Beef is very
popular in America and is also exported to many countries. An
average American consumes 65 pounds of beef in a year. America
exports about 3.5 billion dollars worth of beef to other countries.
Japan is the biggest importer of American beef. Besides Japan, the
other countries which are major importers of the American beef are
Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and China. All of these
countries are imposing restrictions on the import of American beef.
In May of last year, America imposed restrictions on Canadian beef
after a case of Mad Cow disease was found in Alberta. Is this tit
for tat?
All of this adverse
publicity and the restrictions have hurt the beef industry. Chicago
is the biggest beef market in the country. Prices fell to the
maximum allowed limit in one day. It is estimated that the price of
cows has fallen between 10% to 20%. The year 2003 has not been
particularly good for the economy. Many jobs have been lost. The
price of the dollar has also fallen. The dollar lost about 50% of
its value against the Euro in the year 2003. The trade defecit with
China has set a record, it was more than 120 billion dollars. This
Mad Cow scare is not going to help these figures. Beef export has
already fallen 90% since the cow with Mad Cow disease was found.
In the last two
weeks, the stock market was going up, particularly after the arrest
of Saddam Hussein, because hopes were raised of ending terrorism.
The stock market reacted negatively to the reports of Mad Cow
disease. Terrorist attacks in Baghdad, Karbala, Kabul, Tel Aviv, and
the second attack on the life of General Pervez Musharraf, a staunch
ally, in one day can not be very encouraging news for the
antiterrorist campaign. These incidents may also raise questions
about controlling terrorism after Saddam’s capture. The Mad Cow
disease scare can only compound the problems.
After the Second
World War, there was a mass migration of the black population from
the South to the North. These plantation workers became industrial
workers in the Northern industrial metropolitan cities.
Concentrations of the poor population in the downtown areas led to
Ghettoization of the cities and the movement of the white middle
class to suburbs, called "Suburbia flight."
Now, there is a big
Hispanic migration. Most of the Hispanics are working in farms and
orchards. Hispanics have become the largest minority. Most of them
are very poor and have a high unemployment rate. Will this lead to
Ghettoization of large areas of America? Because, as opposed to the
blacks who were mainly confined to the center cities, the Hispanics
are scattered in large areas.
In 1986, Mad Cow
disease was first seen in England. 143 people died there (out of a
total 153 who have died in the whole world) of this disease. 3.5
million cows had to be destroyed, leading to the devastation of the
British beef industry. Of course, Mad Cow disease is scary but
polarization of America can pose a much more serious challenge than
Mad Cow disease. We certainly hope that the Mad Cow disease scare
does not hurt the already impoverished area of the central part of
Washington state. | 
