Mad Cow Disease

Paper Summary:

The paper considers the official, public and economic responses of the mad cow scare on three nations; the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. The paper reveals that in spite of the dramatic response taken by the governments, the research shows how America and Europe are moved more by panic than by fact. The paper asserts that the dangers of mad cow disease to human beings have been grossly exaggerated, creating an unrealistic public fear and the destruction of an industry. The paper maintains that the greatest preventative measure for mad cow disease is the proliferation of public and official understanding of what it is and how it is caused.

From the Paper:

"Recent years have witnessed an array of global food-borne health scares which are related to practices of careless governmental oversight, haphazard agricultural standards and increased free trade activities between industrialized nations and those developing nations which are either unable or unwilling to devote the necessary resources to administrative regulation. The outcome of these conditions has been an apparent invasion of certain advanced economies and societies of terrifying disease strains and the public panics there associated. Among those scares most publicly aired by the news would be those relating to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, which is more commonly known as 'Mad Cow Disease' or 'Mad Cow's Disease.' Between the years of 2001 and 2004, an outbreak of cases in a host of industrialized nations would spark the biggest public panic to date, prompting publics in said nations to abstain from beef, prompting such industries to experience devastating economic decline, inciting public airwaves to dedicate considerable focus to the subject and inspiring governmental leaders to draw up and pass legislation concerning the prevention of the disease spread and the prohibition of practices believed to cause it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Capell, K. (2001). How Mad Cows Threaten European Unity. Business Week.
• CBS. (2001). Mad Cow Scare in the United States. CBS News. Online at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/31/health/main326988.shtml>.
• CNN. (2000). Europe battles mad cow disease panic. CNN.com.
• Daley, S. (2000). As mad cow disease spreads in Europe, consumers panic. The New York Times. Online at http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/01/world/01COW.html?ex=1218686400&en=8b2c5c43bf505888&ei=5070
• James, B. (2001). Tissue Tied to Mad Cow Is Found in Some Beef From the Continent : Risky Meat In Imports Angers U.K. Farmers. International Herald Tribune. Online at http://www.iht.com/articles/2001/03/03/hoof.2.t_1.php>.

More papers on Mad Cow Disease:

• Essay # 69984 : "U.S. Fast Food and Mad Cow Disease"
• Analytical Essay # 111821 : "Mad Cow Disease"
• Essay # 25777 : "Mad Cow Disease: Governmental and Media Culpability"

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