Abstract
This paper looks at the cultural materialist approach to India's sacred cows. It looks at how the cows are treated and why, their economic significance, the prospects if they were no longer protected from slaughter, and how things may change in the future.

From the Paper
"The Hindus' refusal to eat beef and the cow is considered sacred. (Harris) It is forbidden to kill a cow in the Hindu religion. Although this may seem extreme, there are many sensible explanations which explain how this prohibition probably arose. Farmers in India depend on oxen for planting harvesting and threshing their crops. They also use oxen for transportation pulling carts, holding people or goods. Cows are needed to produce bulls and oxen and therefore need to be protected. Cows also provide milk although most milk..."

Tags:cultural materialist, sacred cow, Hindu, India

Abstract
This paper relates that Marvin Harris, in his essay on 'Pig Lovers and Pig Haters' from "Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches", believes that it is because of different environmental demands that Judaism and Islam came to hate pigs as being unclean, while the Maring are fanatic pig lovers. In the essay "Mother Cow", Harris contends that cows became holy in India because of their value as breeders of oxen. The paper concludes that, though environment cannot be ignored, Harris' cause-and-effect relationships of culture and environment in producing food taboos at times seem too facile.

From the Paper
"The question remains: why single out the pig? Rejecting after entertaining largely cultural explanations, such as the idea that perhaps pigs were the favored diet of rival clans of the ancient Near Eastern tribes, Harris argues that eschewing pork is really a sound ecological strategy that was the result to the need to support a herding economy. Israelites could not raise pigs in their arid habitat; their resources were better suited to herding cattle and the other cloven-hoof animals allowed for consumption under Mosaic Law, while the pig was ill-adapted to the heat".

Tags:prohibition, irrational practice, pig consumption, judaism hindus

Abstract
The writer relates that when appealing to people of his age group, advertisers are more likely to use "bull" rather than "cow" to sell their products. The writer reveals that advertisers see younger people as easily impressed and use "gobbledygook, euphemism, jargon, ambiguity, equivocation, circumlocution" to try to impress rather than express the validity of the product they are trying to sell (Kehl and Heidt 5).

From the Paper
"When appealing to people of my age group, advertisers are more likely to use "bull" rather than "cow" to sell their products. Advertisers see younger people as easily impressed and use "gobbledygook, euphemism, jargon, ambiguity, equivocation, circumlocution" to try to impress rather than express the validity of the product they are trying to sell (Kehl &...)"

Tags:advertising, marketing, cow & bull

Abstract
This paper examines a 2004 Wall Street Journal article on mad cow disease, and how companies, especially fast food companies, are responding to the possibility of tainted meat. It uses the example of McDonald's.

Tags:mad cow disease, mcdonald's fast food industry, marketin

Abstract
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."

Tags:panic, government, beef, livestock, regulations

Abstract
The paper discusses the efficiency of the German governmental agencies and beef industry in estimating the risk of mad cow disease negatively affecting German consumers of beef during the years 2001 to 2004. The paper further discusses how the German governmental agencies and industry managers performed risk management strategies and policies through the selection and implementation of appropriate measures after the outbreak of mad cow disease in Germany in 2000 and until 2004. In addition, the paper looks at how the risk communication was conducted in relation to the true possibility that humans can contract Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), a variant of BSE.

Outline:
Objective
Introduction
Perceived Risk Analysis
Rational Problem-Solving
Food Safety Regulation Reform
Research Risk and Assessment
Food Industry Supports Government
Summary and Conclusion

From the Paper
"The work of Grannis, Green and Bruch (2004) entitled: "Animal Health: The Potential Role for Livestock Disease Insurance" state that "animal disease can cause significant production losses and a reduction in livestock receipts." Grannis, Green and Bruch state that an opportunity development exists in assisting the management of livestock disease risks and one example is Germany. "Evidence from Germany demonstrates that both alternative value and consequential loss policies for livestock producers can be developed and can work in parallel with government indemnity programs. In Germany, indemnity payments are made based on predetermined and published payment schedules. These schedules are capped by maximum values that do not represent the value of superior commercial animals. Policies are available to insure the difference between the value indemnified according to the published government schedule and the value of the animal under regular, nondisease market conditions".

Tags:food, industry, potential, food, safety, crises, consumer, confidence

Abstract
This paper explains that mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, a fatal brain disorder in cattle caused by a still-unknown agent. The author points out that U.K. reports also listed other animals as having been infected by TSEs, including domestic cats, mice, hamsters, goats, mink, monkeys, pigs, and some exotic species of the cat family. The paper reports that there is also suspicion that mad cow can be spread through human blood; therefore, the American Red Cross bans blood donations from people who have lived abroad, especially from those who spent as few as three months in the UK between 1980 and 1996.

From the Paper
"The disease spread to cattle in other countries through infected animal feed UK exported to them within that decade. These countries in Europe alone included Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland (Lohn), which were reported to have at least one infected cow each. The UK also supplied animal feed to South Africa and non-European countries at that time, extending the reach Mad Cow beyond Europe and making it a global health scare."

Tags:scrapie, blood, cat, feed, bse

Abstract
The paper intrinsically studies the consequential affect and aftermath of ?mad cow disease?, which has led to the introduction of substitutes like pork and other meats in the market. It further studies the changing trends that many of these companies have incorporated in attempt to sustain and raise their profits from these substitutes. It looks at how studies show that integrating certain changes to the companies marketing mechanism and strategies on the eve of ?mad cow disease? have been successful, not only to replenish the sales figures, but also in incurring profits.

From the Paper
"The Other areas where consolidation occurred were the packing and retail industries. In an attempt to regain their market hold various leading food giants are vying to increase their sales and are introducing new trends. The four major companies, which followed the same suit, were Smithfield Foods, IBP, Swift (Conagra) and Excel (Cargill). In 1998, the four-firm concentration level was 56.3% of the packing sector. They contributed to the slaughter of more than half of the nation's hogs. Now Smithfield is the world's largest pork producer and kills an estimated 20% of the United States' hog supply. It considered itself as an integrated food company. Eventually owned the third largest hog producing firm in the US and also had been tightly coordinating with other large producers."

Tags:meat, pork, beef, macdonalds

Abstract
This paper assesses the issue of advertising safety precautions for Mad Cow Disease from the position of a campaign manager for McDonald's customer service division. This paper will take the position that the public would remain loyal to McDonald's after efforts are made to educate them concerning mad cow disease.

Abstract
Examines the treatment of Mad-cow disease in the media, and by the government.
Discusses the following topics
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Scrapie
What Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Do
Two Theories on the Action of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
British Government Admits Mad Cow Disease Exists (1987)
Testing Results by the British government MAFF
Culpability of the British Medical Society
The Spread of CJD
Steps Taken by the British Government

From the Paper
"Where the industry has gone wrong is in listening to the PR people. The mad-cow epidemic is not an information management issue?it is a disease that will not go away.? These words are from an interview with Dr. Pringle, a member of the Sperling Biomedical Foundation, and the founder of www.mad-cow.org. I believe that they highlight what has been fundamentally wrong about the treatment of mad-cow disease by the British government and the British media. Several grave errors have been made about the treatment of this issue, and they continue to have repercussions today, as we explore America's mad-cow incidents, and rising problems in Europe, Asia, and South America. At the time this paper was written, mad cow disease had been confirmed in domestic cattle in Belgium, France, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Germany."

Tags:biomedical, bovine, britain, cjd, creutzfeldt, encephalopathies, encephalopathy, jakob, medical, scrapie, sheep, spongiform, transmissible