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Article: USDA's message on mad cow raises critical questions.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- June 26, 2005
- Author:
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Byline: Andrew Martin
WASHINGTON _ In announcing the nation's second confirmed case of mad cow disease, Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns pointed out that the disease is so rare in the United States that it was like searching for "a needle in a haystack."
It's a point he made repeatedly, and indeed, Johanns had the statistics to back it up. In the last year, an enhanced program to search for mad cow disease in America's cattle herd tested 388,000 cows and all but three of the tests were negative.
Of the three that were inconclusive and required more sophisticated tests, just one cow was confirmed to have mad cow disease.
"The point ...