USDA claims prion-free cows

Here’s an interesting pairing to last week’s story about the acceptance of cloned meat: many people have written in over the past few days to note that the UDSA claims they’ve found a way to genetically engineer cattle so that they can’t form prions. A prion is the abnormal protein that can lead to death from mad cow disease, and it’s believed that by consuming a mad cow prion, humans can get sick and die. The research is still at least 3 years from completion, but this could lead to a future food supply that’s free of mad cow disease – as long as every cow in the USA becomes genetically modified, that is. In the meantime, countless cows will be poked, prodded, and intentionally given a disease that fills their brains will holes while this gets tested out, all so that a group of consumers can eat something that’s been linked to heart disease and cancer, both of which have a greater chance of killing you than the mad cow lottery does. Link.