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Biotech Science

Using RFID To Prevent Mad Cow Disease 75

Posted by timothy from the bovine-placation dept.
prostoalex writes "Associated Press suggests that the United States might be on the move to create a centralized animal database that would track all sorts of information about the farm animals, including their origins. RFID technology comes into play, apparently, with cheap tags that could be assigned to animals right after birth and special scanners capable of retrieving the RFID and fetching the data from the centralized database."
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Using RFID To Prevent Mad Cow Disease More

Using RFID To Prevent Mad Cow Disease

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  • Not Might Be... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pr0c ( 604875 ) * on Tuesday December 30, 2003 @10:24PM (#7841879)
    They are working on a national ID program as seen here http://www.usaip.info/ it is nothing new. Its been in the works for years and we've been using a similar system (of which the national system will basted from) in North East Michigan to control and eradicate bovine tuberculosis. The USDA gave a 1.3 million dollar grant to start the program in N.E. Michigan in 2001 and we've been in full force since 2002. You think slashdotters are paranoid about RFID? Try RFIDing cattle..
    • Pardon my typos, should have previewed =]

      Real questions are welcome, email me and I can describe any part of the program.
    • "Try RFIDing cattle.."

      I fail to see the difference, the average human sadly is cattle. Though not bred to physical conformity, they are brainwashed to a conformist system of ethics, morals, ideals, thoughts, and dreams.

      I believe that this is a large part of why the average iq is in double digits when the potential of every human mind is far greater. We are taught NOT to think outside the box, except where the double digit holder in charge wants us to, and by that point we are so used to thinking inside
      • I believe that this is a large part of why the average iq is in double digits when the potential of every human mind is far greater.

        Isn't the average IQ 100 by definition?

        • I was mispoken, if AVERAGED the IQ SHOULD be 100 (although I'd be suprised if that holds up I haven't checked it). However the MAJORITY of individuals have an IQ of 80 or below.
    • Right, nothing new, and often done on the farm. Beef has always been tagged, either a scar on the arse, a tag on the ear, or a coil-chip under the skin. We've always known from where the cow came, and its parents from a century before, unless a neighbor's bull broke a fence to score some hindside. Extra tracking will likely help whoever manages the database, as a commercial enterprise, but of little improvement other than prosecution.

  • What if you eat the RFID? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    special scanners capable of retrieving the RFID

    Would they track it thorough your intestines?

    "Pardon me sir, but you are currently digesting Mad Cow meat. Please stop!"
    • I was just wondering if RFID tags were robust enough to survive the meat grinder. :/
      • The RFID tag is separated from the meat when the hide is pulled off, no? At that point the meat becomes un-tagged, and if testing takes long enough that people eat the meat before the test results come back the "protection" goes to zero. Do you really have any idea where the results of "advanced meat recovery" go once they're scraped from the skeleton? They could be in any number of patties, sausages and pot pies.

        I hope that bar-coding can be used as an alternative to RFID for the small farmer, so that e.g

  • we're using RFID tags for something that can't complain about privacy.

  • like a national ID card? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A possible conversation overheard sometime in 2006:

    Jim: Well Bob, since 2003 the mad cow epidemic has claimed 150,000 lives and forced the destruction of billions of dollars worth of cattle. In fact, there is no beef market in the united states any more and the global recession can be linked directly to that.

    Bob: Yes, Jim, what a terrible waste.

    Jim: But I have some good news. Thanks to the multi-billion dollar animal RFID program started in early 2004, we can now identify the cow that began the whole hor

  • Another spike into the family farm's heart (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ic0wb0y ( 728958 ) on Tuesday December 30, 2003 @11:25PM (#7842252)
    Let's get the basic facts out in the open. MCD is caused by feeding cows dead cows. The only cows that get fed this way are chicken coop cows in billion dollar agri corp controlled farms and ranches, who are doing everything they can to control all land and farms-and water. The open range cattle do not get MCD-ever. It's why UK got it so bad, no open range farming any more.

    Who takes the brunt of every bad event in farming? The family man.

    Agri business is a giant monopoly who has fought for many years trying to keep feeding dead cows to save a few pennies a pound-now they are saying that "oh, $25 a cow for RIFD will save the world from (the disease they caused) these rogue ranchers." the lobbiests cry. It's all PC these days.

    I was in Ft. Collins one time. I was picking up a load of cattle. The cows were so gigantic I thought I'd woken up in a dream. A regular steer was so massive the poor thing couldn't even walk with out struggling. At least 500 lbs larger than normal. It was of course not a good family ranch, it was in a giant corporation feedlot. These criminals should be put to jail-and one day they will be.

    It can lay dormant for up to 30 years before MCD affects a human. If you ate at McDonalds yesterday, their is a chance within 30 years you'll be acting like, yes-a mad cow. I've seen videos of victims. Sad indeed. 95% of all beef exports have been halted. Beef prices will plummet to 50 cents a lb. MMm. We'll be consuming beef like mad men.

    • Feeding cows dead cows was banned in 1997.
      • Important reading [foxnews.com].

        I was pretty sure we banned that stuff too, but apparently the enforcement of that ban has left something to be desired.

        • Only diseased animals and high-risk tissues are restricted.

          Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who requested the GAO report, isn't satisfied with the response by the FDA or the Agriculture Department, which monitors safety of meat and animal health. Durbin plans to introduce a bill in January to further restrict the use of diseased meat or high-risk tissues in animal feed.
      • It was banned everywhere but the US. Just today (12/30 MSN.COM) the USDA had to publicly step up and announce a (minimal) ban on certain types of feed made from dead cows, called downers.

        The US (ag corporations only) have so much money into this process that they kept the procedure from becoming banned all this time fully knowing that this very type of situation destroyed the independent cattleman as they were known in all other countries for years.

        But, this was a perfectly timed event. A move is being ma

      • Feeding cows dead cows was banned in 1997.

        Both Canada and the United States banned the feeding of the muscles and bones of most animals to cows and sheep back in 1997, but unlike Europe left gaping loopholes in the law. For example, blood is currently exempted from the Canadian and the U.S. feed bans. You can still feed calves cow's blood collected at the slaughterhouse. In modern factory farming practice calves may be removed from their mothers immediately after birth, so the calves are fed milk replacer

      • True. But feeding chickens dead cows, and then scraping the chicken shit up and feedign THAT to cows is still legal.
    • Beef prices will plummet to 50 cents a lb. MMm. We'll be consuming beef like mad men.
      Um, no. At U$.50/lb, nobody will bother to produce any beef. Not agri-business, not family farms, nobody. (And frankly, the quoted stated is the least innaccurate in your whole screed.)
      • Um, no. At U$.50/lb, nobody will bother to produce any beef. Not agri-business, not family farms, nobody. (And frankly, the quoted stated is the least innaccurate in your whole screed.)

        So, 95% of all US meat export's have been outlawed today creating a massive surplus and you don't think the price of cattle products will drop dramatically for those inside the borders? Wow, you are a bit naive. Only the agricorps and their investors will be capable of riding this one out.

        • So, 95% of all US meat export's have been outlawed today creating a massive surplus and you don't think the price of cattle products will drop dramatically for those inside the borders? Wow, you are a bit naive.

          No, I understand economics. Selling even cheap cuts of beef at U$.50 a pound represents a net loss. Nobody sells at a net loss, especially when such a pricing structure will lead to a backlash when prices return to normal. (And the biggest consumers of beef, the food industry, can't reduce thei

          • (And the biggest consumers of beef, the food industry, can't reduce their prices much as the beef that goes into their products is only a small fraction of their total costs.)

            Reducing the price of a Big Mac from 1.00 to .99 cents can double the sales becuase of numbers alone. (ok, not double, but you get the idea, dropping prices sell)

            The ban on export probably won't hurt the real family farms a bit, as their markets aren't export. (This statement requires the 'real' qualifier, as most soi-disant 'fami

    • in billion dollar agri corp controlled farms and ranches, who are doing everything they can to control all land and farms-and water.

      Yeah, big agribusinesses are bad. They cause family farmers to lose their businesses, produce artificially enhanced products, change everybody's way of life, and sometimes make products that are bad for you?

      So what? That's true of plenty of other businesses, too.

      I see no reason to get particularly worked up about the loss of a bucolic way of life for family farmers when m
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • In contrast to the parent comment, McDonalds in my local town of Colchester, UK, is famous for working with sewage flooding the kitchen [mcspotlight.org].

          Just in case anyone still considers McDonalds worth eating in.
        • You ever try to find a drive-through at an organic restaurant when you are running late for work or only have 20 minutes to grab lunch? How easy are they to find when you are on an interstate highway that's running through a rural area?

          Well, as Republicans are so fond of pointing out: you have to take responsibility for your own actions.

          If you are late for work, it's because you got up late. If you only have 20 minutes for lunch, you could pack lunch at home and bring it with you.

          McDonalds is a known
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • It must be nice to have unlimited time and never have anything unexpected happen. My life doesn't work like that. Sometimes I oversleep and don't have time to cook a healthy meal. Then I go to work planning to have a liesurely hour-long lunch and then run into unexpected problems, delays, or meetings. That's what life is like.

              No, it's just the life you have chosen.

              I'm sure that I'm not the only person alive who would like fast food that is healthy and nutritious.

              "Fast food" is intrinsically unhealthy-
              • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                • And what life have you chosen. Tell me about having a life where you have no responsibilities.

                  I'm sorry, but what do the two have to do with one another? "Having responsibilities" doesn't mean that you have to cut your lunch short or not take time for breakfast.

                  And then tell me about the unicorns dancing outside of your window. Come on! Being alive, human, and part of the working world means that you don't always have time for a liesurely meal.

                  Most people living in civilized nations have predictable
                  • "The world does not owe the US a high standard of living."

                    Really? How many billions of dollars does the U.S. spend in foreign aid a year? How much of that money has paid back? How many laws and regulations have been passed to keep IBM and other corps. operating on U.S.? Do you even live in a America, do you know the state of the job market out here? Have you ever heard of Flint, Michigan?
                    • Really? How many billions of dollars does the U.S. spend in foreign aid a year?

                      The US spent $12.9 billion dollars in foreign aid in 2002. That makes US foreign aid the lowest percentage of GNP of any nation.

                      Furthermore, most of that money is not given as development aid, it is given for specific US political purposes: purchases of military hardware, keeping some friendly regime in power, fixing up a country like Afghanistan after a US military strike, permitting US military to remain on foreign soil, et
                  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                    • I assume penguin7of9 made a typo when he suggested people work 7 hour days. His point is still valid: many (he said most, but I will only say many) people have pretty standard work schedules. In any case, the job they have is a result of the choices they have made in their life. The fact that most people in the USA choose a busy, hectic lifestyle does not preclude others from choosing differently. If someone uses the excuse that they don't have time to eat healthy, then they need to realize that is onl
                    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Easy: cook at home and take the food with you. It's cheap, you know exctly what goes into the food, and the level of cleanliness is as high as you desire.

            That's not the only beef. From anti-aging creams to surgical sutures to chocolate milkshakes and marshmallows...we have injected animal products from cattle, sheep, and hogs into nearly every corner of our lives. Here's a short list: List [rense.com]

        • You ever try to find a drive-through at an organic restaurant when you are running late for work or only have 20 minutes to grab lunch?

          That pretty much says it... The fact that you've only scheduled yourself for a 20Min lunch says something... It's not like you can't put some real time for lunch into your schedule... It's just not a priority for you. There are all sorts of ways to arrange things, including paying someone in your community to make a (real) bagged lunch for you that probably has way more

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • Instead of trying to blame people who eat at McDonalds, why don't you blame the "healthy" restaurants who won't meet consumer demand for drive throughs and quick "to-go" meals?

              I don't (usually) drive, and the last time I tried, McDonalds refused to serve me riding a bike, so if you want to talk your local *good* food redtaurant to put in a drive through, I'd suggest two things:

              !) Buy your food from them more often (so that they have the money to build one, and
              2) while you're there, lobby them for a dr

              • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                • I just can't believe that there is not a sufficient market to support such a restaurant chain.

                  The other half of "build it and they will come" is "come and they will build it".
                  It's like the difference between Linux and Windows... If people are satisfied enough with mediocrity, and don't agitate for quality, then why bet your life savings on the quality solution? Every time you go to McDonalds, you vote with your dollars. If you (and your friends, workmates, clients) start arranging things so that you

            • How hard would it be for some company to open a fast-food restarant that has healthy food? It's not like it takes longer to fix healthy food than it takes to make a Big Mac. I don't mind paying more for better ingredients. Instead of trying to blame people who eat at McDonalds, why don't you blame the "healthy" restaurants who won't meet consumer demand for drive throughs and quick "to-go" meals?

              Here's one [subway.com]. These guys [chipotle.com] aren't bad either (in fact, they were run by McDonald's, last time I checked).

              I'm not
    • From anti-aging creams to surgical sutures to chocolate milkshakes and marshmallows...we have injected animal products from cattle, sheep, and hogs into nearly every corner of our lives.

      LIST [rense.com]

    • "Who takes the brunt of every bad event in farming? The family man."
      The average family man farmer typically has half a million dollars to a million dollars worth of equity. They don't even keep records and 9 out of ten are clueless. There is no room for many of the typical family farmers anymore. If you can't do something as simple as keep records (something required of EVERY business) and you end up going out of business thats just too bad. I have no sympothy for producers who run a poor business, its the
      • Before you make ignorant comments about how much RFID costs perhaps you should look into it. Tracing alone costs this country millions of dollars, and RFID eliminates much of that.

        Have you ever heard the phrase "Problem, Reaction, Solution"? A group creates chaos, the reaction erupts, and then they conveniently offer a solution. Pimps do it to their ho's, Caeser did it with the Christians. It's an old trick, and the more people involved, the easier it is to pull off. Do you enjoy that type of society f

  • Why bother? (Score:3, Funny)

    by psyconaut ( 228947 ) on Tuesday December 30, 2003 @11:50PM (#7842383)
    When you can just conveniently blame Canada?

    -psy
  • Yes, RFID is the key to this technology. Now that we have RFID, we can track cows. Prior to RFID it was virtually impossible to have a database of cows. But now, with the invention of RFID, tracking cows is trivial.
    • I would say: bullsh!t...

      RFID is NOT the key! the administration of identification throughout the foodchain is. You need to tag cows, but feedings. etc too. Then you would be able to predict wether a cow or hamburger could have BSE or not. Identification of cows is already in place in a lot of countries... US is lagging here.

      M

  • Here's a really effective cure to Mad Cow Disease: (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Stop feeding cows other cows. I have a feeling they'll be willing to go vegetarian.
  • ...is chipping your teeth on small ceramic chips while enjoying a steak.
  • Well, I think in Holland we have this great system of tagging all cows using earmarks...

    It was in place a few years before our mad cow scares started. Not that it helped.

    However cows over here are identified unique due to this system.

    So yes, RFIDing cows might help the US but it's not only about tagging! The administration system behind it is MUCH MUCH more important than the RFID tag... RFID is just for identifying the cow but knowing what it has been fed and where it came from and what it is produced i
  • How is this different from those tags your vet can put in yout cat or dog? It's just extending it a little bit.

  • A red herring. We need enforcement, not RFID tags. (Score:4, Informative)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @01:20PM (#7846195) Homepage
    1) It's already against the rules for beef products to contain nervous system tissue.

    2) 2002 Agriculture Department survey found central nervous system tissue in beef products at 74 percent of the plants tested. Source:
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/15401 7_beefsaf ety25.html

    There you have it. We already have regulations in place that would be perfectly adequate prevent the transmission of mad cow to disease to humans--and the regulations are not being followed.

    What earthly good will it do to accumulate yet more tracking records and database entries? What's needed is a willingness to put public safety above the profits of private interests. If that's absent, all the RFID tags in the world aren't going to help.

  • I work for one of the largest beef and pork producers in the United States. Obviously, the case of BSE got our attention real quick. We had been anticipating such a problem for quite a while and had been working on a tracking mechanism to track every part of the slaughter process, from the live cow to ground beef and trim. RFID was one of our options for tracking the cows, but there were issues with attaching the chips to the cattle, proximity, etc. Also, after the slaughter, the attachment of an RFID c

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