MAD COW DISEASE

Second Case of Mad Cow Traced to Texas

The second U.S. case of mad cow disease was a cow from Texas killed last November, two government officials said Wednesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Agriculture Department planned an announcement later, said USDA officials traced the infected cow to a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption. The cow, a "downer" that could not walk was more than 8 years old when it arrived at the plant, Agriculture Department officials have said, meaning it could have contracted the disease through animal feed that included cow parts. The United States banned using cattle parts in such feed since 1997 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain. Eating the brain and other nervous tissue of an animal with the brain-wasting ailment is the only confirmed way the disease is transmitted. The Agriculture Department confirmed the case on Friday but had to wait for DNA analysis to confirm the cow's origin. Tracing the cow proved difficult the animal's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. It was killed at a pet food plant....

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