Should people be tested for mad cow disease? (New Scientist) Would you want to know if you were a carrier of vCJD - the human form of BSE - even though there is currently no cure? [News Source]

Biotech instills fear and loathing in California rice belt (Provo Daily Herald) PRINCETON, Calif. -- Fourth-generation farmer Greg Massa was in the middle of the rice harvest and he was dirty, angry and depressed. The price of the gasoline that powers his water pumps and rice harvester has never been more expensive. A late planting season, hot summer and rising expenses had ensured a less-than-stellar harvest, with the U.S. [News Source]

Treasure Hunt: ‘The long and winding road’ to Meridian (The Idaho Statesman) According to The Guardian, a U. K. newspaper, French President Jacques Chirac once joked to Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder that the only thing the British have ever done for European agriculture is Mad Cow disease. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," Chirac added. [News Source]

Nebraska’s cows kept identified (Lincoln Journal Star) Ask Dennis Hughes why Nebraska needs to give its livestock operations identification numbers, and he immediately mounts his soapbox. Nebraska’s state veterinarian points to 2001 and to an outbreak of swine pseudorabies. [News Source]

Where did it all go right? Over half of all Britons now seek out 'ethically sound' products. The new 'conscientious consumers' represent a type of shopper, operating with their brain engaged and eyes opened to environmental and social justice. [News Source]

Rice farmers fear, loathe biotech grains. The U.S. rice harvest is imperiled by the discovery of small amounts of experimental strains of genetically engineered rice in storage facilities holding crops destined for the food supply. [News Source]

Nebraska’s cows kept identified. In the age of mad-cow disease, meat recalls and anxious overseas customers, the goal of IDs for livestock is to rein in the potential for serious disease outbreaks. [News Source]

Should people be tested for mad cow disease? Would you want to know if you were carrying human mad cow disease? Maybe not, but what if you'd given blood and maybe passed vCJD on to other people. Should they be tested? [News Source]

Travels through a midlife crisis (The Observer) 'You should come to the party on Saturday night at The Pit,' Boris says. 'There'll be hundreds of bikers from all over the Balkans, exotic dancers, lots of meat and drink. We will get very messed up, yes. But,' he adds, ominously, 'it's gonna cost you some blood.' [News Source]

Money on the hoof (The Columbus Dispatch) The cows in Vic Luneborg’s southwestern Ohio fields have a foreign-sounding name, but their role in the beef market is based on a basic tenet of American capitalism: Find a niche and make the most of it. [News Source]