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| Great White North |
| Chretien Eats Steak in Bid to Allay Mad Cow Fears |
| 2003-05-22 |
| Who would notice if Chretien got Mad Cow Disease? Another health scare, another lunch in front of the cameras. Prime Minister Jean Chretien tucked into a prime Alberta steak in a downtown Ottawa restaurant on Wednesday in a bid to allay public fears over mad cow disease. Yeah, that oughta solve the problem. He gets a free steak dinner and the crisis is over. Chretien, who critics said had not done enough to reassure Canadians during the height of a recent SARS crisis, grabbed the bull by the horns after one case of mad cow disease was confirmed in the western province of Alberta on Tuesday. First the Liberal prime minister appeared before reporters early on Wednesday morning to say he expected the cow in question was an isolated case and to announce he would be eating steak that day. Then he made good on his word, turning up with senior aides at an outdoor restaurant for a meal of Alberta sirloin steak under a cluster of boom microphones. "I'll have mine medium, like a Liberal," he said in comments loud enough to be heard by the waiting media. That probably also means, "No tip for the waitress, like a Liberal." Later he went over to shake the hands of a group of excited schoolchildren and told them: "You should have a steak today." ...and make it medium, like a Liberal! Last month Chretien had lunch in Toronto's Chinatown district as he sought to persuade Canadians that it was safe to eat in Chinese restaurants despite the spread of SARS, which originated in China. Another free meal, another crisis solved. Well,...maybe not. Shortly afterward he went to the Dominican Republic for an official visit and a 10-day vacation, prompting critics to say he should have been more involved in tackling the SARS crisis. Not my job, man. Hey, he didn't get SARS down there. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #6 Saw a funny thing on TV the other day too, RW!: Seems that Canada has spent about a billion dollars trying to keep track of all thier nasty dirty lethal G-U-N-S. It also seems that the project is $900M over budget and the software doesn't even work! Saw something else funny, too! Seems that even though the US had almost as many cases of S-A-R-S as Canada, but no-one died! (Unlike the socialized medicine paradise to our north!) |
| Posted by: Watcher 2003-05-22 23:50:05 |
| #5 There are many more cases of vCJD in which the origin or cause of the disease is suspected to be Lyodura, a medical implant used in surgeries in the '80s. It is made of processed dura mater from cadavers. Read about it here. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-22 17:31:40 |
| #4 Mad cow disease (BSE): three or four tests that reportedly are 100% error free, the longest taking two days. All tests require killing the animal. The cause of BSE is unknown. There are two, unproven theories. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is the human equivalent. Nearly all cases are genetic in origin. In England, there have been about 121 deaths in the last decade laid to CJDv, a variant that does not seem to be genetic, though sufferers have a genetic makeup that is similar and unique. An unproven assumption has been made that these cases were caused by exposure to BSE, an exposure occurring 5-15 years prior. Over 100,000 cattle have been slaughtered. The latest reports suggest the potential for another 40 deaths before this situation ends in England. It is proven that BSE cannot be transmitted in meat or milk. It is believed that any transmission occurs via the other organs, especially brain tissue (google kuru for fun facts on a related disease). CJDv has no proven cause. There is no treatment and it is 100% fatal. A significant majority of the population appears to lack the genetic makeup found in sufferers of this disease, rendering them automaticly immune. This is merely a media circus waiting to happen, and an economic disaster for farmers caught up in the frenzy. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-22 15:07:24 |
| #3 If it's a "nanny-state" liberal, then I like my liberals rare. |
| Posted by: Sade 2003-05-22 14:53:55 |
| #2 Saw a funny thing on TV the other day: it seems the US has a disease similar to SARS, it kills thousands of people every year, kills on contact, they won't let you on a plane with it, it's called G-U-N-S. I'm not a gun-hater but I must admit this was funny. I live in Toronto and can say the SARS thing was way overblown. Thanks to the WHO we all feel like lepers. Even the CDC in Atlanta stayed cool about the whole thing. The mad-cow thing is a different story. The latest is that the cow came from Saskatchewan. One farm has been quarantined. As for Chretien, he is Canada's worst Prime Minister ever. 'Nuff said. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-22 14:16:47 |
| #1 He has no fear of Mad Cow, it attacks the brain - he has so little brain tissue as to be immune by lack of infectable material. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-05-22 10:31:05 |