Europe has been gripped with panic over the spread of mad cow disease, according to CNN.  So far, 80 people have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the human form of mad cow disease, in Great Britain; and two people have died in France.  Mad cow disease has spread to cows in France, Germany, Spain, and the Portuguese-owned Azores Islands, in addition to Great Britain.  Beef sales dropped by nearly half in France after it was revealed in November that beef from cows suffering from mad cow disease may have been offered for sale.  The European Union decided in early December to launch a six month ban on all animal products in cow feed, an action which is expected to cost $1.7 billion. 

Some U. K. scientists who advised the government during the "mad cow" crisis in Great Britain are saying that the only way to really stop the progress of mad cow disease is to end the factory farming system in Europe, going to a less intensive system of animal agriculture.  Even widespread testing and destruction of infected cattle may not be the solution; in fact, disposing of such cattle might actually help spread the disease through environmental contamination.  Also, current tests for mad cow disease cannot guarantee that cattle are actually free of the disease, they said.

   -- Keith Akers