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Editor, The Times:

Two things appall me about this mad-cow disease incident ("Mad-cow disease hits state; feds say beef 'absolutely safe,' " Times page one, Dec. 24). The first is how absurd it is that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman can tell the American people that the food supply is safe. Isn't it obvious that, since this cow had mad-cow disease, there is no way anyone, including Veneman, can be sure other infected cows have not entered the food supply?

Even more appalling is the fact that this cow's meat was allowed to enter our food supply even though it tested positive for the disease. A law that would have prevented the use of such diseased animals failed to get through the House of Representatives! Are the elected representatives of the American people so beholden to the beef industry that they would permit their greed to outweigh the safety of our food supply?

The real power in our country is in the hands of the corporations and other powerful interest groups that have purchased our representatives and their votes.

Joe Ginsburg, Seattle

Mad-cow concerns

By-products of fear: Doubts infect consumer confidence

Editor, The Times:

Blood banks no longer accept human blood if the donor has lived in England, recognizing that mad-cow disease can be transmitted through the blood and infect humans with Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease.

A cow filters 10,000 quarts of blood through its udder each day, and extracts white somatic blood cells to make her milk. The protein particle responsible for mad-cow disease (prion) can then be transmitted from cow to human. One Holstein dairy cow from Washington state has been detected (to have mad-cow disease). Was her milk pooled to make the cheese or ice cream in my next meal?

On August 23, 1997, the London Times reported: "A 24-year-old vegetarian has been diagnosed with CJD. Scientists fear that milk and cheese may be the source of infection." One year later, The Lancet (Nov. 1999 ) stated: " Routes of transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have not yet been determined."

Vance Jackson, Seattle

Evolution of theory

A mad-cow incident, such as that in Mabton (Eastern Washington), was inevitable since U.S. authorities (under both the Democrats and Republicans) have systematically valued short-run profits for the meat industry over protecting the public health.

The disease can be transferred by one species consuming another. Yet the U.S. Federal Drug Administration rules do not prohibit feeding cows rendered meat from all mammals, and there are other species known to harbor variants of the disease.

In addition, the FDA inspection system is woefully inadequate, and inferior to that established in other countries.

Cows are vegetarians, so this disease teaches us that violating evolutionary boundaries (here, by feeding them meat) can be very hazardous. For example, people raising concerns about genetically engineering (GE) foods across species lines are drawing an important lesson from mad-cow. These GE foods currently are not being tested as to their human health consequences, but are being assumed to be "substantially equivalent" to the unmodified forms.

Mad-cow is also one of the prime examples of why consumers are so skeptical of government regulators, since we know that officials in the United Kingdom originally denied that there was any danger, in order to protect the economic interests of the meat industry and the country's balance of trade. This undoubtedly led to more deaths.

It appears that U.S. regulators are, unfortunately, following the same priorities.

Philip Bereano, vice president, Washington Biotechnology Action Council, Seattle

Beef: it's what's for danger

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said the affected cow was a "downer," meaning it couldn't walk. The slaughtered cow was screened earlier this month and any diseased parts were removed before they could enter the food supply and infect humans, they said.

How is it possible to remove diseased parts from cattle and have confidence that you have removed all of the disease?

Would the person doing the cutting be willing to feed their children any other part of the diseased cow?

What an embarrassment.

Neal Peterson, Seattle

Canadian recipe

It wasn't that long ago when a single cow in Alberta was discovered to have mad-cow disease. The United States immediately closed its borders to all Canadian products that contained beef, beef by-products, milk and cheese. We were told that these actions had to be taken for health reasons and health reasons alone. ("Mad-cow fallout begins," News, Dec. 24.)

I'm sure the United States cares for the health and welfare of all citizens of the world and not just its own populace. So I trust that the United States will immediately ban all exports of American beef, beef by-products, milk and cheese for at least as long as it banned Canadian products, or until it can assure the world that it is not exporting poisoned products to unsuspecting buyers.

I'm sure that Canada will have to ban American imports anyway to assure the purity of the Canadian product.

How does it feel now that the shoe is on the other hoof?

Thomas Reekie, Vancouver, B.C.

Civil reply

Nothing sacred

I commend The Times for the wise and timely "What went wrong? A plea for civility in a combative world" (guest commentary, Dec. 21) by Rabbi James Mirel, on our loss of civility.

Is it possible that our cultural loss of civility is due to our unrestrained pursuit of freedom without boundaries? Have we made a fetish out of our freedom to the point that it is viewed as the cure to all our unhappiness?

It seems to me that the most tragic "freedom" fostered by our post-modern culture is the yearning to be free from the restraints that faith in God provided for previous generations.

Dostoyevsky said it long ago in "The Brothers Karamazov": "When transcendence disappears, everything is permissible." John Adams observed, "Our political freedoms cannot survive without faith."

Tyranny can prosper without faith in God, but freedom requires an inner restraint to the human spirit that faith in God has provided in the past. I know that faith is not something we can simply add to our personal perspective, let alone impose on anyone else — especially those with whom we disagree and who are acting uncivil!

But I believe it would help us all if we could see the huge loss of civility in ugly, partisan politics and in crude social vocabularies as not just "freedom of speech," but more so as evidence that we have drifted too far from the one anchor to civility that can tame the human spirit.

Richard Leon, Bellevue

Plaster saints are only human

Rabbi James Mirel is, of course right. We'd all be better off if civility were to return to our political world. However, as a liberal, and as a human being, it is difficult to accept actions increasing air pollution, in the face of rising pediatric asthma as well-meant actions.

It might be that President Bush doesn't know or understand the effect of his decisions; but is this "stupid"? Or it may be that he understands, but doesn't care, but is this "evil"?

And when the coffins from Iraq are all scheduled to arrive at Dover at midnight, away from the cameras of the press; and figures about the wounded, loss of limbs and of eyesight are withheld from the public, is there a gentle, civil way to describe such actions, or the motivation behind them?

Civility needs to exist on a two-way street — and violations of human decency need to be confronted — in civil fashion or otherwise. But the civility is hard to develop on a one-way street.

George Reis, Seattle

Just reward

"A plea for civility" by James Mirel in the political arena couldn't be more timely. 'Tis the season for deciding to be naughty or nice. Let's make a list:

• The naughty child is the one who gets the attention.

• The playground bully usually gets his way.

• When crime pays, it pays well (Enron CEO Ken Lay).

• The "squeaky wheel gets the grease" (Boeing's skids are greased to the tune of $3 billion).

• Those naughty, mean-spirited books that land on the best-seller lists are an author's delight (Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Bill O'Reilly).

Being naughty reaps such great rewards! Therefore, it is doubtful the rabid discourse between the liberals and the conservatives will diminish anytime soon.

We had eight years of Clinton-bashing; it is very possible we could have eight years of Bush-bashing.

Where is Santa when you really need him?

Glenda Tecklenburg, Mill Creek

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