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May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review Jan. 12, 2004 / 18 Teves, 5764

Holy Cow? Why there is no such thing as Meshuga Cow Disease

By Y. Elchonon


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http://www.jewishworldreview.com | As America — indeed, much of the Western world — rushes to prevent further outbreaks of Mad Cow disease, Big Beef officials might spend a moment examining why there has yet to be a recorded instance of the malady inflicting the kosher meat supply.


Of all the food safety concerns raised by the discovery of Mad Cow disease two weeks ago, perhaps none is more focused than the questions about ground beef, the main ingredient for hamburger, a staple of many an American's diet.


Hamburger meat from the infected cow actually made its way into the distribution system before the Mad Cow diagnosis was confirmed, prompting a hamburger meat recall in eight Western states and the US territory of Guam.


As opposed to other cuts of meat which are generally identified as to their source of origin on the cow, most non-kosher hamburger meat sold in this country is combined from several animals, and different parts of those animals as well, some of which are much safer than others, with regard to Mad Cow disease. Scientists believe that the Mad Cow infection is harbored in the cow's nervous system, which has led to requirements on American meat plants to treat the brains and spinal cords of all slaughtered animals as unfit for human consumption. But there is still a problem, because cuts of meat taken from near a cow's spinal column might still be contaminated with nearby nerve tissue.


In terms of kosher cuts of meat, that would include standing rib roast, chuck or round steaks, as well as beef stock made from neck bones.


The risk is greater for those same cuts of meat from non-kosher slaughterhouses, because many of them use advanced machinery to take every piece of meat off the bone, right up to the spinal column, increasing the likelihood of having Mad Cow contaminated nerve tissue mixed in.

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Also, once infected, it doesn't matter how long the meat is cooked, because, unlike other food contaminations, such as E coli the prions that cause Mad Cow disease are not neutralized by cooking temperatures. Irradiation, another widely used method to decontaminate meat from other sources of infection, does not help make mad cow contaminated meat any safer.

WAYS IN WHICH KOSHER MEAT IS SAFER
Buying kosher meat does seem to be safer with regard to the Mad Cow threat. For starters, no downer cow too sick to walk on its own power would ever be slaughtered.


According to Rabbi Shalom Fishbane, Kashrus (kosher) Administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc), a "downer" cow is referred to in Jewish legal literature as a mesukenes, and would not be acceptable, according to current standards, as suitable for slaughtering.


But until the newly announced US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations forbidding it went into effect last week, 190,000 downer cows a year were slaughtered for their meat and allowed to enter the distribution system, with the only proviso being the removal of their brain and spinal column tissue. Kosher slaughtered cows, in contrast, are generally too young to exhibit Mad Cow symptoms, even if they have been exposed to the disease. Kosher slaughterhouses typically use cows between 18-24 months old, whereas the symptoms of Mad Cow disease do not generally appear until an infected cow is at least four or five years old.

A LESSON ABOUT BEING ‘INHUMANE’
Another potential Mad Cow risk factor not present in kosher slaughtered meat is the stunning of cows with a blow to the head, a practice now banned by the new USDA regulations. The fatal stunning blow to the animal's skull often winds splattering potentially infected brain matter throughout the animal's body, contaminating muscles and organs that would otherwise not pose a danger of spreading the Mad Cow infection.


Rabbi Fishbane notes the irony in the fact that in European countries where the legality of kosher slaughtered meat has been challenged, the complaint against it has been that it is less humane than stunning the cow. Now, it turns out that stunning cattle in non-kosher slaughterhouses is a major health hazard in its own right.


However, Rabbi Fishbane observes that common practice in kosher slaughterhouses further reduces the likelihood of mad cow infections.


He says that feedlot cattle, those most susceptible to contracting Mad Cow from contaminated feed, are generally less healthy than pasture-raised, grass-fed beef, which are never exposed to the Mad Cow threat. More of the healthier grass- fed animals are therefore found to be kosher after slaughter than feedlot raised cattle, by a ratio of about 2-1.


As a result, for strictly commercial reasons, kosher slaughterhouses generally prefer to use a higher percentage of the safer grass-fed beef than non-kosher slaughterhouses do, further reducing the Mad Cow risk to kosher consumers.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Y. Elchonon is a reporter for Yated Ne'eman. Comment by clicking here.

© 2004, Yated Ne'eman