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John Stauber recently stopped at a sporting goods store in Richland Center to get his chainsaw repaired. Earlier that day, Stauber says, the Legislative Audit Bureau reported that the Department of Natural Resources' $27 million plan to thin the state's deer herd in an attempt to eradicate chronic wasting disease has been a flop. And Stauber, director of the Madison-based Center for Media & Democracy, says most of those waiting in line to purchase deer hunting licenses were "laughing and ridiculing the DNR." "They saw this as another public funding fiasco where know-nothing game managers are wasting money and interfering...

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Washington, DC, Apr. 21 (UPI) -- Scientists involved with a new study released Thursday said it provides strong proof of the controversial theory that infectious proteins called prions cause mad cow disease and similar brain disorders in humans. Some experts find the data unconvincing, however, and one researcher recently presented findings he said robustly support a different hypothesis: these diseases are caused by a bacteria. "This is really the best and final proof for the prion hypothesis," Claudio Soto, a professor of neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and senior author of the...

<p>WASHINGTON — The first suspected case of mad cow disease (search) in the United States has been discovered in Washington state, but officials took immediate action Tuesday to ensure the safety of American beef.</p> <p>"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman told a hastily assembled news conference.</p>

Source: Mad Cow Disease Found in Washington State Tue December 23, 2003 05:18 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mad cow disease has been found in Washington state, a U.S. industry official said on Tuesday, in what would be the first incidence of the disease in the United States. The official, who wished not to be identified, said she was unsure of how many cases were found.

State researchers tracking disease threatening deer Task force is developing defense plan to keep chronic wasting disease at bay By Susan Vela Lansing State Journal As another deer-hunting season generates millions for the state's economy, Michigan is scrambling to keep chronic wasting disease from entering its borders. A state task force is on the cusp of releasing recommendations designed to wall out the fatal brain illness, which has damaged Wisconsin's hunting industry since deer started dying there two years ago. Michigan hunters have been banned from hauling whole carcasses across state lines, a strategy officials say is necessary since no...

What state officials aren't telling you about chronic wasting disease - - the politics and blunders behind its spread and true dangers. When I spoke to Wisconsin Division of Public Health Epidemiologist James Kazmierczak on September 13, he had the cheeriness of a man about to leave for a three week vacation. A day earlier, his department had dispatched a news release intending to quell the "paranoia" haunting the state since a front-page Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story suggested that the chronic wasting disease in the state deer herd might infect humans....