OCA Launches National Online Petition Campaign to Pressure Congress on Mad Cow Disease

For Immediate Release: December 29, 2003

>From the Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org

**Organic Consumers Association Launches "Mad Cow USA - Stop the
Madness" Petition Campaign for Tough New Mad Cow Regulations

**Massive Nationwide Petition Drive is Mobilizing One Million Americans
to Pressure Congress to Adopt European Regulations on Mad Cow Disease

**OCA Calling on Congress to Require Testing of All Cattle at Slaughter
and a Ban on Feeding Blood, Manure, and Slaughterhouse Waste to
Livestock

Little Marais, Minnesota--The Organic Consumers Association, a
nationwide grassroots lobby, is launching today a nationwide petition
campaign, called Mad Cow USA--Stop the Madness. Its goal is to educate
and mobilize a million Americans to force Congress to enact strict,
European-like regulations to stop the spread of Mad Cow Disease in the
United States. The online petition campaign calls for:

~ Mandatory testing for all cattle brought to slaughter, before they
enter the food chain.

~ A ban on the feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to
livestock.

Petition signatures and messages will be forwarded by email and fax to
each petition signer's Congressional Representative and Senators, as
well as to major food corporations such as McDonald's and Wal-Mart.

"Mad Cow USA--Stop the Madness" organizers are seeking both Republican
and Democratic sponsors for a new bill to require mandatory testing and
a comprehensive feed ban on blood, manure, and slaughterhouse
waste--measures already basically in place in Europe and Japan.

"The current Mad Cow crisis is a devastating health and economic threat
to consumers and farmers in the U.S. The 'Mad Cow USA - Stop the
Madness' Campaign wants to see bipartisan legislation introduced in the
Congress no later than January."

"We are using the internet to make this the largest online organizing
and petition campaign on a food safety issue. We are totally committed
to making the United States test every slaughtered cow, and completely
halt the mad and dangerous practice of feeding millions of tons of
blood, manure, and slaughterhouse wastes to animals," stated Ronnie
Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association.

For comprehensive information and analysis on the Mad Cow issue, see the
top-ranked Mad Cow section on Organic Consumers Association website,
updated daily: http://www.organicconsumers.org

MEDIA CONTACTS:
For questions regarding the Mad Cow campaign, contact:
Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association
Phone: 218-226-4164
email: ronnie@organicconsumers.org
web: http://www.organicconsumers.org

For questions regarding specifics of Mad Cow Disease, contact:
John Stauber, co-author of Mad Cow USA
Phone: 608-260-9713
email: stauber@tds.net
web: http://www.prwatch.org

OR

Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Researcher Consumers Union Phone:
914-378-2452
email: hansmi@consumer.org

OR

Dr. Michael Greger, MD Mad Cow Coordinator, Organic Consumers
Association Phone: 206-312-8640
email: mhg1@cornell.edu

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