Maybe being able to see the Hollywood sign from my living room makes everything remind me of a bad horror movie, but seeing the headline "New Strain of 'Mad Cow' Disease" is enough to make anyone (especially meat-eaters) shriek like a celluloid scream queen. That's right—bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has struck again!

Mad cow disease first captured the world's attention when it appeared on the scene in the United Kingdom, and it has since been found in cows in Canada, the U.S., and now Japan—although the latest stricken animals are believed to have come from Australia. One cow who tested positive was only 23 months old, the youngest ever found with BSE, and officials believe that this may be a new strain of the disease that can't always be detected with Japan's current monitoring system.

Since the prions that cause BSE can be found in all parts of an affected animal's flesh, staying away from meat is really the only sure-fire way to avoid mad cow disease.

Audiences are flocking to see the new thriller Contagion for its exciting action scenes and big-name celebrities, but the film's storyline is more true to life than many people may realize.

As the recent swine and bird flu outbreaks have amply illustrated, deadly diseases that originate on factory farms easily spread to humans. Just last month, three children in Pennsylvania were diagnosed with a new strain of swine flu that the state's Department of Health believes they may have contracted from animals at an agricultural fair. And the World Health Organization is concerned about a true pandemic this winter. 

Filthy conditions on severely crowded factory farms are the perfect breeding ground for deadly contagious diseases. Considering that factory farms breed swine flu, avian flu, MRSA, mad cow disease, and E. coli, not to mention cruelty to animals, isn't it time that we ditch diseased dinners in favor of healthy platters of plants?

PETA will be distributing leaflets about the dangers of factory farming at theaters showing Contagion across the country. To get involved, contact our Action Team.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

"Shoot, shovel, and shut up" might sound like a bad bumper sticker, but it's actually how former Canadian Premier Ralph Klein did business. He recommended to cattle farmers that if they suspect a cow has mad cow disease, they should kill the cow, dispose of the body, and not report the incident. It's impossible to say how many cases of mad cow disease have gone unreported, but this week in Alberta, a new case was discovered in a cow used by the dairy industry.

Before we go all South Park and start blaming Canada for everything, consider this: Mad cow disease incubates in cows for so long that most cows show no symptoms before they are sent to slaughter. The cow in Alberta was over 6-years-old—older than most cows who are killed for their flesh. Cases of mad cow disease have been reported all across North America and around the world—but those are just the cases that were caught. Cue Twilight Zone music.

ILRI/cc by 2.0

The only way to totally avoid entering the mad cow zone is to keep cows and other animals off your plate.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Jairo S. Feris Delgado / CC by 3.0

By now, most of us have pretty much forgotten what mad cow disease is—all we remember is that it's scary and that we don't want to catch it. Well, the recent recall of 25,000 pounds of bison heads because of the risk of mad cow disease just might have people scrambling for their medical dictionaries.

Here's a little refresher course: Mad cow disease essentially eats holes in the brain and is always fatal. In humans, it initially causes memory loss and erratic behavior. Over a period of months, victims gradually lose all ability to care for themselves or communicate, and eventually, they die. The disease has been traced to farmers' cost-cutting practice of mixing bits of dead animals' neural tissue into the feed of cattle, who are naturally herbivorous. If cattle eat the brains of cattle who already have mad cow disease, or of sheep suffering from a similar disease called "scrapie," the cattle can develop the disease. If humans eat flesh (and possibly milk) from infected animals, they can develop the human version of the disease, called "new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." The disease is caused by misshapen proteins called "prions." Prions are virtually indestructible—they aren't destroyed by cooking, disinfecting, or freezing.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the tonsils must be removed from cows and other ruminants who are slaughtered in order to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, something that a bison slaughterhouse in North Dakota failed to do, which prompted the recall.

It can take eight years for an infected cow to begin showing symptoms of mad cow disease, but most cattle in the U.S. are killed by age 5, before many would be displaying symptoms. Only a very tiny fraction of the cows who are slaughtered are tested, which means that the only way to ensure that you'll never get mad cow disease is to go vegan.

Written by Logan Scherer

athensboy / CC

It's official: Oprah will end her show in 2011. Feel that collective surge of sadness? We sure do. Oprah's groundbreaking program has transcended the talk-show format and has paved the way for social and political change. In honor of PETA's 2008 Person of the Year and her show's long run, we're revisiting Oprah's best animal-friendly episodes:

• Oprah's week-long move from Chicago to Amarillo was the move followed 'round the world. She captivated millions with her court appearance to defend her 1995 episode that revealed the horrors of a beef industry rampant with mad cow disease.
• Inspired by guest Kathy Freston's book Quantum Wellness, Oprah went vegan for three weeks and marveled, "I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying."
• Oprah dedicated an entire episode to exposing the stifling, crippling conditions of chickens, cows, and pigs on factory farms as Californians prepared to vote on Proposition 2. The measure passed by a large majority—in part thanks to her revealing show.
• After Oprah saw a billboard off the Kennedy Expressway that read, "Oprah: Do a show on puppy mills. The dogs need you," she immediately jumped at the opportunity to save lives. Just a few minutes of her horrifying exposé were enough to convince viewers that adopting from an animal shelter is the only way to go.
• My food envy was raging when Chef Tal Ronnen cooked his "Chicken" Scallopini and other delectable vegan meals on a recent episode of the show.
• When Charla Nash decided to show her face to the public for the first time earlier this month, it's no surprise that she chose to do it on Oprah's show.

The media mogul may be bidding farewell to her legendary talk show, but with the upcoming launch of her new cable network, we're sure that we'll be seeing a lot more of her for a long time to come.

Written by Logan Scherer

Yesterday, the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority ruled against a PETA U.K. ad that the watch group feels the public is too dense to understand. The decision was sparked by a sole complainant who thought that people might be confused by this billboard:

Personally, I think it's pretty straightforward, but moving on: How about this one, which PETA U.K. unveiled yesterday?

Hans-Gerhard Wagner of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has acknowledged that factory farms create an "opportunity for emerging disease." The meat, egg, and dairy industries keep diseased animals in crowded, filthy conditions and feed them a steady diet of drugs to keep them alive. It shouldn't come as a shock that factory farms provide the ideal conditions for drug-resistant "superbugs" to develop.

Forgo the surgical masks, folks. The safest, easiest way to prevent animal-borne disease epidemics is to go vegan.

Written by Karin Bennett