On December 23, twenty years ago, I received a call from the Office of Communications at U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The gentleman heading up the office at the time was a friend and mentor and I thought he was calling with his annual “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” message. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My friend, Larry Quinn, was calling to tell me a cow that was born in Canada that had been in a Washington state dairy herd for many years before it was sent to slaughter, had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

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