A Case of Early Chicken Counting?

At the upcoming meeting of the Public Relations Society of America, "the Washington Beef Commission will unveil how it turned the PR nightmare discovery of Mad Cow... into an opportunity to educate the public about the hype surrounding the disease." According to meatingplace.com, the Japanese government isn't buying the U.S. Agriculture Department's new mad cow testing program -- or U.S. beef. Much to Secretary Ann Veneman's chagrin, Japanese officials rejected her proposal for an international panel to review both countries' mad cow policies. And in New Jersey, a suspicious cluster of human deaths from mad cow-like diseases, brought to light by one concerned citizen, is raising serious questions about the cost of dismissing the threat posed by mad cow disease and related transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.