Cooperative Learning 3: Prions
January 28, 2003

1) Draw, to the best of your artistic abilities, how a prion in a cow's brain causes vCJD in a human. (Sheet provided!) Have fun.

2) With a partner, practice saying "spongiform encephalopathy" until you sound like a pro at it!!! Use it in a sentence! :) Really, I'n not kidding! "...en-cef-a lop-a-thee! "

3) A recent NY TImes article, entitled : The Cow Jumped Over the U.S.D.A. by Eric Schlosser reported that "USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman's spokeswoman, Alisa Harrison (whose job it to help guide news coverage of the mad cow crisis and reassure the world that American beef is safe) is the former director of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the beef industry's largest trade group, where she prevously battled government food safety efforts relating to the beef industry." They further state that "Right now you'd have a hard time finding a federal agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to regulate. The USDA has a dual, often contradictory mandate: to promote the sale of meat on behalf of American producers and to guarantee that American meat is safe on behalf of consumers".

In the interests of 'homeland security', do you think the USDA needs to re-think its mission based on its dual roles - commerce and food safety? What recommendations would you have to balance both interests?