The Cows Are Mad Podcast
Science has still failed to definitively answer two major questions about mad cow disease - where did it come from and how did humans get it?
The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the weirdest things any of us has lived through. But there was another sickness that once stalked the nation and turned things very strange for a while.
In the 1990s Britain was hit by an epidemic of a fatal neurological disease in cows that also killed 178 humans. Science was split between government assurances of safety and dissidents warning of disaster. Trust in officials took a battering. Facts became blurred. And the grisly truth about our global industrialised meat industry was revealed.
30 years on, scientists and activists are still searching for answers to two big questions - where did mad cow disease originally come from and how did humans get infected? This crazy tale of cannibal cows, competing origin theories, and scientific dead ends lives on as the madness continues to spread.
Episodes to download
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9. Cow Eats Man
Mon 23 Oct 2023
One of the most disturbing BSE theories so far causes an international incident.
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7. Factor X
Mon 23 Oct 2023
An organic farmer turned self-taught scientist investigates his own BSE theories.
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5. D-Day
Mon 23 Oct 2023
The truth finally comes out, as the government confirms a new brain disease in humans.
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4. Bad News
Mon 23 Oct 2023
A grieving mother makes a list of culprits who she blames for her son’s death.
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3. Dissidents
Mon 23 Oct 2023
Dissident researchers are convinced the scientific establishment is wrong on BSE.
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1. Zombie Apocalypse
Mon 23 Oct 2023
Suspicion surrounds a meat rendering plant in Kent, sparking paranoia.
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Introducing The Cows Are Mad
Mon 16 Oct 2023
Lucy Proctor investigates the strange tale of the 1990s BSE epidemic.
