A beef about our beef?

I've been living under a rock (inside a bubble?) all week but I'm also wondering about two 'disconnected' things...

This announcement was made Tuesday: Consumer and Watchdog Groups Join Beef Producer to Challenge USDA Secretary Mike Johanns on Mad Cow Disease. They intended to challenge policies that fail to safeguard against the spread of mad cow disease. Seemed like a good idea to me. We had one scare and then nothing, poof. Blame Canada.

Later this week, while sitting in the family room reading, Sarah had on the local 11 PM news and they showed a cow with some pretty severe problems. Mad cow? No pronouncement was made at the time. But I wondered...

Today, while fiddling with some new search capabilities, I figured I'd check up on things. The Times piece is equivocal: More Tests Planned in Suspected Case of Mad Cow Disease. More tests are planned. The Lexington Herald-Leader (using an AP report) is less obtuse. They assume all is well until people start dying:

Regardless of the findings, the government says there is no health risk to humans or animals.

Umm, yeah. Just like AIDS in the early 80's and a host of other government 'pronouncements' over the years; when I was a kid, we were advised to hide under our desks to survive a nuclear strike. In a country of Burger based enterprise, what else would you expect them to say?

What I would love to know is what caused the Agriculture Department to do new tests? Was it the protests or basic procedure?