Within the past few days, a record 143 million pounds of beef that had been processed by the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Chino, California, was recalled. The recall was prompted by Humane Society video documentation that cattle too sick to stand -- so-called "downer cows" -- were being stood up by workers so that they could be slaughtered and their beef used. U.S. Department of Agriculture policy bans downer cows from the food chain.

One concern about downer cows is that they may be infected with "prion diseases," rare but uniformly fatal brain disorders that can be passed on to humans. The best-known prion disease in humans is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. It has several variations, one of which is believed to be passed to humans from cattle infected with the prion disease BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

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