"It's been studied to the point where we know that the impact on humans would be from consuming the most infected parts of the cow; that is, the brain and the spinal cord"
About this Quote
The specificity is strategic. By concentrating risk in “the most infected parts” and then defining them as “the brain and the spinal cord,” she implicitly frames the rest of the cow as governable, inspectable, safely partitioned. That’s not just a medical claim; it’s a political one. It reassures consumers that a steak is not a neurological gamble and reassures industry that the entire system doesn’t need to be treated as contaminated. The phrase “impact on humans would be from consuming” also shifts the story from production failure to individual exposure, narrowing responsibility to a particular act rather than a supply chain.
Context matters: this kind of language typically appears when public trust is fragile and markets are twitchy. Veneman isn’t only communicating risk; she’s managing it - translating a scary, invisible threat into a set of removable parts, a checklist, a regulatory fix. The subtext is containment: of disease, of outrage, of economic fallout.
Quote Details
| Topic | Health |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Veneman, Ann. (n.d.). It's been studied to the point where we know that the impact on humans would be from consuming the most infected parts of the cow; that is, the brain and the spinal cord. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-been-studied-to-the-point-where-we-know-that-97763/
Chicago Style
Veneman, Ann. "It's been studied to the point where we know that the impact on humans would be from consuming the most infected parts of the cow; that is, the brain and the spinal cord." FixQuotes. Accessed February 1, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-been-studied-to-the-point-where-we-know-that-97763/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's been studied to the point where we know that the impact on humans would be from consuming the most infected parts of the cow; that is, the brain and the spinal cord." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-been-studied-to-the-point-where-we-know-that-97763/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.


