The social representation and reality of BSE's impact in North Central Alberta

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8422650
AutoresM J Broadway (0000-0002-6704-2091, Northern Michigan University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen52
Número4
Páginas451-465
Fecha de publicación2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCanadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0008-3658 • E-ISSN: 1541-0064
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1541-0064.2008.00224.x
OpenAlexW2021138003
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas15

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as ‘Mad Cow’ disease, was discovered in the late 1980s in Britain; in 1996, scientists announced a ‘probable’ link between eating BSE‐contaminated meat and a new form of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease, a fatal human brain disease. Britain's beef industry was devastated, beef consumption dropped, export markets closed and a mass cull of older cattle was implemented. This article uses social representation theory to analyze how Canada's 2003 BSE outbreak was portrayed to Canadians in major newspapers and compares this representation with BSE's impact in two rural Alberta counties. The day Canada's BSE case was reported, the United States closed its border to Canadian cattle and beef. The event was represented as ‘devastating’ to Canada's cattle and beef industries and rural areas in general, a view that went largely unchallenged and was critical to gaining government support for the affected industries. Little evidence of economic devastation was found in the heart of Alberta's cow‐calf producing area; producers adapted to their changing economic circumstances and acquired other sources of income. But there is little doubt that the financial uncertainty associated with BSE added to stress levels among farm families

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy · Business · Commodity · Disease · Economics · Economy · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Outbreak · Political science · Representation (politics) · Socioeconomics · Community Health and Development · French Urban and Social Studies · Law · Medicine · Social Representations and Identity