Stealing cattle to sample keeps the research in the dark, so there's no public demand for the study data to be revealed
As the US government became increasingly concerned with the down range effects of nuclear testing, they wanted to get a better idea of what they were dealing with.
(Recognising that Alexandria Nick mentions this isn't his belief)
There is a potential weakness with this narrative when applied to Madison County, though- there isn't an obvious reason for the county to be affected by radioactive fallout in 2023.
The last "nearby" test (AFAICT) was Project Gasbuggy, an underground test in north-west New Mexico in December 1967; Wikipedia page on the test:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gasbuggy (I used Wikipedia's "List of nuclear weapon explosion sites",
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_weapon_explosion_sites -if I've overlooked a more recent test the error is mine.
I had to look on a map [embarrassed smiley!] New Mexico is west of Texas, Madison County is sort of central east Texas.
Madison is a modest 249" (75.9 m) above sea level
https://www.texascounties.net/statistics/elevation.htm
(high ground tends to receive disproportionate fallout from rain following a "release").
There are precedents for "the authorities" checking livestock for radiation (from ingested radionuclides).
After the Chernobyl reactor fire (April 26 1986) western European nations charted the spread of fallout.
Heavy rain in April and May delivered worrying levels of radionuclides to upland areas of north Wales and Cumbria (NW England).
Over 5,000 farms were initially prevented from selling produce
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-13196041 (BBC News, Wales North West,
Chernobyl radiation checks on Welsh farms reviewed, 26 April 2011.
This was reduced to 344 sheep farms in Wales and 8 in Cumbria (sheep can graze on hillsides which otherwise have limited agricultural use). Animals were checked for radiation levels before going to market.
Monitoring- and the resulting restrictions- stayed in place until 2012, the government paying some compensation
(from BBC News, Wales,
Chernobyl and the north Wales sheep farmers, 30 years on, Telor Iwan, 26 April 2016:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-36112372 -I thought it was quite a good (brief) read about the "human angle").
I guess the political context in the US would be different, as any radioactivity would be down to the US Government.
Maybe I'm not cynical enough, but I'd be surprised if a US State or Federal Government would allow the continued sale of contaminated livestock- ingested radionuclides accumulate in the body, presenting a cumulative risk to health.
Also, the areas of tissue "taken" from the Madison County cattle, reminiscent of other "cattle mutilation" cases ("lips", tongue, peri-anal and genital areas) might not be the best sites for detecting ingested radionuclides (assuming that bovine physiology isn't
too different to humans); thyroid, kidneys and bone would be better indicators:
From Brittanica, "radiation", sub-heading "Accumulation in critical organs"
https://www.britannica.com/science/radiation/Accumulation-in-critical-organs,
The same problem (that the excised tissues are not those you would want) applies even more starkly to the claim that cattle mutilations are part of secret monitoring of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy):
External Quote:
Biochemist
Colm Kelleher,
[48] who has investigated several purported mutilations first-hand, argues that the mutilations are most likely a clandestine U.S. government effort to track the spread of
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow disease") and related diseases, such as
scrapie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_mutilation
At present, only post-mortem examination of the brain definitively shows the presence of BSE, so the types of damage typically seen in cattle mutilation cases would be useless. Scrapie is a prion disease (like BSE) in sheep and goats, not cattle. There are important differences to BSE; in nearly 300 years scrapie hasn't been connected to illness in humans.
But if "the authorities" wanted cattle specimens for some reason, why not simply
buy an occasional cow for testing?
If there were a reason for covert testing- you don't want to hurt the livestock industries, and/ or you want to study the effects of ingesting radionuclides in humans without intervening (a bit like the Tuskegee syphilis study)- why leave evidence?
Some fire and rescue services have trucks like this Unimog Large Animal Rescue Unit of Essex Fire and Rescue Service
(the "horse" here is a mannequin)
Spray it matt khaki (or whatever) and you've got a practical "go anywhere" cow-napping wagon!
but I understand you're referring to those fears existing, not that they're factual.
