Raja Mishra's story offers a bit of hope for those worried that industry and government can put anything over on the American media. In response to the waves of public concern and media attention that followed the December 2003 discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced on January 26, 2004, that the Food and Drug Administration would issue newly tightened rules on cattle feed within the next few days. The announcement was widely and willingly relayed by many media outlets, and the public was reassured. But the rules had still not come out by April 14, and Raja Mishra was possibly the first reporter to take note of this situation (Elizabeth Weise of USA Today did a story at almost the same time). Certainly there were a number of technical and economic issues to work out before the regulation was published in the Federal Register, but some accounts in the meantime suggested the delay might reflect administration second thoughts about whether the rule was necessary. A few days after Mishra's story, the FDA said that it was considering making it stricter, and that the rule would be published shortly. As of this writing in late April, it had not yet appeared. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/04/14/feed_regulations_not_yet enforced/)