Earlier this week, Canadian agriculture officials said they were planning to kill 700 more cattle to allay fears that mad cow disease has moved beyond the single infected cow that has been identified.

Previous tests came back negative on 192 cattle from the herd the infected cow was most recently a part of.

Meanwhile, judging from the results of our Question of the Week poll, Helenans aren't worried too much about the issue.

We asked if the discovery of MCD in Alberta would affect readers' eating habits.

Of the more than 320 responses, a solid 80 percent said no.

Actually, some of the folks who answered yes sounded like they didn't eat much beef anyway.

"I hope Mad Cow makes people reconsider how much red meat they eat, even if it doesn't make it to the U.S.," wrote one person who identified herself as a vegetarian.

Another respondent said the mad cow disease scare "underscores the need for 'country of origin labeling,'" which is set to be implemented in 2004 and has drawn criticism from the Bush administration.

"It is yet another disgrace that Congress did not get this accomplished years ago," according to the writer. "Now that they have, the Bush administration is hard at work trying to weaken this law that has not gone into effect yet."

But the majority opinion may have been expressed by one beleaguered-sounding writer.

"This week I have trapped 14 mice in my house. West Nile is probably on its way, and next winter could easily bring SARS. On top of that I was in Britain when people were eating beef contaminated with Mad Cow . . .

So no, I'm not going to change my eating habits because of a sick cow in Alberta, because that is pretty much the least of my worries."