http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/29/america/NA-GEN-US-Mad-Cow.php U.S. government fights to keep meatpackers from testing all slaughtered cattle for mad cow WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Does anyone else find this dangerous? The Neocons have bragged about their pro-self regulation, yet they are trying to stop this obvious self regulation.
does seem a bit odd. i guess i see the point about false positives and scares, but take another sample.
they need more people crazy enough to vote for them again... HEY OHHHHHH!!!!!! i'll be here all week. remember to tip your waitress.
It's pretty obvious if you read the whole article... WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows. Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well. The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn't have the authority to restrict it. - A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was scheduled to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal, effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge has played out. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain. Three cases of mad cow disease have been found in the United States. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a cow born in Texas. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow. Big meatpackers are a HUGE source of campaign funds for the feds. Plus, extra testing would mean higher costs. They can't raise prices to defray those extra costs, because beef prices are already sky high. That means the big meatpackers would have to hire fewer illegal immigrants. All those illegal immigrants coming into the country that won't be able to find jobs will rely on the government to support them, which would lead to higher taxes, and...well, you get the picture...
Self-regulation is the best idea that has come out of Washington (actually, I think it was a bubble-up from state agencies) in years. Set a standard, make the companies tell you how they are going to stick to that standard, check occasionally (randomly and unannounced) to see if they are doing what they said. It's the best way to handle it, in my opinion. Even if all meat isn't required to be checked, the meat companies should be checking their own meat. (Or hiring whoever checks the meat.)
