[Previous entry: "So much bad news, butthat's not the whole picture...."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Verizon fires Hunter"]

03/30/2004 Archived Entry: "Government Encouraging Mad Cow?"

NOW HERE'S AN UNEXPECTED TWIST. Debra here. In response to the concern over Mad Cow Disease, Creekstone Farm Premium Beef wants to privately test all the cattle it slaughters so they can ensure that their beef is Mad Cow free. Perfectly natural market response to consumer demand, right?

Here's where the irony comes in: the federal government (you know, the guys who swear they're doing "everything possible" to protect the beef supply) does not allow such private testing for mad cow disease.

"[The USDA] claims that a new government testing system it approved this month is perfectly adequate. More than 10 times the number of cattle will be tested for mad cow under the new system, but the government still will be testing less than 1% of the 37 million cattle slaughtered in the U.S. each year. That falls far short of the 100% testing Creekstone Farms is proposing and Japan provides.

That's not the end of Creekstone Farms' woes, either. Its competitors are complaining that Creekstone's testing plans would "set an expensive precedent." (Heaven forbid that other cattle producers have to actually compete, right? ). So the fed ban on private testing continues, competition is stifled, and consumers get the shaft.

ANY lefty who still believes the government wants to "protect" us is in utter denial.

Posted by Debra @ 09:21 AM CST
Link