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09/23/2005 Archived Entry: "Yet Another Cover Up"

IN APRIL 2005, a former USDA vet (Lester Friedlander) testified that as a US meat inspector in 1991, he was ordered NOT to report cases of Mad Cow disease. He also said that when private labs confirmed the disease, other USDA vets overruled the findings, ran their own "objective" tests (like the BATFE's, perhaps?), and denied the original results.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the Republicrats are well-financed by the beef industry, which they spend millions of dollars a year both advertising and subsidizing. No, certainly not.

"Well, who the hell cares about Mad Cow anyway?" grouses a libertarian friend. "It's stupid media hype. Besides, the greenies just want the USDA to do more inspections!"

That whooshing sound you hear is that of a point being really, really missed.

Whether or not you think Mad Cow is something to worry about is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that the USDA forbids private companies from testing their own meat for Mad Cow because "the USDA's own systems are perfectly adequate." ["Adequate" apparently meaning that when the USDA finds evidence of the disease, they look the other way.]

Yes, Mad Cow is probably hype. So what? The point is that the federal government is calculatingly, consciously, willfully ensuring that consumers who are concerned about Mad Cow have absolutely no accurate data with which to make their purchasing decisions. This is no different than the government disarming you while cooing, "That's okay, we'll protect you." And then either leaving you to get mugged, or mugging you themselves. (Kinda like New Orleans, now that I think about it).

Lefties who advocate more USDA involvement in the issue should realize by now that governments -- and their agents -- are corrupt, controlled by special interests, and do NOT have the interest of the individual at heart.

Posted by Debra @ 05:08 PM CST
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