As the navel-gazing over the mad-cow issue grows (as does the number of places that pesky cow has been parted out to), here's the latest quote from the bseinfo.org website, which is linked from guess where: The National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association expects trade to be the Administration’s top priority. Beef and variety meat exports represent approximately 10 percent of U.S. beef production and were valued at $3.5 billion to the U.S. industry in 2002.
Got that? Trade, not public health should be the TOP priority.
Nope, those good folks who have worked hand-in-hand with congresscritters to prevent testing/screening from happening, who are just representing the good-old 'murkan values typified by the cowboy-boot wearin' yahoos...never mind that they are actually Gucci-clad feedlot owners...they are more concerned with Trade numbers than Public Health; and they are not even ashamed to admit it.
It's OK if you or a loved one dies a horrible, wasting death, as long as those damned Japanese keep importing our meat! So says the 1600 Crew and their good friends, the Cattleman's Lobbyists and pet congresscritters.
posted by Jo Fish on 12.29.03 at 05:34 PM
Comments:
This mess really smells. The current story is that it was a 6-1/2 year old cow that was born before the ban on feed containing "bovine protien". It probably contracted BSE through eating the feed during the four months between its birth and the ban on the feed.
The initial story was it was a 4-1/2 year old cow, which shouldn't have been fed the banned feed, and there was no obvious source for the disease.
Until there are some DNA tests done on Canadian cows and bulls by both Canadian and American labs that agree on the results, I don't think we really know anything.
One thing is for damn sure, no one should be selling meat from diseased cattle to people. Haven't we learned anything in the century since Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle".
The price for not inspecting the beef is going to be ruin for a lot of farmers. These people just don't get it. No one wants to know how small the chance is, because they now know there is a chance to turn your brain into a sponge by eating American beef.
posted by: Bryan on 12.29.03 at 11:10 PM [permalink]
