Bush Administration Refuses to Allow Beef Exporter to Test Cattle

[JohnLocke]

U.S. refuses to OK mad cow tests; Kansas firm wants to resume selling beef to Japan
by Donald G. McNeil Jr. -- New York Times
Saturday, April 10, 2004
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The Department of Agriculture on Friday refused to allow a Kansas beef producer to test all its cattle for mad cow disease, saying such sweeping tests were "not scientifically warranted."
The exporter, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wanted to use newly approved rapid tests so it could resume selling its fat-marbled Black Angus beef to Japan, which banned American beef after a cow slaughtered in Washington state last December tested positive for mad cow disease.
The company has complained that the ban is costing it $40,000 a day and has forced it to dismiss 50 employees.
(...)
Lobbying groups for cattle ranchers and slaughterhouses applauded the decision, but consumer advocates denounced it, saying the department was preventing Creekstone from taking extra steps to prove its product was safe.
(...)
Consumer groups accused the department of bending to the will of the beef industry, saying producers do not want the expense of proving that all cattle are safe or the damage to meat sales that would result if more cases of mad cow were found.
(...)
Since December, Japan has demanded that producers who want to export there test each animal, as Japanese ranchers do. The U.S. beef industry and the Bush administration have resisted, and negotiations have become increasingly tense.
(...)
"It is ironic in the extreme that an administration that's so interested in letting industry come up with its own solutions would come down with a heavy government hand on a company that's being creative," said Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of the health research group at Public Citizen, a frequent critic of the food industry. (...)
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Read the rest here.

[oneighty]

1. Refused to allow?

It is a free country? Sure they could test if they wished and release their findings to the public? That is what we need, a company with enough public spirit to just say, "Yes we are going to test."

When that happens my family will eat beef again.

180

[JohnLocke]

2. The Republicans are all for free trade...

Unless it means having a higher health standard for beef, or seniors buying drugs at reasonable prices from Canada.

[MetaTrope]

3. So...if as the industry claims, the tests "are not a sure thing"...

Then they are saying that the beef which is testing negative may actually have Mad Cow, just as all beef which is not being tested may have Mad Cow?

I thought the assumption they've been working under is that NONE of their beef has Mad Cow?

[JohnLocke]

4. USDA/FDA/Agriculture officials are food executives appointed by Bush.

[Karenina]

6. Maybe you can 'splain to me

EXACTLY HOW the gub'mint can PROHIBIT a company from instituting a safety measure in their facility. I am truly DUMBFOUNDED by this story.

[JohnLocke]

8. The Virus Serum Toxin Act of 1913

Under a 1913 law called the Virus Serum Toxin Act, the department decides where cattle can be tested and for what.
-- From the article above (I had to snip it out to make it 4 paragraphs)

[charlie]

5. Fucking idiots

Living in Asia, I've been following this story. The tests the rancher wants to administer are acceptable to the Japanese gov't. They won't be used on product sold in the US. There's really no problem, except that other beef producers are horrified at someone breaking ranks and puncturing the "100% guaranteed safe because we say so" wall of solidarity.

[JohnLocke]

7. Exactly...

They're scared that someone would dare do any further tests on beef to ensure it's safety. It's a modern-day kind of beef trust.

[JohnLocke]

11. Whereabouts in Asia? (nt)

[citizen snips]

9. I guess I will have to pass on eating steak.

[JohnLocke]

10. I haven't eaten beef for months.

[cliss]

12. Same here. When we heard about the Mad Cow

incident in Washington, we quit the beef habit. Somehow, the idea of my brain turning into a sponge was not fun.

When you analyze these statements, you realize there is something insanely wrong with these developments. I read a few weeks ago that the beef exporters were so infuriated with Japan refusing to buy beef that they were "considering a lawsuit". Suing someone for not buying your stuff?????? What the hell is wrong here?

This just goes to show you how far out of balance our country has become. This is called trading at the barrel of a gun.

The Japanese should get their beef from Argentina or Australia, and tell the beef exporters to go get a Big Mac.

[JohnLocke]

13. Read Eric Schlosser's book, "Fast Food Nation."

Cheapest I could find is $7.53 from Buy.com:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=30840266

[JohnLocke]

14. Kick (nt).

[porkrind]

15. They know it's out there.

100% testing will reveal the true extent of this plague.

That would hurt the industry, so they don't want to find it!

They know it's out there.

:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:
:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

[JohnLocke]

16. Scary stuff (nt).

[lostnfound]

17. kick

[JohnLocke]

18. Kick (nt).