Bush Government Sues To Make Testing Meat Illegal
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.12.08
In most free countries, the Government and its agencies try to raise standards and make food healthier. Not in America. Creekstone Farms wanted to test every one of their cows for mad cow disease, to satisfy demand from overseas customers.
Except that they are not allowed to; the USDA guidelines only test 1% of cows. Creekstone went to court for the right to test all of their cows and won at a lower level, but the Bush Administration is appealing it, saying that "more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers."
What kind of government goes to court to stop testing done voluntarily by a company? Perhaps one that listens to large meatpackers who oppose wider testing because, according to AP, "consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound."
Lawyers for Creekstone say "This is the government telling the consumers, `You're not entitled to this information.'" The Chief Judge on the Court of Appeal seems to agree: "All they want to do is create information," Chief Judge Sentelle said, noting that it's up to consumers to decide how to interpret the information.
No wonder people don't have faith in their food supply, when the government makes it illegal to even test it. ::Yahoo
Mmmm....BSE it's what's for dinner.
Indeed, this is a stupid move for the government. It's even more unfair for smaller farmers, considering depending on their classification they have to get ALL their animals tested. It's the same basis as water treatment companies, they aren't allowed to tell you exactly what is in your water for fear of a "water scare" (because some crazy stuff gets in your water).
What the layman doesn't know keeps the dirty big businesses in business and the government happy with their lobbyist money and concessions on privately funded projects.
Even without diseases widespread, testing of anything ingested should be required. How can you sell something that can be dangerous? Wait don't answer that... stupid question.
I guess the better question is "do we trust them?"
No.
This is just sick. The US gov chosing the meatpackers potential profit over the health and welfare of their own citizens? Almost sounds like the 'head in the sand' approach that US automakers have perfected.
Now would this open up the possability of someone sueing the US gov. the next time madcow shows up? One meatpacker (the name escapes me) who had the massive recall due to an ecoli problem was facing bankruptcy-- just due to the loss of product and the cost of the recall. Imagine what the cost of any class action lawsuit would be.
Better safe than sorry? not when profit is concerned i guess. :(
A meat company wants to do more than it needs to in order to ensure additional consumer health and safety and they're sued by the government? Only in America.
Regulated entities going above-and-beyond the minimum legal requirements is a growing trend in the environmental sector among some forward-thinking companies. It's great to see that happening in other business industries.
Let's hope the next administration will see the problem in penalizing performance.
When this first came up I asked everyone I knew and alot of the people I met and all of them supported voluntary testing and they were all willing to pay a few cents a pound more.
So the cost could easily be passed on.
Unless of course, they know they have alot more infections then they will admit.
d*m right the US government is fighting this concept.
Publishing testing results will definately scare Americans, when they learn about the 200+ cases of BSE that go undetected every year.
The Canadian government recently fessed up to ONE case of BSE in Canada. This is well under the statistical average, because they have been testing EVERY animal and dealing with the fallout as it happens.
The fact that there have been NO REPORTED cases in the US is because of a concerted effort to quash any hint of a problem. Face it - BSE has not been entirely eradicated, and will never be until proper testing and foillow-up are initiated.