Saturday, April 17, 2004
Mad Cow
Here is an excellent posting regarding testing of cows.
The author explains why he thinks the US Dept of Agriculture is stopping the small company's efforts to test all of its cattle for Mad Cow. His premise is that the main rationale is anti-competitive. My feeling is that he is partially correct but the main reason is that the Bush Admin has allowed industry; in this case the beef industry, to writes its own rules. In the short sighted view of industry, testing every animal will reduce profits. Of course this may be true in the short run but if we have a major outbreak of mad cow profits will be destroyed anyway. The same industry is fanatically opposed to new labeling requirements, such as for genetically modified foods. Read this little blurb from opensecrets.org regarding current Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman:
“Between her tenure at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (under George Bush Sr.) and being named head of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture in 1995, Ann Veneman served on the board of directors for Calgene Inc. In 1994, Calgene became the first company to bring genetically-engineered food, the Flavr Savr tomato, to supermarket shelves. Calgene was bought out by Monsanto, the nation’s leading biotech company, in 1997. Monsanto, in turn, became part of pharmaceutical company Pharmacia in 2000. Monsanto, which donated more than $12,000 to George Bush’s presidential bid, wants two things this year: no mandatory labeling of biotech foods and better access to international markets. Veneman also served on the International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food and Trade, a group funded by Cargill, Nestle, Kraft, and Archer Daniels Midland.”
The last thing that Veneman's friends in industry want to see is small companies labeling their products as certified clean and then have foreign countries approve only these products for import. This would cut out the USDA (as the protector not of our health but of industry profits) and impose effective new rules for industry to meet in order to do business overseas.
Here is an excellent posting regarding testing of cows.
The author explains why he thinks the US Dept of Agriculture is stopping the small company's efforts to test all of its cattle for Mad Cow. His premise is that the main rationale is anti-competitive. My feeling is that he is partially correct but the main reason is that the Bush Admin has allowed industry; in this case the beef industry, to writes its own rules. In the short sighted view of industry, testing every animal will reduce profits. Of course this may be true in the short run but if we have a major outbreak of mad cow profits will be destroyed anyway. The same industry is fanatically opposed to new labeling requirements, such as for genetically modified foods. Read this little blurb from opensecrets.org regarding current Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman:
“Between her tenure at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (under George Bush Sr.) and being named head of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture in 1995, Ann Veneman served on the board of directors for Calgene Inc. In 1994, Calgene became the first company to bring genetically-engineered food, the Flavr Savr tomato, to supermarket shelves. Calgene was bought out by Monsanto, the nation’s leading biotech company, in 1997. Monsanto, in turn, became part of pharmaceutical company Pharmacia in 2000. Monsanto, which donated more than $12,000 to George Bush’s presidential bid, wants two things this year: no mandatory labeling of biotech foods and better access to international markets. Veneman also served on the International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food and Trade, a group funded by Cargill, Nestle, Kraft, and Archer Daniels Midland.”
The last thing that Veneman's friends in industry want to see is small companies labeling their products as certified clean and then have foreign countries approve only these products for import. This would cut out the USDA (as the protector not of our health but of industry profits) and impose effective new rules for industry to meet in order to do business overseas.
