How can this ever be a court case? If a company wants to increase it’s quality control to assure customers, what’s the big deal, except of course it screws up the big meat companies. I can assure you that where I am now (S.Korea) meat eaters don’t want US Beef precisely because of the fear (warranted or not) of Mad Cow in imported meat from the US. Better wake up corporations- customers can still kill you!

Huh? Does that mean if a manufacturer wants to incorporate higher safety standards they will be forbidden too? Will they oppose the “Smart” car on the grounds that it is a highly safe build and fuel efficent?

This is really funny because I wrote a paper on this for a health class in college why do I still remember this?? At the end of the semester the ” professor” gave a speech saying that there were students that learned what this class was about ( just a way to give him a job) and those that didn’t ( me) I guess bringing up the fact that ” the safest food supply in the world isn’t” wasn’t what he wanted to hear What the then secretary of ag ( johanns) has done is cut back the number of tests on cattle because there is no sign of mad cow in the american herd ( I live in Nebraska and I hear of dower cattle being slaughtered by mom and pop butchers quite a few times Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there and you test even less means you’ll not find even less also what about canadian beef it’s been found there how many times?? it’s allowed into the US. Mad cow has a long life and it doesn’t just appear in those that get it looked up some facts about this and it’s scary. finally the ag department was trying to say that the test isn’t reliable it’s the same test they use are you trying to say that the government’s own test is a sham??

Right, free market and all that…

I quit buying cheap beef a long time ago, we only have it once in a while now, and I order it online or drive an hour away to get it, (making it almost sinful because it has to travel). I want the highest quality of food going into my kids bodies. I am sick of corporate America deciding they know what’s best for my body and my children’s bodies.

And as for this company, Creekstone, maybe I’ll order a few steaks.

http://www.creekstonefarms.com/

My suspicion about the Mad Cow thing is this:

Mad Cow disease has been present in the US food supply for years and years - and the authorities have found it whenever they bothered to look for it only to have some powerful ‘friend’ of the beef industry pull the necessary strings to ensure that whatever some civil servant was about to start squawking about health threats and public interest/safety they got leaned on hard to STFU.

That is what I suspect since it seems easy to imagine that there is enough money involved to ensure that just about any gatekeeper/watchdog can be silenced. It is unlikely that specific big beef player will ever face the consequences of protecting their cash flow at the expense of public safety - it takes too long for Mad Cow to show up in people and that allows for a lot of plausible denial as to exactly where a victim was exposed and who was responsible. Even if legal momentum grows for class action lawsuits - look at how long it took for Big Tobacco to suffer any consequence for their actions.

When our allegedly representative government repeatedly reveals that there is a corporatist hand up its ass making its mouth move and say whatever the corporatists want - then it isn’t unreasonable to expect that our government defends public safety only when it isn’t inconvenient to big industry.

BSE. It’s what’s for dinner.

This has been an ongoing fight and is but one more proof that GOPers value money more than people.

So with the next U.S. case of mad cow disease, Dumbya’s administration will issue expressions of concern and pledges to look into it. E-coli conservatism at work.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the U.S. denies importation of Canadian beef that is checked for mad cow disease. The Canadians also report when they find diseased cattle, unlike the U.S. hypocritical system of not checking their beef or denying there’s any disease… just recalls. Out-frickin-rageous. What can you do but stop eating beef. Hear that, beef ranchers and farmers? A boycot on beef would hurt your business…

Mad Cow may already be in the beef supply. You saw the possibilities a few moniths ago when they recalled beef from Westland\Hallmark for the last THREE YEARS. The trouble is that beef has already been consumed. You can bet that the big beef companies contributed heavily to the Bush campaign for that protection.

BSE is a protein that is not easily disposed of. In Britain when they operate on a patient who they suspect has BSE they have to throw away the surgical instruments used because an autoclave cannot clean off the BSE protein. This is a serious hidden epidemic. These bastards wont stop till we are all dead unless the electorate wakes up.

Creekstone has been asking for permission to do this for several years and the USDA has tried to block them at every turn.

So this is that smaller government that conservatives are always talking about?

BSE and new variant CJD is one hellofa can of worms.
One nasty little thing one meat rendering plant was doing was pooling waste slurry in evaporation pits, and also they reckoned to have pumped it down into the water table.
One of the young nv CJD cases in the late 90s was a 20 something vegetarian girl who hadnt eaten meat since the 80s.

Bush would be mad if other people didn’t get mad cow disease like he has, or believes he has, or acts like he has. He’s just trying not to be lonely.

Let’s just hope that Bush eats his share of the tainted meat.

Bush sucks, of course (feel obliged to state this).

So do almost all repubs and many dems (feel obliged to state this).

_________ sucks also (fill in the blank).

But a TRUE free market works best for buyers and sellers.

Problem in the U.S. is that there are some, but few, free markets. Most markets are controlled by government or corporate mononpoly. Only niche markets are free (because corporations haven’t figured how to make money off of them.)

GWB=BSE.

So when meat packers are lax on safety standards, the GOP says “free market forces will take care of it”, and when meat packers heighten safety standards, the GOP says “the government needs to intervene to prevent it”. Makes total sense. Why don’t they just come out and say they enjoy killing people?

it’s more the other way round - if the population has been eating diseased meat (which could have easily been tested) for years - should they really know ? you know, they happened to lynch villains down in happy cattle country …

Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 17:

So when meat packers are lax on safety standards, the GOP says “free market forces will take care of it”, and when meat packers heighten safety standards, the GOP says “the government needs to intervene to prevent it”. Makes total sense. Why don’t they just come out and say they enjoy killing people?

Absolutely. Privatize profits while socializing losses.

Takes me back a couple of years to the time US Cattle lobbies were calling for a PERMANENT ban on Canadian beef due to one positive BCE test in Canada. Meanwhile, there was 2 positive tests in US they couldn’t hang on the Canadian cow . All of a sudden ? God damned…nothing to see here. Must be part of the BushCo Dont Look- Dont Find
program. The GOP see a safe and secure food chain as a barrier to unfettered profits. Why are they assholes again ?

With costs for food rising so much under Bush, I still think people wouldn’t mind paying a few cents more to make sure they don’t get Mad Cow from the meat they eat.

Why does the consumer always have to pay the difference? Why can’t corporations do the right thing and just have a tiny bit less profit?
On the other hand, how many dead consumers is it worth to not test for mad cow disease?

I think this is being suppressed because if only 1 company does the additional testing, they will monopolize the Japanese beef market, meaning the U.S. has less leverage to “tat” (as in tit-for-tat) with, regarding the U.S./Japan trade balance.

The Japanese have banned American meat imports over the so-called safety issue (which is really their bargaining chip with the U.S. to allow cheap Nissans into America).

I’d wager heavily that this has something to do with the Japanese trade.

Huh. A judge that dares question the authority and business interests of Bushco? OBVIOUSLY an activist judge. Git a rope!

How superbly ironic. It is an upsidedown world when government and Big Ag collude to indulge in restraint of trade tactics. The beef industry is the first one to scream when Japan or Korea use non-tariff trade barriers in the same fashion. This will be one to watch. In the meantime, read the Pew Commission’s recent report on industrial farm animal production to be found at http://www.ncifap.org/index.html Big Ag stooped lower than a snake’s belly to shut this commission down. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful and the report is damning.

VietVet8666 @ 15:

Bush sucks, of course (feel obliged to state this).

So do almost all repubs and many dems (feel obliged to state this).

_________ sucks also (fill in the blank).

But a TRUE free market works best for buyers and sellers.

Problem in the U.S. is that there are some, but few, free markets. Most markets are controlled by government or corporate mononpoly. Only niche markets are free (because corporations haven’t figured how to make money off of them.)

In this discussion shouldn’t one note that there is beef which might be labelled as “feed lot” beef and beef that might be labelled as ‘niche market ‘ beef.

There is a difference.

I hope there is a difference

I’m sure glad I stopped eating beef 30 years ago.

My mother died a terrible agonizing death. Her brain looked like swiss cheese or a sponge - what was left of it. The doc said Alzheimer’s. I said bullshit, doc. I read a book called Mad Cow U.S.A. by Sheldon Ramton and John Stauber and the disease is identical to Bovine spongiform encphalopathy. My mum loved her cheeseburgers.
If you have to eat beef, eat it from one cow, not hundreds at one time. Better still, eat Argentine beef. Even better-no beef at all.

I thought government intervention of individual enterprise was “wrong”.

So are the meat packers as mad as the cows now?

Paul @ 7:

This has been an ongoing fight and is but one more proof that GOPers value money more than people.

Amen. The ‘Market’s’ free to do whatever corporate contributors to conservatives want it to do.

Isn’t this all about more deregulation?

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Clearly the industry would be hurt by allowing Mad Cow to suddenly surface in the marketplace - here or abroad. The Bush administration’s position doesn’t make any sense at all.
*

Remember what happened to Oprah when she said she would never eat another hamburger?

Paul-UK @ 2:

Huh? Does that mean if a manufacturer wants to incorporate higher safety standards they will be forbidden too? Will they oppose the “Smart” car on the grounds that it is a highly safe build and fuel efficent?

Yes.
*

Hilarious. The Blood bank won’t allow me to donate blood anymore because I spent 4 months total in the UK since a given date, and that makes them askeert of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The funniest part about that? I was a vegetarian at the time. I have less chance of getting BSE than someone who spent a week there eating Steak and Kidney pie, beef hotpot and burgers.

Trittydi @ 33:

Paul-UK @ 2:

Huh? Does that mean if a manufacturer wants to incorporate higher safety standards they will be forbidden too? Will they oppose the “Smart” car on the grounds that it is a highly safe build and fuel efficent?

Yes.
*

Their fall back position is “We meet government standards” Always has been.

The Bush administration is taking the side of big business? What a surprise!

WMK @5:

That is essentially what happened in the UK.

JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 27:

My mother died a terrible agonizing death. Her brain looked like swiss cheese or a sponge - what was left of it. The doc said Alzheimer’s. I said bullshit, doc. I read a book called Mad Cow U.S.A. by Sheldon Ramton and John Stauber and the disease is identical to Bovine spongiform encphalopathy. My mum loved her cheeseburgers.
If you have to eat beef, eat it from one cow, not hundreds at one time. Better still, eat Argentine beef. Even better-no beef at all.

Any comments on pork or chicken?

Or even fish.

Once I was in an airport where there was shop selling salmon.

There was one package of salmon was more expensive , so I asked why the difference and the sales lady pointed out that the most expensive salmon was cut from
one salmon.

So what was in the other packages of salmon?

Leftovers??

I agree with many others before, it’s not that they dont want to have to test to keep the prices low, it’s that they dont want to test so people find out they have been eating tainted beef all along.

Iam pretty sure that seals up the beef ranchers for texas. When one day soon and it will happen the beef import from the USA is stopped by nations that love it (Japan etc) and the ranchers see thier $$$$$ drop, pehaps maybe then they might wake up . Untill then I say let em do it. Let the Bush admin go down in history as the one that allowed rancid meat products to be consumed by his own ppl that elected him,, twice. Just how f..ing dumb are ppl in the states to not keep tabs on what goes on behind closed doors? Even more so what takes place in clear view? Folks dont care it seems, they have xbox, Wii and other various entertainment to worry about. Paris hilton,, britney spears,, etc,, why thats a must ! OH and along with Jenna the lebba marrige to harry this past weekend to.

BEEF its whats for dinner?

The White House luncheon for Senate spouses.

“An exquisite fricassee of Maryland crab,” sang the White House menu, as well as artichokes, Portobello mushrooms over grits and a salad of “young lettuces with citrus filets.”

right on! @ 9:

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the U.S. denies importation of Canadian beef that is checked for mad cow disease. The Canadians also report when they find diseased cattle, unlike the U.S. hypocritical system of not checking their beef or denying there’s any disease… just recalls. Out-frickin-rageous. What can you do but stop eating beef. Hear that, beef ranchers and farmers? A boycot on beef would hurt your business…

We’ve actually done this. If the issue were more highly publicized, so would others.
*

I believe WMK @ 5 sums it up eloquently.

I haven’t eaten red meat for 22 years.

It’s no big deal. Just substitute with fish and chicken. You going to be looked at strange, be subject to possible ridicule.

South Korea 50,000,000 (I live) + Japan 130,000,000 beef consumers, who currently have bans on imported US beef, “because of mad cow disease” (but, it’s really a trade bargaining chip). There’s you answer. 180 million consumers, with money. One mad cow brings down the whole shebang.

bitter Edwin Hussein @ 45:

South Korea 50,000,000 (I live) + Japan 130,000,000 beef consumers, who currently have bans on imported US beef, “because of mad cow disease” (but, it’s really a trade bargaining chip). There’s you answer. 180 million consumers, with money. One mad cow brings down the whole shebang.

I’s not just mad cow. It’s factory cattle farming in general and if you look into what goes on in that industry you’ll get sick just reading it.

SCHRODINGER’S CAT @ 38:

JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 27:

My mother died a terrible agonizing death. Her brain looked like swiss cheese or a sponge - what was left of it. The doc said Alzheimer’s. I said bullshit, doc. I read a book called Mad Cow U.S.A. by Sheldon Ramton and John Stauber and the disease is identical to Bovine spongiform encphalopathy. My mum loved her cheeseburgers.
If you have to eat beef, eat it from one cow, not hundreds at one time. Better still, eat Argentine beef. Even better-no beef at all.

Any comments on pork or chicken?

Or even fish.

Once I was in an airport where there was shop selling salmon.

There was one package of salmon was more expensive , so I asked why the difference and the sales lady pointed out that the most expensive salmon was cut from
one salmon.

So what was in the other packages of salmon?

Leftovers??

Yes. The most expensive salmon is cut from the filet. It is the filet. All the others are pieces left after the filet is removed.

Chicken and pork are tainted with hormones and antibiotics. If you eat them, eat range-free, grain fed. Never eat an animal that was supposed to be a grain eater but was fed animal products in their meal.

L.A. Confidential @ 41:

The White House luncheon for Senate spouses.

“An exquisite fricassee of Maryland crab,” sang the White House menu, as well as artichokes, Portobello mushrooms over grits and a salad of “young lettuces with citrus filets.”

“Citrus filets”– WTF?

Citrus pieces are segments, but, it IS Bushco, so call ‘em what you will…

Insert Larry Craig joke here.

JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 47:

Chicken and pork are tainted with hormones and antibiotics. If you e