U.S. govt fights to keep firm from testing all slaughtered cattle for mad cow

[derrida]

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.
The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.
The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.
A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn't have the authority to restrict it. - A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was scheduled to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal, effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge has played out.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain.
Three cases of mad cow disease have been found in the United States. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a cow born in Texas. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.

[kahljorn]

Three whole cases of mad cow disease :O BETTER JUMP ON THAT

I think that industry is hilarious. Especially how, in this case, other companies are afraid of how it will make their business look, and might make their products less appealing. I don't see what they are worried about, though, because doing all that testing would probably raise the cost of beef -- at least slightly. It will be right next to organic meat in the grocery store, although I doubt it will be 8 dollars a pound or whatever -- like organic meat is.
This is reminiscent of when many companies were afraid that labeling genetic engineered products as such would cut into their profits or whatever.
What a bunch of vaginas. Reminds me of the, "Anti-dog-eat-dog" policy in when atlas shrugged.

With THREE WHOLE CASES of mad cow disease reported in the united states you'd think that all the other companies could label their meat as, "99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% mad cow disease free!" with maybe slightly different wording ;o

[derrida]

i dont think you understand. the government is actually trying to stop a company from independently testing its own product.

aside from that, yu really cant tell how many people are infected with mad cow because it has a latency period of 10-20 years plus it might just be diagnosed as early onset alzheimers, which is on the rise.

[kahljorn]

that's why I said it reminds me of the genetic engineering labeling thing. Didn't the FDA complain about that and try to suppress it? Same thing with transfats, i think. I just don't see it as anything new, really. I'm not saying it's not stupid, though. I doubt the reason they are blocking it is on some type of ethical grounds, but to protect a few companies. So I don't see how my post is "Misunderstanding."