Judge Allows Private Testing for Mad Cow

[wakeme2008]

Source: AP

March 29, 2007
Judge Allows Private Testing for Mad Cow
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:12 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government must allow meatpackers to test their animals for mad cow disease, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a meatpacker based in Arkansas City, Kan., wants to test all of its cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Larger meat companies feared that move because if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department currently regulates the test and administers it to fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease. The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the government does not have the authority to regulate the test. Robertson put his order on hold until the government can appeal. If the government does not appeal by June 1, he said the ruling would take effect.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mad-Cow.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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It will be interesting to see how far Loyal Bushies push to stop this.

[cassiepriam]

1. The US govt threatens to sue companies who are trying to keep meat safe?

I guess everything has been taken over by the Bushafia.

[kestrel91316]

4. In the case of BSE testing I agree wholeheartedly that Big Beef RULES

the USDA.

Those bastards do NOT want the ugly truth about our contaminated meat supply coming out.

[cassiepriam]

5. Americans have been dying of Mad Cow Disease for at least ten years.

It is kept hush hush.

[kestrel91316]

6. I happen to believe that it IS out there in out meat supply.

I think they KNOW it's out there and if the truth gets out that they've been hiding that fact, heads will roll.

IMHO there is a link between BSE, BASE, and a significant number of alleged ALZHEIMER'S cases.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/other/bse/news/feb1904newbse.html

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/apr04/040415h.asp

BASE causes Alzheimer's-like amyloidotic plaques in bovine brains rather than the holes seen in BSE.

[cassiepriam]

11. I know of at least two people in the last couple of years who died from Mad Cow D

and the families in one case were told to keep it quiet.

And in the other case they were told death cause was unknown when it
was clearly C-J.

[kestrel91316]

18. I don't doubt it one bit. I have heard that pathologists are LOATHE to

ever do autopsies on Alzheimer's patients because if it turns out to be sCJD (mad cow, IMHO) and they got inadvertantly exposed, they will die a horrible death. I also heard something about undertakers being concened about Alzheimer's patients.

Disclaimer: blatant rumormongering and speculation here........no surces available.

[cassiepriam]

27. Yes I am aware of the same thing......

I work in the medical field.

[Purveyor]

12. Indeed yet most label it as Alzheimers... eom

[cassiepriam]

13. The rates of (alleged) Alzheimer's and the other dementias have dramatically increased

in the last decade.

I think environmental causes and
tainted food supply are contributing factors.

[kestrel91316]

19. THey claim they don't know what the cause is. I SAY they suspect

what it is (BSE/BASE in the beef supply) and they really really don't WANT to know. Agriculture in the US would collapse.

[cassiepriam]

26. Of course, profit is always more important that lives under the Bushafia.

[Shallah Kali]

23. Yes and milk that is from cows NOT treated with rBGH had to fight to be able to label it as such

They had to go to court over it and even now must put a disclaimer saying that milk from cows treated with rBGH is just fine and dandy. what an insane world we live in.

[cassiepriam]

28. Up is down, right is wrong, long is short. Feel crazy yet?

[tanyev]

29. My God, their arrogance knows no bounds.

It's not bad enough that you can always count on the Bush administration to do the wrong thing. Nope, you can also depend on them to always interfere with people who are trying to do the right thing.

661 DAYS LEFT.

[cassiepriam]

34. If they had been a bit less arrogant and brazen they would have lasted forever.

[villager]

2. "The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals."

That one line really tells you all you need to know about this government, and the meat industry.

[alarimer]

32. My concern with private testing is whether the public gets the truth

Say a company finds some animals with mad cow. Do they admit it to the public or do the cover it up and sell the beef anyway? My guess is most corporations do not give a shit about public health; they care about profits. Of course the USDA is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporations these days so the result is about the same.

[kestrel91316]

3. OMG

Finally someone with COMMON SENSE weighs in.

It's about friggin' time, folks.

[aggiesal]

7. We don't need these activist judges ...

legislating from the bench. What's wrong with this guy.
(Sarcasm)

This no doubt will be the way the right wing will spin this.

[kestrel91316]

8. Background piece on Creekstone:

http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/000916.html

If I ever wind up working for the USDA's FSIS, I wanna work at CREEKSTONE!

It appears Bushco hates MO family farmers, too:
http://missourifarmersunion.org/coop/nfucommentsonbsetesting.htm

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Here we go!

[w4rma]

10. Very very very good. (nt)

[Miss Chybil]

14. If you don't test it, you won't find it. That means it's safe to eat.

/sarcasm

[LisaL]

15. Seems like common sense to me.

Of course common sense could be hard to find now days.

[UpInArms]

16. it would be nice if I could eat beef again - I do miss it

:(

but I won't until I believe that our food supply is secure - my family misses it also - now it's been almost 5 years since we had beef in this household.

oh well....

[Hekate]

21. I finally bought a piece of grass-fed Angus beef at Trader Joe's last week

I hope that turns out to be alright: no hormones, no animal by-products in the feed. And yes, it tasted very good. Expensive though.

I wish I could say it's been 5 years for me, but it took me awhile to completely get with the program. I've tried to get my grown kids to listen about this issue but they won't, so all I can do is cross my fingers.

Have to say I hadn't made the connection between the explosion of Alzheimer's cases and mad cow. :-(

Hekate

[silvershadow]

17. I saw something on TV the other day

about how we should be bracing for an explosion in the number of new cases of "alzheimer's". It was one of the news channels, and I just caught part of it as I was passing throught the room. I immediately thought of mad cow.

[earth mom]

20. That they aren't doing testing & won't allow testing is why I gave up beef.

Won't let my kid have it either, but dh still eats it-he is very stubborn-I worry about him. :(

[Hekate]

22. KnR. Thank God for someone with sense. I pray this sticks. nt

[Shallah Kali]

24. This is way over due! I worry about my beef eating friends and relatives

.

[leveymg]

25. The guy in the office across from mine litigated this

If you have any questions, I'll pass it on.:D

[Bridget Burke]

30. Large companies won't be "forced" to do the testing....

But they might see their sales plummet as people buy the more expensive, tested beef.

I think it's called "Capitalism."

[raccoon]

31. K&R. nt

[denverbill]

33. You can bet your ass the government will appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Information is the enemy of fascism.

The corporate beef powerhouses will put pressure on their cronies in the Bush administration to use our tax dollars to attempt to prevent a private company from producing a product the way they want to produce it.

There are 2 reasons for that.

#1, because they know that inspected meat will be in huge demand and
#2, because more inspection will inevitably reveal more contamination.

The govt will fight this to the bitter end. Like country of origin labelling, irradiation of food, and genetically modified food, the feds will fight to prevent customers from having information they might want. After all, if you knew the food was irradiated, you might opt to buy non-irradiated food.

[brentspeak]

35. The Bush gov't is sueing small companies on behalf of Bush's corporate cronies

The stench of corruption and cronyism emanating for the Bush White House seems to be everywhere.