“Mad what disease?? No I don’t think so…” May 15, 2006
Posted by Joe in : Political Circus , trackback
The quote above may or (more likely) may not have been the (exact) words of an official on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to a Kansas beef producer in April of 2004.
The beef producer requested access to a newly available test for mad cow disease (at the time) in an effort to test all of their cattle.This request came soon after a cow in Washington state was found to have mad cow disease just a few months before. Their reasoning was due to Japan banning the importation of any U.S. beef that was not fully tested for infection. So, the company requested this test be provided to them from the Department of Agriculture, as is standard procedure. For some reason, law states that the Dept. of Agriculture decides all the who-what-when-where-and-why to mad cow testing (among other testing of livestock)…
The response? Sweeping mad cow tests were not “scientifically warranted”, so decreed the Department of Agriculture.
US Govt. - 1 US Beef Producers - 0.
So what was the outcome here? The loss in sales resulted in a decline in profits of $40,000 a day while Japan blocked the company from importing any meat, and the company had to fire 50 employees. And this is just one example. Imagine how many others suffered the same consequences.
Read the full article here if interested. It may be old news, but its quite relevant to how disruptive our government can be. Its not only a matter of some beef companies losing money and laying off hard working Americans, but rather an out of control, care-free administration that just doesn’t get it.
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