Thread: US to Meatpackers: Don't Do Mad Cow Test

May 29, 3:32 PM (ET)

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal - effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease in the U.S. 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 Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. 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.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070529/D8PE80AO0.html

Most meatpackers are illegal invaders from south of the border that are not screened for diseases. Now we have an idiotic president who doesn't care if our food is safe to eat or not.

Well next time the El Presidente Jorge has a state dinner. The meat from these meat packing plants should be served in a tasty receipe for him and his guest.

Folks, we're in serious trouble. Our federal government is already guilty of not protecting us from imported foods, especially from China. That's bad enough, but now they're refusing to allow private industry inside the United States to take the necessary safety precautions required to assure consumers that their product is safe for consumption. This is extremely troubling.

Greed has completely erased all common sense in government and big business! This is a very dark day in our history because this latest action proves that our government is willing to sacrifice our health for the sake of business interests.

It's just one thing after another isn't it!!

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Bush Pile is at it again, putting money before human lives. This piece of garbage of a President should be kicked out of office.

Hey, Mr. President, my little girl wants to know why you don't want her food checked for diseases? How do you explain that..I can't. Should I tell her "Sweetie, your President doesn't care if you get Mad Cow. Money is more important to him." Is that what you want me to say? Say it ain't so, Mr. President, say it ain't so!

our government has nerve I'll give em that. to try to tell someone they cant test their cows....well its just ridiculous. they have no right. if they want to test their cows then it is none of the governments buisiness. the fact that our government would even suggest that they would not allow this.....well I am sorry to keep repeating myself...I just can hardly believe it, thats all.

Originally Posted by redpony353

our government has nerve I'll give em that. to try to tell someone they cant test their cows....well its just ridiculous. they have no right. if they want to test their cows then it is none of the governments buisiness. the fact that our government would even suggest that they would not allow this.....well I am sorry to keep repeating myself...I just can hardly believe it, thats all.

It's quite simple, really.

If this company is allowed to test and then advertise that its meat is free of Mad Cow disease, then Bush's big money contributors would have to spend money testing as well or look bad in the marketplace.

Bush to the rescue! He won't let anybody test their cattle. That's the only fair thing to do in Bushland.

Maybe this is silly, but maybe we should write to this company or email or whatever and give them our support. This is one meat company I would trust buy from them.


Here is a background on this company & its fight:


http://www.answers.com/topic/creekst...s-premium-beef

A Woman in Kansas just died of Crutezfeldt-Jakob Disease which is the human form of Mad cow and could be transmitted by eating tainted beef products.

I know it was my best friends mom.

while variant CJD sounds like CJD in name, they are different diseases. Variant CJD, the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), sometimes called ‘mad cow disease’, was first recognised in 1996 in the United Kingdom. It has not been found in Australia. BSE is a prion disease that occurs in cattle. The British epidemic of BSE in the 1980s was most likely caused by the transmission of a disease of sheep, scrapie, to cattle through the food chain. Scrapie and BSE have not been found in Australian livestock.
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ideas/diseases/cjd_facts

http://www.cjdfoundation.org/