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Yes, keeping government out of regulating the food supply, Libertarians all over the country have to be breaking out the bubbly today, as big corporate beef producers backed by the Bush administration fight to keep Creekstone Farms Premium Beef from testing their cows for Mad Cow Disease:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/29/america/NA-GEN- US-Mad-Cow.php
U.S. government fights to keep meatpackers from testing all slaughtered cattle for mad cow The Associated PressPublished: May 29, 2007
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.
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Oh yes, a false positive could harm the beef industry. But people dropping dead from eating London broil will have consumers flocking to the stores. The same goes for milk produced from cows that aren't pumped full of hormones. The consumer has no right to know what's in food, because that's big government regulation!
Absolutely fookin' brilliant.
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