Safe Food: An election issue

October 12, 2004

Got safe food? Read on before answering. This election the issue ofsafe food is...on the table."Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at theConsumer Federation of America, said that since Bush took office,"there has been a message from USDA that they would give the benefitof the doubt to the industry... Bush administration officials at USDAhave consistently made clear they do not believe meat processors mustbe held accountable for the safety of meat coming off the end of theline. Since November 2001, the undersecretary for food safety hasdenigrated pathogen testing and zero tolerance. Both the industry andgovernment have put profit ahead of public health." - Molly Ivins,from http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=13933================================================================================="I am especially fond of a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectionmemo that drew the following reaction from the GovernmentAccountability Project: "Feces is feces whether it's fibrous or not.... The USDA is abandoning the zero-tolerance standard for fecalcontamination and replacing it with a new standard: 'wholesome unlessthere is gross contamination.' It's impossible for this standard tocoexist with the agency's claim that it makes decisions based onscience." - Molly Ivins, fromhttp://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/molly1804.cfm=================================================================================Bush Administration Mad Cow Disease Prevention Report Card, June

22,2004, fromhttp://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:myo805fTu94J:www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm%3Frefid%3D31808+bush+and+mad+cow & hl=enPrepared by: Center for Food Safety, Consumers Union, TheCreutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, Friends of the Earth, GovernmentAccountability Project, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy andPublic CitizenTesting All Cattle 20 Months or Older for Mad Cow Disease - Grade DAllowing Beef Producers to Test Their Cattle for Mad Cow Disease - Grade FEnsuring That Feed Restrictions Prevent Mad Cow Disease - Grade DKeeping All Downer Animals out of Food and Feed - Grade BImplementing a National Animal Identification and Tracking System -Grade

CIncreasing Surveillance for Brain-Wasting Disease in Humans andRequiring Mandatory Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - Grade DEstablishing USDA Mandatory Recall Authority for Contaminated Meat -Grade DImplementing Country Of Origin Labeling As Required by the 2002 FarmBill - Grade DFollowing its Own Rules - Grade FProviding Opportunities for Public Input on Mad Cow Prevention - Grade D================================================================================="On Food Safety, the Bush Administration is Out to Lunch", Center forAmerican Progress, June 23, 2004from http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF & b=98617Excerpt: "Unfortunately, our food-inspection system has significantholes. Every year,

contaminated food sickens 76 million people,resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, according tothe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stronger safeguardsand tougher enforcement could significantly reduce this risk. However,food manufacturers have steadfastly resisted increased oversight, andthe Bush administration has declined to take them on. On the contrary,food manufacturers have been allowed to call the shots."================================================================================="BUSH ADMINISTRATION STALLS ACTION ON BSE FEED PROTECTION UNTIL THELAST MAD COW COMES HOME", July 9, 2004, from Consumer Federation ofAmerica at http://www.consumerfed.org/071304_cfa_on_interim_rules.htmlExcerpt: "The Bush Administration has repeatedly

stated that U.S.citizens have nothing to fear because the U.S. instituted early andeffective protections against feed contamination. Therefore, any BSEinfection in the country would be self-limiting. However, in Januarythe Secretary of Health and Human Services acknowledged the need foradditional protection. It is these protections that have now beenshelved for the foreseeable future. If the feed ban is not asprotective as asserted, then the public and animal health are not assafe as the Administration has argued."For the foreseeable future, calves can still be fed cows' blood. Cowscan consume poultry waste that may contain poultry feces and spilledfeed that may be infected with the BSE agent. Cows consuming theseproducts may become infected and subsequently infect humans. While therisk of human disease is small, the results of vCJD are catastrophic.The disease is always fatal. The decision to delay is inexplicable

andirresponsible."=================================================================================from http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/vision.pdfJohn Kerry and John Edwards believe that all Americans share basicenvironmental "rights"including:. the right to breathe clean air;. the right to drink safe water;. the right to eat uncontaminated food;. the right to live in communities free of toxins; and. the right to inherit and enjoy America's abundant natural resourcesand open spaces.=================================================================================From http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/pr_2004_0703.pdfMore Inspections. John Kerry believes more inspections of cattle thatare exhibiting signs of a neurological disease, adult cattle dying onfarms, and non-ambulatory cattle must be done. These inspectionsshould include not only the meatpacking side but more coverage toensure that the 1997 feed ban on ground bone meal is not beingviolated. John Kerry will increase the testing and inspections overalland enhance the BSE surveillance program so that all suspect animals -particularly downed animals - are analyzed.National Tracking System to Make Diseased Livestock Easier to Trackand Contain. John Kerry will implement an aggressive timeline forestablishing a national tracking system that would make diseasedlivestock and meat easier to track and contain. This is critical notonly to human health and public health but it will also help minimizeany economic impacts.This

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