USDA Fights to Prevent Meatpackers from Testing for Mad Cow

May 31, 2007

The argument used by the USDA is that the widespread testing

for Mad Cow disease " could lead to a false positive that would harm

the meat industry. " The US government never seems concerned that the

many many false positives on the AIDS test, which results in people

getting does with chemo-toxins, and murdered is cause for concern. I

guess they care more about the meat packing industry than they care

about the lives of humans living in this country.

Alobar

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.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to

more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain.

Three cases of mad cow disease have been found in the United States.

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 cow born in

Texas. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.

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