In a bizarre twist of logic the US Court system has backed up the USDA ruling that they can prevent beef producer Creekstone from testing their own beef for mad cow disease (BSE). Creekstone wants to test their beef to prove it is safe for consumers. Why in the world would our government want to stop Creekstone from protecting consumers!?! Well, the USDA feels it must protect the other beef producers who would then be forced to do the same testing or lose sales to Creekstone. How horrible! For shame - we can’t have free enterprise!
The Bush administration can prohibit meatpackers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday.
The dispute pits the Agriculture Department, which tests about 1 percent of cows for the potentially deadly disease, against a Kansas meatpacker that wants to test all its animals.
Larger meatpackers opposed such testing. If Creekstone Farms Premium Beef began advertising that its cows have all been tested, other companies feared they too would have to conduct the expensive tests.
The Bush administration said the low level of testing reflects the rareness of the disease.Mad cow disease has been linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Great Britain. Only three cases have been reported in the U.S., all involving cows, not humans.
A federal judge ruled last year that Creekstone must be allowed to conduct the test because the Agriculture Department can regulate only disease “treatment.”
Since there is no cure for mad cow disease and the test is performed on dead animals, the judge ruled, the test is not a treatment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned that ruling, saying diagnosis can be considered part of treatment.
“And we owe USDA a considerable degree of deference in its interpretation of the term,” Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote.
The case was sent back to the district court, where Creekstone can make other arguments.
-AZ Star
The government should not be making our food supply more dangerous nor should they block a company from making it obviously safer. If Creekstone wants to test that gives them a market advantage, a better more safety assured product which consumers may be willing to pay a premium for. It is not the USDA’s job to degrade the food supply.
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Hat tip to Sharon.