GOP Congress Scuttled Meat Protection Measure

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1224-09.htm
WASHINGTON - Legislation to keep meat from downed animals off American kitchen tables was scuttled - for the second time in as many years - as Congress labored unsuccessfully earlier this month to pass a catchall agency spending bill.

Now, in the wake of the apparent discovery of the first mad-cow case in the United States, the author of the House version of the cattle provision wants to press the issue anew when Congress returns Jan. 20 from its winter recess. The massive, $373 billion spending bill covering several government agencies is still pending in the Senate.

"I said on the floor of the House that you will rue the day that because of the greed of the industry to make a few extra pennies from 130,000 head, the industry would sacrifice the safety of the American people," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chief House sponsor. "It's so pound foolish."

The provision dealing with downed cattle didn't even make it into the compromise version of the legislation that House and Senate conferees brought before Congress late in the year.

<snip>
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a negotiator who voted for the measure in the House, said Democratic negotiators never had a chance to fight for the proposal.

"The Republicans, the leadership, shut off the conference, they closed it down, and this is one of a number of provisions which were handled in a backroom deal without the Democrats there and with only the Republican leadership," said Hinchey.

more...

[Cry Freedom]

1. Good news for us!

...but I wanted beef for dinner. :silly:

[karlschneider]

4. You're in far more danger driving to the store for that steak than from

eating it. If you like hamburgers, do like we do, grind your own from chuck or sirloin cuts. The risk is actually very small.

[Tansy_Gold]

12. BSE is not e. coli

Grinding one's own hamburger from already infected muscle meat is no solution. Unlike e. coli, which is transfered in the grinding process, BSE is in the meat itself. Grinding your own won't help.

Sorry.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. Except in this particular case.

Dairy cattle are only used for hamburger. Still that doesn't excuse congress. I mean why the f*** are cattle who are too sick to walk or stand up being introduced into the human food supply?

[DBoon]

21. Contamination from neural tissue

occurs in commercial meat packing plants that provide your supermarket hamburger. This is thought to be the source of BSE in ground meat. You didn't really think your ground round was really 100% muscle tissue? Lots of dubious stuff gets into hamburger, and they can still legally label it "100% ground meat".

If you grind it yourself, you will likely get little or no neural tissue in the hamburger, reducing the risk of BSE.

[Occulus]

29. proviso...

"reducing the risk of BSE."

But once you get CJD into your body it never leaves, right?

Is there a human test for CJD?

[roguevalley]

43. you can't cook it out. Chicken for me. Unless they have been

eating sheep brains.

Jeez. What's a heavily carnivistic omnivore to do?

[schultzee]

15. Good news if the sheep hear it. Their was a mad cow in San Antonio

when I lived there and no one made a big deal, but it shows that there are probably many many mad cows and they just are not testing enough. I am mostly vegetarian since June 03.

[silverweb]

2. Excellent!

Maybe NOW people will sit up and start paying attention to what the GOP and this misadministration really care about - their own profit, NOT the American people or anyone else!

This is a very, very good time to be a vegetarian and I'm so glad we made the switch a couple of years ago.

[the_boxer_]

5. I'm not so sure people will pay attention...

I watched the spin conference that Ann Venneman attended. She said that she would have beef for Christmas (which I'm sure is an outright lie) but I have to question how prudent it is to have the USDA Secretary be the former chief beef lobbyist.

[screembloodymurder]

11. Well I hope it's Washington beef

how about some nice rendered burger?

[DBoon]

22. Steak Tartare?

n/t

[silverweb]

23. So far, people aren't reacting too much.

Give it time. Another inevitable case or two of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the U.S. (the human variant of mad cow disease), and we'll see more of a reaction. Remember that every new health fad makes billions, so people do respond to health-related news. I think this is going to have a tremendous impact.

It's typical of this misadministration to have industry heads running government departments. It's not prudent at all, but nothing about this government is prudent at present. The backlash will be huge when it comes.

[Skittles]

35. How PRUDENT it is?

HELLO! That sort of stuff is SOP for Bush Inc. They don't give a DAMN about the American people - it's all the corporate bottom line for them.

[ochazuke]

9. A former Green for Dean?

Have you seen his environmental record in Vermont? I think corporate polluters and their ilk have nothing to fear from a Dean administration. Even less than from Clinton.

[silverweb]

24. Save it.

I'm not interested in your twisted tales.

[madrchsod]

3. bio warfare against

the people of the usa. bin boy? ,he`s got nothing on the meat and feedlot industry in the good ol`e usa..hell they`ve sick`n and killed more people than bin boy has...

[velocity]

6. downed cattles are mainly what's in McDonalds

McD in looking the cheapest beef is the chief buyer of "retired milk cows"..... Because the beef is ONLY good for hamburger.

[JNelson6563]

40. this is untrue

Read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and learn how the fast food industry actually holds the meat industry to higher standards than our own government. Then the government buys lots of the meat that wouldn't meet McDonald's (et al) not-so-high standards and feed it to kids through school lunch programs etc.

Ugly stuff.

Julie

[porkrind]

7. "downed animals" --YUK!!

So this is a step below roadkill? GROSS!! At least roadkill was originally a healthy animal. These animals are too diseased to even stand? Disgusting!! They want to feed us this sh!t?


"Muscle cuts of meat have almost no risk," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.


Gee, I feel safer already. It seems they are more interested in preventing a panic than they are public safety.

BTW, How much cooking is necessary to kill this disease? Is "medium" enough? Does anybody know?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. honey ya can't cook these "prions" out of the meat....

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Hate to say it

but the effect of this will be catastrophic to the Beef industry
and many an agricultural state, in the mid tier

Now we do not know that much about this and yes we have removed meat
from our menu

Yes the chances of getting it ARE VERY LOW, I have a far better chance of winning the lottery, but if you get this lottery it is not a fun way to go

We also swtiched to organic milk, since the Lancet reports some circumstantial evidence that it can also be transmited by milk and milk products... yes it is very small and the evidence is very primary, but enough for the National Health to destroy milk from areas that had infected herds in the UK at the height of the epidemic.

Also given that they covered the records for 2001 and 2002 and cannot find them... (when was the last government agency that had NO RECORDS? Yep they are trying to hide something) tells me that we may, and this is very much a MAY be at a higher risk than they are admiting

It does remind me quite a bit of the situation in the UK, when the Gov'ment played along and tried to prevent a panic... in the end it may have cost John Major the PM spot.

Oh and boys and girls this is POLITICAL GOLD to show to the people
what are the true priorities of the GOP... they don't work for us, but them lobbyists.

[TankLV]

17. Damn "special interests" that the american people are.

After all, unions, the elderly, working poor, part time workers, overtime pay, equal rights, are all "special interests" that the Democratic Party supports - so say the GOP and they never forget to remind us.

But "big business", industry, the rich white males, all of bushco's current and former pals, etc. are not "special interests.

Go figure.

[shanti]

31. speaking of milk....

this article will sicken you, but it must be told!

http://www.milksucks.com/pus.html

http://www.notmilk.com/lawbreakers.html

[pinniped]

13. Continue eating beef or the mad cows will win.

I don't eat beef anyways.

[schultzee]

16. Does anyone know if you can get mad cow from dairy products?

I need to know this.

[moondust]

25. Apparently not according to this source.

"Mad cow disease has not been found in beef muscle or dairy products. However, recent studies in mice have found evidence of prions in muscle meat."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/154017_beefsafety25.html

[shanti]

33. no, but there are other things...

http://www.notmilk.com/lawbreakers.html

[TiredTexan]

18. An ounce of prevention

is always worth a pound of cure.

Not to go off topic, but bear with me a second. There was a study I read about years ago where social scientists studied a group of kids over several years to determine what makes a person successful later in life. Only one characteristic was a true indicator: the ability to defer gratification in exchange for future benefit. Not income, not race, not social status, not even IQ was as big a determinative factor as the ability to defer gratification.

This simple principle applies to so many things. For example, the Bush administration's best laid plans are doomed to fail because they grab for everything they want now. No planning for the future, no contemplation of consequences. If they want the money, the power, the oil, the legislation, the governorship, they simply take it. Long term success becomes simply impossible within these parameters.

The mad cow disease problem is simply another example of this administration helping businesses who cannot defer gratification. They want all the profits now, no matter how meager, and being forced to test or institute reasonable precautions costs them some minimal profits. That these profits are insubstantial indeed compared with the losses that the industry would sustain if mad cow disease broke out simply did not enter into the picture at the time they grabbed for the gold. Now they must pay far more in losses than they would have ever paid for reasonable testing, etc. Because no cost-benefit analysis was ever made and deferred gratification is unknown to the greedy people in charge, the losses here will be staggering.

This was completely predictable. Like 911. Like the Iraq quagmire. Like the catastrophic results of global warming and environmental destruction. Like the upcoming economic collapse due to rampant spending and dishonest markets.

This administration acts like drunks and then rewards its friends who behave the same. Instant gratification is the name of the game in everything. A social recipe for disaster & failure.

[Lorien]

19. interesting study

makes a lot of sense, and doesn't bode well for Americas future.

[TiredTexan]

20. It had to do with,

of all things, jelly beans. They offered kids a certain number of jelly beans before lunch, and then told them that they could get more if they waited until after lunch to eat them. The kids that could wait were successful in later life, holding jobs, reasonably stable, etc. No other factors were as determinative.

Wish I could recall where I saw this study. I'll do some searches to see if I can find a reference to it online.

[sendero]

39. From another Texan...

let me say - Yes. You've really hit the nail on the head here, good analysis. It's almost as if they know they'll be damned lucky to get another 4 years and so they are grabbing everything up while they can.

And little stunts like the aircraft carrier strut - while certainly done as a political photo-op gesture, speaks volumes about Bush*'s mindset. He just had to get his little rush of satisfaction. This too will go down in history as a mistake of grabbing for gratification before the time was at hand.

And, delaying gratification has worked out well for me personally :)

[moondust]

26. Dems get out your branding irons.

Burn it into the Republican ass. Repuke ideology--profits before people--has its consequences.

[pfitz59]

27. I used to help butcher cattle......

and had to be damn careful not to contaminate the various cuts of beef. Our cattle were homegrown, not some downed dairy cow, but still had to pay close attention. My understanding most of today's slaughter-houses and packing plants are staffed with illegal aliens. So.... bottom of the barrel beef, and bottom of the barrel labor. Mix with ZERO OVERSIGHT makes a recipe for disaster. If article is true, I think WA State should lead the pack in personally suing Delay and Hastert!

[dusty64]

28. Yuck!

Evil bastards, another reason I am VERY thankful I do not eat meat. Not only is it cruel, it can be hazardous to ones health and that of the Planet.

[Occulus]

30. I've loved beef all my life, but

it mysteriously fell off my menu yesterday for some reason.

I'll not eat beef again without knowing where it came from, and that it wasn't from a factory farm and wasn't fed animal proteins.

If I've eaten beef all my life, what's the liklihood that I've ingested prions?

[shanti]

34. as a (heavy) former beef eater

i want to know this too!!

[alfredo]

36. Wait 10 to 20 years. If you

get sick, then you have it.

I think they need to inspect brain tissue to determine if you have the disease.

[harpboy_ak]

42. Quit beefing, eat salmon.

Well, the winter trolling season for king salmon will open in a few weeks, and we'll once again have salmon steaks fresh daily in our local Alaska markets.

Quit beefing, eat salmon.

Wild Alaska Salmon don't get Mad Salmon Disease. Nutritious, lots of good fatty acids of the low cholesterol variety, great protein source, and versatile in menus. Ever tried salmon fajitas or tacos?

And we have lots of nice fresh halibut and black cod, too.

[reprobate]

32. There may be one upside to all this.

If americans eat less beef there will be lessened demand for it and therefore fewer cattle raised in South America. This may result in a regrowth of the forests there and better carbon dioxide to oxygen cycling.

At least we can hope.

[Demeter]

37. Why Am I Not Surprised

This Administration is all cupholders, no engine

[bvar22]

38. New Bumper Sticker...

The Republicans will feed your children meat from sick cows!
If you love your kids, vote DEMOCRATIC!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

41. kick