How Regan, Bush I, Bush II, and the GOP caused Mad Cow....

[Heddi]

perhaps I shouldn't use the word "caused", but rather have created the atmosphere, for many, many years, that caused more people to get sick from e.Coli, salmonella, and now, BSE among our slaughterhouses.

If you've not read Fast Food Nation, I urge you to. It explains all of this in very gruesome, heart-wrenching detail.

See, it's hard to have federal oversight (the very little there is) over cattle ranchers (who feed their cows grain intermixed with dead pigs, dead chickens, chicken manure, cow manure, etc), over slaughterhouses and meat packers (who are a very powerful lobbying group and have strong ties to the GOP), when the people that head the federal agencies are ex-cattle ranchers and ex meat barrons.

The woman now who heads the Dept. of Agriculture (the one who made the statement on TV on Tuesday about the Mad Cow) used to be in the meat-packing business.

These people--these corporate heads, are against EVERY BIT Of federal oversight with regards to meat production.

As it stands, the FDA CANNOT MANDATE A MEAT RECALL, even if it is known to be contaminated. The FDA can only "encourage" that the manufacturer do a voluntary recall.

The citizens of America can find no info about the tainted meat through the FOI act. We can't find out where the meat came from, where it went, or how much of it was tainted----

Let's say 10,000 lbs of meat was recalled. We don't know if there really WAS only 10,000 lbs of meat that was contaminated, or 2 million lbs. We're not priveleged enough to know that information.

In the 80's, Regan loaded agriculture, fda and other type departments with his 'appointees', who were all part of the industries that were supposed to be investigated.

He cut back OSHA workers, as did Bush I, to their lowest numbers in years. Fewere OSHA workers means that there are no people overlooking the slaughterhouse floors. No people keeping track of the number of injuries by workers. No one is watching to make sure that what's supposed to go to rendering actually goes to rendering, and not into meat production.

The lobbying power of the cattle companies is great.

As it stand, in addition to the FDA not having the power to forcibly recall tainted meat, OSHA cannot force a slaughterhouse to cease operations if it's not working within industry guidelines.

The era of Deregulation has now hit us square in the face.

The meat industry has for YEARS (and continues to) fight mandatory testing of e.Coli, Salmonella, Listeria, BSE, and a variety of other food-borne illnesses that can be EASILY TESTED FOR and not reach the general public and make countless ill and a few hundred dead each year.

The Regan Administration favoured self-policing of slaughterhouses and meat-packers.

Self-Policing, and Deregulation has caused BSE. They've also caused the millions of cases of Salmonella, e.coli, listeria, etc, that occur every year.

This administratio--this PARTY needs to be held accountable for Mad Cow.

The US has had the power, for MANY YEARS to test animals, PRE SLAUGHTER for such diseases, but hasn't.

The US has had the power, for MANY YEARS to cease feeding cows (vegitarians) remains of other dead animals (until recently, cows were fed with dead cats and dogs as well), which would greatly cut down the risk of BSE, but hasn't.

BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis)--Mad Cow--isn't an accident. It's a disease that has been given ample growth opportunity in the feed lots and slaughter houses of America for years and years.

We COULD have learned a lesson from the UK. But we didn't.

Read FAST FOOD NATION---if you think this, or any other food-borne illness--is an accident, an act of god, or something that couldn't have been prevented, you're very wrong.

[November 2004]

1. deregulation

another fine republican belief

if this turns into something big and/or more bad things come out of various deregulatory issues the repukes have been pushing for decades, we will have another huge campaign issue

please don't misunderstand - I don't want people to become ill; I want the corporate greed that causes this and other types of deregulation to become understandable by the electorate!

[Heddi]

2. Exactly

as it is now, if a worker is killed at a meat factory, the company is only fined a few thousand dollars by the government--even if they've been warned about unsafe working environments 1 time, or 100 times in the past.

A few thousand dollars is less than pocket change to companies who profit in the BILLIONS of dollars every year.

People NEED to know that this is going on. They NEED to know why BSE is in our cows.....and if people think it's just one cow, isolated in rural Washington, they're wrong. They're dead wrong.

The American People need to know about the Bush II appointees to important offices, and how they're just products and ex-workers and ex-CEO's of the exact same industries they've been slated to 'watch' over.

[Name removed]

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[Heddi]

4. what does that have to do

with anything?