Abstract

Mad Cow, Mad Policy

The author argues that U.S. government regulators have not been honest about the potential threat posed by BSE. When Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and the agribusiness insiders-turned-"regulators" who run George W. Bush's Agriculture Department finally acknowledged that a case of mad cow disease had been found on a Washington State factory farm, the first order of business was to protect the agribusi-ness interests that have resisted basic food-safety measures for years. Veneman repeated the tired "nothing to fear" spin that British government aides peddled more than a decade ago, when they were downplaying the significance of the discovery there of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Despite Veneman's public reassurances, she could not have known that the food supply was safe. That's because the United States has failed to follow World Health Organization recommendations that sick cattle be tested for BSE before slaughter. John Stauber, co-author of the 1997 book "Mad Cow USA," and other critics argue that the disease is more widespread in American herds than the USDA will admit. Congress must force the USDA to require the testing of all cattle before slaughter and to ban the feeding of slaughterhouse waste to animals that are eaten by human beings. Congress should also take the advice of the National Farmers Union and force the USDA to implement the NFU's recommended mandatory standards for a product to receive the "made in the USA" label. It should move to break the monopolistic grip of agribusiness conglomerates like Tyson and Smithfield, which have imposed bottom-line values on beef processing. Finally, Congress should provide emergency relief to working farmers and ranchers, who face ruin because of the shameful failure of Ann Veneman and the USDA to maintain the safety--and, with it, the integrity-of the US food supply.