When the first undeniable American case of Mad Cow Disease broke into the news last December, a host of Bush officials trotted out to shout reassurances at us: "Just an isolated case!" "America's beef supply is the safest in the world!" "Trust us, we're experts!" Even George W. told the media that he'd eaten a big serving of beef for Christmas dinner—see, no problem, all clean, don't think about it any more.
Yes, admitted the Ag Department's top animal scientist, the mad cow in question was part of a herd of 80 cattle that could also be infected, but, by gollies, our animal tracking system is excellent, so "we feel confident that we are going to be able to determine the where-abouts of most, if not all, of these animals within the next several days." Trust us.
Seven weeks later, the Ag Department scientist had to admit that only one-third of the suspect cattle could be found. "We never expected to be able to find all of them," he lied in classic Bushite fashion, apparently hoping that we wouldn't recall his earlier promise. The other two-thirds couldn't be tracked and presumably had ended up in our lunches and dinners. Declaring the investigation over, he said, "It's time to move on."
Move on? To where? To a Mad Cow burger? To the intensive care unit? So much for our "experts."
When real experts do speak, the Bushites cover their ears. Ag Secretary Ann Veneman had attempted to calm public concern last December by convening a panel of international experts on Mad Cow Disease, expecting the members to do little more than a cursory review of the beef industry's production system and then rubber-stamp the industry's mantra that America has no Mad Cow problem, that the government's safety rules are more than adequate to protect consumers.
But—Holy Big Mac!—the panel bolted. In remark-ably direct language, Ann's rebellious experts found that Mad Cow Disease is common in our cattle herds, that the USDA's voluntary tracking system is grossly inadequate, and that the meat industry's method of feeding rendered parts of hogs, chickens, goats, road kill (yes, road kill), and other animals to cattle (which, by nature, are not carnivores at all, but grass- grazing vegetarians—vegans, even) is inherently unsafe.
The experts also concluded that the reason the USDA has found only this one case of Mad Cow Disease so far is that it hasn't been looking very hard. Of the 30 million cattle slaughtered each year, only 40,000 are tested for the deadly disease, barely one-tenth of one percent. The panel chairman said that USDA might find "a case a month" of Mad Cow if it was doing enough testing.
Politicking till the cows come home
The Bushites and industry, which are always lecturing environmentalists and consumers that "science, not politics" should be the sole basis for making regulatory policy, responded to this scientific finding by—what else?— resorting to pure politics. Industry lobbyists rushed to the media to blindly reiterate the absurd and thoroughly unscientific claim that Mad Cow "poses no risk to consumers. ... [ read more ]
Help us out by throwing some cash in the bucket:
By gollies, when the economic going gets tough for America's workaday people, you can always count on our tough-minded political leaders to get going! Get going, as in: rush like hell to find some gimmick to make it look like they're doing something without actually, you know, doing anything.
