Ripples

I see I'm not the only one questioning why the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> decided to retest these samples.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/5455648.html?SID=nh686vs6v9qj3jchpmlbg5oeg1"><acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> pressed about new mad cow tests</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>"That's absurd," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the House Appropriations Committee's senior Democrat on farm issues. "What we're doing by delaying this information is that you put the public health at risk, and you put the industry at risk. Who's going to feel comfortable with our products?"<br />n<br />nDeLauro and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Senate Agriculture Committee's top Democrat, said they will ask the department to explain why new tests were ordered and why it took months to do so.<br />n<br />nThe Agriculture Department has said the animal presented no threat to human or animal health because it was a "downer" cow and was unable to walk. Such animals are banned from the food chain.</blockquote><br />n<br />nThe <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/?id=10982">only response</a> the Senators got from their inquiry was a statement from the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>:<br />n<br />n<blockquote>After pressure from Senior congressional Democrats, on why new tests on tissue from a cow declared free of mad cow disease seven months ago were necessary, the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>, in an attempt to reassure the public and congressmen, said yesterday that the animal was born prior to the implementation of the 1997 feed ban and was another example of safeguards working.</blockquote><br />n<br />nThis is all great that it shows the safeguards are working but it doesn't answer the question of WHY the retesting is being done.<br />n<br />nThe Canadian press has just been giddy over this whole issue. All they can keep saying is this will <a href="http://www.fftimes.com/index.php/6/2005-06-13/21609">open the border up</a> for live beef exports into the US since it is now proven we have <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in the US.<br />n<br />n<blockquote> The discovery of a second potential case of mad cow in the United States should help Canada's chances of persuading the U.S. courts to re-open its border to Canadian cattle, said Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert.<br />n<br />n Calvert stressed the importance of keeping the mad cow issue in the spotlight in the U.S. now that the re-opening of the border to Canadian beef will be decided by the courts. </blockquote><br />n<br />nKeep the issue in the spotlight huh. That just hurts us all if you ask me but everybody has their own priorities. Will this help open the border? I doubt it but we will see.<br />n<br />nIn Taiwan there are <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/06/14/2003259225">some lawmakers</a> that want to shut US beef out of their market with the latest announcement.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>After the discovery of a second suspected case of mad cow disease in the US, lawmakers called yesterday for an immediate suspension of US beef imports. But health authorities stood firm on their policy of allowing imports, saying it is safe to consume US beef.</blockquote><br />n<br />nSounds like political posturing but who knows.<br />n<br />nThen for news out of <a href="http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=12208&cid=4&cname=Business+Today">Japan</a> on this issue.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Japan's resumption of US beef imports won't be derailed even if a suspected case of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> is confirmed, according to Mamoru Ishihara, vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.<br />n<br />nThe vice minister told a press conference (reported by Kyodo News, cited by Dow Jones) that Japan's review of the resumption had included an "assumption of risk" that <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> might crop up in US beef.</blockquote><br />n<br />nSince Japan has yet to open up there market from the first instance of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> found in the US I really don't know what this means. They could easily just take longer in their decision making progress on importing beef and not admit this case is the reason they are delaying. We will have to wait and see.<br />n<br />nAs you can see, lots of ripple affects on the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>'s decision to retest these samples. The one important thing to remember is the cow in question did not get in the food chain.<br />n<br />n<b>For a symbol is like a rock dropped into a pool: it sends out ripples in all directions, and the ripples are in motion. Who can say where the last ripple disappears? One may have a sense that he at least knows approximately the center point of all those ripples, the point at which the stone struck the water. Yet even then he has trouble marking it precisely. How does one make a mark on water? … The ripples continue to move and the light to change on the water and the longer one watches the more changes he sees. John Ciardi</b><br />n<br />