Japan Demands More Yet Again

<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=afdYlqd4GdPc&refer=japan">Japan Needs More Assurances Before Resuming U.S. Beef Imports</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Japan needs more assurances over the safety of U.S. cattle before resuming beef imports, government officials said.<br />n<br />nThe government is still studying a U.S. report released last week over how banned cattle parts were shipped to Japan in January, and there are likely to be different opinions between the two countries on safety measures, agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa said. </blockquote><br />n<br />nYes, there is a big difference in safety of the meat supplies. Japan has had over 20 cases of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in a much smaller total cow herd where the US has had only one native case. Japan waited much longer to ban suspected feeds than the US did and wonders about the safety off US beef. One would think they would jump at the chance for US beef which has a better track record on safety than their native herd does.<br />n<br />nThis is just simply obstructionism rearing it's ugly head again. The <a href="http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-usda-not-surprised-with-japans-typical-call-more-/2006/02/21/1392515.htm"><acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym></a> is not surprised by these demands and neither is anybody else involved in the beef industry. If the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> would have simply done its job right the first time this would have never happened in the first place. Who has to pay for this Government foul-up? Cattle producers. Thanks for nothing.<br />n<br />n<b>Help the man-in-the-street make sense of the bewildering. Owen Arthur </b>