After The Fact – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

I just love the way things work sometimes. It really shows the power the large compamies have over the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>. I never commented on the situation but this summer rice producers in the US had a big problem. It seems like some genetically engineered rice contaminated most of the United States rice supply which has caused devastating effects to the industry in lost foreign markets. Just like <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> hurt cattle producers in the foreign markets. n nSo, how does the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> fix the problem? <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112401153.html">Approve the genetically engineered rice for human consumption</a>. A quick and easy solution. Not only does it allow the farmers to market the contaminated rice, it bails out Bayer CropScience from its little problem of accidentally contaminating the United States' rice supply with unapproved genetically engineered rice. Pretty nifty solution if you ask me. n nNow a company that is working on genetically engineering a crop doesn't have to worry about the crop getting away from them, the precedent has been set. If a company contaminates the food supply in the US with an unapproved genetic component, the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> will bail them out by approving it for human consumption. n nPretty damned handy isn't it. The farmers and the big company gets bailed out and the consumers in the situation? It has to be good for them because the Government says so, that's what the big companies pay them to do. n nBureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status. Laurence J. Peter