"Instead, the USDA made it illegal for producers to test ..."

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: June 7, 2005 10:21:53 PM EDT
To: JMG <johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com>
Cc: Dave <dave () farber net>
Subject: "Instead, the USDA made it illegal for producers to test ..."


[I lost the link. So sue me]
----------------------

St. Paul, MN - On Thursday, June 9 at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of Eckles
and Carter Avenues, on the St. Paul campus of the University of
Minnesota, the Center for Media and Democracy and the Organic Consumers
Association will hold a news conference to challenge U.S. policies that
fail to safeguard against the spread of mad cow disease.  The conference
precedes U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns’ public
roundtable discussion with meat industry leaders on mad cow disease,
which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the nearby Classroom Office
Building B-45, 1994 Buford Avenue.

The news conference will explain how current U.S. policies put livestock
– and, subsequently, humans – at risk for fatal, brain-wasting
diseases.  Speakers will describe how and why the U.S. government has
failed to ban feeding slaughterhouse waste to cattle, failed to test
millions of cattle entering the human food supply, and refused to allow
private producers to test their own animals for mad cow disease.

Also at the news conference, the Organic Consumers Association will dump
commercially purchased calf feed containing cow blood and slaughterhouse
waste, to protest the U.S. government’s failure to adopt the stronger
safeguards implemented years ago by European and Asian countries.

News conference speakers will include:

      * Jim Goodman, beef and dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wisconsin;
      * John Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and
        Democracy
        and co-author of the book Mad Cow U.S.A.;
      * Dr. Diane Farsetta, senior researcher at the Center for Media
        and Democracy
        and molecular biologist; and
      * Ronnie Cummins, author and national director of the Organic
        Consumers Association.
“One focus of Secretary Johanns’ St. Paul roundtable is the economic
impact of mad cow disease,” said beef producer Jim Goodman.  “The best
way to support U.S. meat and dairy producers would be to adopt better
safeguards.  Instead, the USDA made it illegal for producers to test
their cattle for mad cow disease. U.S. producers must be allowed to test
their animals and to offer consumers beef that tests free of mad cow
disease.”

“You may not be a vegetarian, but the animals you eat should be,” author
John Stauber stated.  “Animal-derived protein in cattle feed is the
number one way mad cow disease is transmitted.  Yet blood from cattle
and pigs, slaughterhouse waste from pigs and poultry, and poultry feces
are still routinely fed to North American cattle.  Also, the USDA
testing program should be expanded to screen millions of cattle each
year and should be made more transparent, with independent labs able to
verify test results.”

“Today’s USDA roundtable does not include any public health or consumer
representatives,” said researcher Dr. Diane Farsetta.  “Unfortunately,
the agency appears to be continuing the U.S. government’s practice to
date of trying to assuage the concerns of U.S. consumers, economic
markets and foreign governments with public relations campaigns, instead
of making the necessary policy changes to ensure a safe food supply.”

Ronnie Cummins stated, “Consumers are turning in droves to organic,
grass-fed beef and organic dairy products, once they learn that the USDA
is still allowing the routine feeding of blood, manure, and
slaughterhouse waste to farm animals, and refusing to test all cattle at
slaughter for mad cow disease.”

In St. Paul, the Organic Consumers Association will also deliver to
Secretary Johanns a petition signed by more than 12,000 Americans,
calling for stronger mad cow disease safeguards, including a ban on all
blood, manure and slaughterhouse waste in animal feed, and allowing
private producers to independently test their own cattle for mad cow
disease.

Sign the Mad Cow: Stop the Madness Petition here.

The Center for Media and Democracy was founded in 1993 to investigate
and report on deceptive public relations and propaganda campaigns.  The
Center publishes the award-winning quarterly publication PR Watch.
Center staff have also authored five books, including the 1997 book Mad
Cow U.S.A. by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton.  Mad Cow U.S.A.
correctly predicted the emergence of mad cow disease in North America
and received favorable reviews from such technical publications as the
Journal of the American Medical Association, New Scientist and Chemical
& Engineering News.

The Organic Consumers Association was founded in 1998. It is a
nationwide network of 700,000 organic consumers, carrying out public
education around issues of food safety and environmental sustainability,
while promoting organic agriculture and Fair Trade.


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Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime
to examine the laws of heat. -John Morley, statesman and writer
(1838-1923)




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