"WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep
meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the
disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas
City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its
meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test,
too.
A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The
ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it
would appeal — effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays
out.
Mad cow disease is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide,
mostly in Britain.
There have been three cases of mad cow disease identified
in cattle in the U.S. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a
cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a Texas-born
cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.
The Agriculture
Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that
would harm the meat industry. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that
Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the
government didn’t have the authority to restrict it."
One more reason not to eat meat if you ask me. Honestly though this is a sad story, the argument that they put up to support themselves is so weak it can't even be taken seriously.
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