Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
er fully dealt with the safety issues related to this frightening disease. Now present in Europe, Asia, and
North America, BSE has killed more than one hundred people, forced farmers to preemptively kill millions
of cattle, and devastated the beef industry in some countries. Scientists believe the disease is spread when
cattle eat nervous system tissues, such as the brain and spinal cord, from other infected animals.
In 2008 President Barack Obama came into office facing a food safety scandal that was a result of Bush-
era policies. School lunches had fed children meat from sick and abused cows that were at a higher risk
of having mad cow disease. A meat plant in Chino, California, the second largest supplier of beef to the
National School Lunch Program, was found to be serving meat from tortured “downer” cows, which are
so sick or crippled that they cannot get up. Making the scandal even more sensational, under the Bush ad-
ministration the company had been named the USDA “supplier of the year” for 2004-5 and had delivered
beef to schools in thirty-six states.
11
A Humane Society of the United States undercover investigator filmed workers at the midsize plant
shoving cows violently with forklifts, using electric prods in sensitive areas, and employing other repulsive
methods to make the diseased and sick dairy cows that are used for cheap meat walk through inspection.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the organization, said that their investigator “found cows—in all stages of the
handling and pre-slaughter process—being tormented to get them to stand and then walk toward the kill
box.”
12
Foreshadowing the future lack of timely action, it took the new president a year to respond. Obama
eventually banned the use of downer cows for meat, closing the loophole that the Chino plant was exploit-
ing. While a step in the right direction, the move did not stop other practices that can spread mad cow
disease, such as allowing cows to eat waste from the floors of poultry houses, cattle blood, and processed
leftovers from restaurants. The administration is also not doing adequate testing for BSE in the United
States and is allowing cattle in from countries such as Canada that have had reoccurring cases of the dis-
ease.
The failure to act quickly and decisively on important issues is an ongoing characteristic of the admin-
istration. Obama also waited until January 25, 2010, a full year into his presidency, to announce the nom-
ination of Elisabeth Hagan, who had been chief medical officer at the USDA, as the permanent undersec-
retary of FSIS—a length of time much criticized by his opponents. Congress finally made her appointment
permanent in September 2010. Hagan had been trained at Harvard and taught and practiced medicine be-
fore joining the senior staff of FSIS in 2006. Although the agency under Hagan has been somewhat more
receptive to concerns of the advocacy community, Tony Corbo, lobbyist for Food & Water Watch's food
program, which has been fighting for more stringent meat inspection regulation, assesses FSIS as follows:
“The Obama administration has made some long overdue updates to the rules for meat inspection, like ex-
panding the list of pathogens that are considered adulterants in ground beef. But they have not stood up to
the meat industry strongly enough to slow the momentum toward deregulation that has prevailed for dec-
ades.”
In the meantime, the FDA was in deep trouble dealing with a series of massive food recalls. And Mi-
chael Taylor would be coming back for another turn of the revolving door.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search