Here's a fun one you might come down on one side or the other over and applies to this community:
by James W. Harris
"Mad Bureaucrat" Disease: USDA Won't Allow 100% Testing of U.S. Cattle
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has gone to federal court to prevent a
meatpacking company from testing, at its own expense, all its cattle for Mad
Cow Disease. And a federal appeals court has backed the USDA.
Currently the USDA tests about 1% of cattle for Mad Cow Disease. The disease is
extremely rare -- only three infected cattle have been discovered in the U.S,
and there is no known case of a human contracting the disease from U.S.
cattle.
Still, Creekstone Farms, a small meatpacking company, wants to test 100% of the
cattle they process. The company, not taxpayers, would pay for the tests.
Creekstone Farms feels some consumers would be willing to pay extra for the
knowledge that all its meat is tested -- especially customers in Asian
countries, where concern about the disease is higher. Creekstone says it has
lost millions of dollars in foreign sales since the first case of Mad Cow
disease was found in U.S. cattle in 2003.
Please note, Creekstone Farms is not making false claims about the safety of
their competitors' beef. They are merely offering consumers the choice of 100%
testing. Consumers would be free to choose which they prefer.
But the USDA doesn't like that. It fears Creekstone Farms' competitors --
politically-connected big meatpacking companies -- may feel pressure from
consumers to increase their testing, which could raise the price of beef (or
cut into their profits).
As the small-government lobbying group Downsize DC notes, by outlawing
Creekstone Farm's plan, the USDA is:
* Preventing a private business from voluntarily making its product safer than
government standards -- in order to protect Big Business.
* Preventing a safer product from entering the market.
* Denying Americans the opportunity to decide for themselves, in the alleged
"land of the free."
* Hurting American foreign trade.
Downsize DC aptly calls this: "Mad Bureaucrat Disease: insane regulations that
sacrifice freedom and the public good for the interests of a few powerful
corporate lobbyists."
Unfortunately, no one is protecting U.S. consumers from that widespread and
destructive malady.
(Source: Downsize DC
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/mad+cow+or+mad+bureaucratUSA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-08-29-mad-cow-testing_N.htm?loc=interstitialskipKansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/773941.html )
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