Pueblog USa
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Stopping the Madness
The simple solution to Mad Cow disease in the United States.
With the news that there have been multiple incidents of Mad Cow detected in Canada, it is only natural that we should have no business with our neighbors in the Great White North regarding any animal husbandry associated with the bovine species.
Canada has been ‘hurt’ by the decision of a federal court not to open our borders to Canadian beef products. That’s too bad for Canadian beef people. It’s GREAT news for American ranchers.
Why is that? Because in spite of the short-term pain they may experience from a depressed market. It means that we, as a nation, will come out of this situation in a few short years. That is if, and only if, our ranchers, and the related industries, can restrain themselves.
My concern is that some cretin will be inamoured of the low prices Canadians will be offering to sell off whatever they have on hand at the moment. That someone might decide to smuggle illegal products into these here United States and spread this outrageous infection into our own food supply. Such an infestation would be EXTREMELY costly to irradicate. So costly that I think the entire beef industry would be destroyed. No one would trust a beef product for the next decade or longer.
Therefore, the only solution that will be effective, in my honest opinion, will be to go draconian, NOW.
• Any herd that is determined to have had contact with a “Mad Cow” will be exterminated and the land they have grazed upon given over to fallow for 20 years. Or until no prions can be detected in any SQUARE INCH of the soil they grazed upon. [Note: There is an island off the English coast that no one can visit for a hundred years, last I checked. Anthrax…]
• Any rancher or related industry owner and/or employee who deals with contaminated materials should be, on conviction, imprisoned for negligent homicide or some degree of murder, depending upon mens rea, if someone contracts and dies of Mad Cow Syndrome.
• While their victims live, they can file civil suits against the source of their disease as a hobby. Let the culprets pay the medical bills and end up filing bankruptcy. Not their victims. [Note: Sounds like an ‘interesting’ form of the lottery. Certainly another form of ‘full time employment’ for lawyers.] I like the idea of the employees who know about this being held accountable. It focuses more eyes upon the situation.
Yeah. Some people around here are going to suffer from this, economically and culinarily. [Note: I do enjoy a great piece of beef. Especially if it is properly aged.] But think about the people who would suffer otherwise.
Personally? I’m not buying any beef for the next year or two, at least, as a result of the previous year of revelations in the Great White North and Washington state. [Note: You can chalk that decision up to my undergrad work as a microbiologist, emphasis in pathogens. These prions are ‘very scary’.]
Next entry: Report from the Public Forum on Recycling Previous entry: Recycling: 2010 Commission Holds Public Forum on Curbside Recycling-
I with you agree. In it something is. Now all became clear, I thank for the help and I hope to see more such articles.
Idella on 11/11 at 10:44 AM