This is one of those ridiculous things that is, well, ridiculous. The power of the market — or stupidity, which may be the same thing — trumping common sense:
The Bush administration can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday. (emphasis added)
A premium meat producer, Creekstone Farms, would like to test 100% of their beef for mad cow disease. But the US Dept. of Ag. only tests 1%. Regardless of whether 1% is a sane #, Creekstone Farms is now being prohibited from using their own money to test all of their cows because Larger Companies worry that consumer demand (or some such) will then force them to test 100% of their cows. (And that would be expensive.)
If the link between infected beef and infection in humans were more direct, more observable, more documented, would the situation be any different?
You’d tend to hope so, though given the way “science” is sometimes wielded in the marketplace (and courtroom), there’s certainly room for debate.
(via BoingBoing)