The USDA, which has said it will not even require the testing of herds
for mad cow disease, is now being criticized for being
too tough
on the cattle industry. Who's laying out this criticism? Two lawmakers
from Virginia and Texas, of course. You can hardly blame them, though:
they're just trying to protect their jobs by pressuring the USDA into
releasing cattle ranchers from any mad cow testing whatsoever.
And
herein lies the problem: the USDA is an agency known for caving in to
industry pressure. In fact, it's more of a marketing branch for
agriculture than a regulatory department, because when it comes to
making hard choices between industry profits and consumer health risk,
the USDA always seems to side with industry profits. That's where the
Food Guide Pyramid came from, by the way: it's a great way to promote
the sale and consumption of grains, which occupy the largest section of
the pyramid even though the consumption of grains and carbohydrates is
clearly linked to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
But back to
cattle: countries around the world -- like Japan and the U.K. -- are
demanding that the U.S. do the obvious and test every cow for mad
cow disease, like other civilizations nations already do. The U.S. has
so far refused, and so Japan and other countries say they simply won't
import U.S. beef until a testing policy is put into place.
The
dynamic here remind me of the current U.S. effort to derail the efforts
by the World Health Organization to fight obesity around the world by
recommending that people consume less sugar. This suggestion earned the
ire of the Bush Administration, which is closely tied to the Big Sugar
industry in the U.S. Representatives from Washington are arguing that
sugar doesn't cause obesity at all, and in fact there's no proof of any
negative health consequences of eating sugar, and thus recommending that
people eat less sugar is bad policy, says the Bush administration.
And thus, with the Big Sugar debate and the mad cow fiasco, the U.S.
takes center stage yet again as a country led by bumbling idiots who
understand neither science nor health, and who quite predictably put
politics above sanity at every turn. God bless America.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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