USDA mad cow testing program is a sham, says inspector general

Clearly, there's a rift inside the USDA. The inspector general of the agency is trying to warn the public about what goes on behind closed doors, but the rest of the agency seems to have only one mission: protect the beef industry, not the public.

What the Senators didn't talk about -- at least so far -- is the alarming fact that diseased, dead cows are still being used as cow feed for other, healthy cows. This process, called "rendering," is a surefire way to spread mad cow disease from one infected cow to the entire herd. Customers, in turn, eat the red meat from the infected herd, then contract their own mad cow disease that turns their brains to jelly. It's happening right now in the United States, and the USDA deserves tremendous blame for protecting cattle ranchers and making sure that most cattle never get tested at all.

It's yet another example of a government agency that has become little more than the marketing branch of the very industry it's supposed to be regulating. Sound familiar? It's the same story over at the FDA.