USDA trying to circumvent the free market


A beef producer wants to prove their products don't have mad cow disease
Watch this one carefully.

Creekstone Farms, a Kansas beef producer, wants to reassure customers that its cattle are safe to eat by testing them all for mad cow disease. Sounds like a smart business move, but there's one problem: The federal government won't let the company do it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture — invoking an obscure 1913 law intended to thwart con artists from peddling bogus hog cholera serum to pig farmers — is blocking companies from selling the testing kits to Creekstone.

USDA is doing the bidding of large cattle barons afraid that Creekstone's marketing will force them to do the same tests to stay competitive. It's true that the incidence of mad cow disease is quite low. But there's little logic in stopping a company from exceeding regulations to meet the demands of its customers, or protecting its rivals from legitimate competition.

Not only is USDA blocking Creekstone, the department said last month that it's reducing its mad cow testing program by 90%. The industry and its sympathetic regulators seem to believe that the problem isn't mad cow disease. It's tests that find mad cow.

Let's see. A company wants to prove to it's customers that it's products are safer. That is a competitive advantage. And it is barred by the government, who claims it is looking out for your interests.

All together now.

Government is not your friend.


— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - August 10, 2006 at 03:01 PM  Tag


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