Keep this arrow in the quiver for the right occasion

The right occasion being a conversation with Jeff Flake, Michelle Reagan, or any other Republican who seeks to deify the almighty "private sector" or government agencies that are more dedicated to the businesses that they are supposed to regulate than they are to the people they are paid to protect (aka - US!)...

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that a meatpacking business can conduct its own tests for mad cow disease.

Why is this significant? The federal government and other, larger, meatpacking firms OPPOSED the move.

From an AP article, via the Arkansas City Traveler (emphasis mine) -

WASHINGTON -- The federal government must allow meatpackers to test their animals for mad cow disease, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a meatpacker based in Arkansas City, Kan., wants to test all of its cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Larger meat companies feared that move because if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department currently regulates the test and administers it to less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows. The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals.

{snip}

Last July, the department cut its testing by about 90 percent. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said testing should reflect ''a very, very low level'' of the disease in the United States.

{snip}

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. [Federal judge] Robertson said he was concerned by that possibility but noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on.

For the record, mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is fatal in humans. Exposure occurs by eating the meat of infected cattle.

Both the meatpacking industry as a whole and the FDA/Department of Agriculture would rather protect company profits than human lives.

The "private sector" can do many things better than the government can.

Not the least of those things is to look out for itself to the exclusion of everyone and everything else.

Later!