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July 23, 2007
Confused Americans for Truth - Toothpaste as a Meat
Sometime I'll read a news story about Congress that makes no sense, and I have to ask myself: is Congress confused, or is it the journalist who wrote the article>?A good example of this is a recent story about Country-of-Origin Labels (COOLs). A law requiring COOLs was passed in 2002, but its implementation has been repeatedly delayed due to complaints that it requires too much additional paperwork. The current implementation date is 2008,and Congress has apparently decided 2008 will be the real date.
An ABC News story on the subject starts thusly.
The House Agriculture Committee voted Thursday night to require country of origin labels on meats beginning next year, striking a compromise as reports of tainted food from China raise consumer awareness about imported food safety.
Here's my problem. The China poisoning scandals would have been completely unaffected by the COOL law. Toothpaste, gluten, and cough syrup are not meats.
This law will provide an advantage to American cattle farmers, presumably because people will prefer American meat to meat from other countries. There will be a cost-- hopefully small-- to implementing this plan, so we can expect all meats to be more expensive.
But if these laws had been in effect last winter, it would have made no difference at all.
So here's my problem. I can't tell if ABC is trying to pull a fast one by making it look like the New Democratic Congress is Saving Us from the Evil Chinese, if Congress is pulling a fast one and ABC is falling for it, or if everyone involved in the chain of reporting thinks that toothpaste is a meat.
Fortunately, you can help. If you know an ABC reporter or a member of Congress, give him a tube of toothpaste and see if he tries to barbecue or broil it. That way, I'll have a better idea of who's responsible for pretending that a law to benefit cattle farmers has anything to do with protecting cats.
After all, the people have a right to know.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
# At Mon 11:17 AM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (1) | More Confused Americans for Truth | Tags: cats China Congress conservative exports health risks humor imports journalism pet food toothpaste
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Not this American. Have you ever looked into what feedlot cattle in America are fed and what ends up in the American feedlot beef that's sold in America's supermarkets day in and day out?
Not the kind of stuff I want to put into my mouth.
Local beef, from local "free-range" cattle (from local fields I have at least some knowledge of), prepared by local butchers: that's the beef for me. Adding a "Slaughtered in America" tag will add nothing to change my purchasing patterns. Heck, if anything it might make me avoid the stuff in favor of Argentinian beef that could at least be more likely to have less of the crap of American feedlot beef in it. (And by crap, I do mean to point out that the FDA allows feeding feedlot cattle "chicken house sweepings" as a "protein supplement"--as just one example of many of the crap fed much American beef.)
Posted by: David at July 23, 2007 2:52 PM
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