March 10, 2004

• I suppose that Creekstone could get around the ban by merging with Bio-Rad, so that they wouldn't exactly be buying or selling the forbidden technology, but merely using it in-house. How infuriating.
• When mine fall over, I just shoot 'em in the head, chuck 'em in the wheelie bin, and wait for collection day. Saves a bunch of time and it's terrible disc-reet.
• Here we have a business, trying to meet its customers' needs, but instead, is getting sincere grief from what should be its advocacy group : Dan Murphy, vice president for public affairs at the American Meat Industry, said American beef was so safe that widescale testing was unnecessary. "Everybody is hurting from the export ban," Mr. Murphy said, "but their solution is not the right one." Any testing, he added, should take place under government oversight. 'Their solution [that] is not the right one', being, of course, satisfying their customer's needs and demands, ah ha-ha. What is the right solution then, Dan? When your business is out an approximate $29 million because your product doesn't meet spec, maybe you should rethink, huh? If anything, I'd think the American Meat Industry would be in favor of making the tests available, and then letting ranchers decide for themselves whether to test above US government regulations. This ties in with Monsanto trying to push genetically altered wheat on farmers (heard on NPR this morning). The wheat farmers say the idea will hurt them in a very large way because european and asian countries have bans on GM grain imports -- if Monsanto gets its way, wheat farmers will be devistated from the loss in business. Should this happen, then the farmers will ultimately just be shills for Monsanto international policy because their livelihoods depend on it.
• This article is no surprise at all. This company has stepped out from behind the curtain that the USDA appears to be trying to pull over the actuality of BSE in the U.S.