Can't beat our meat, part II:

The USDA found another case of Mad Cow disease in Alabama. In order not to find anymore mad cows and hurt the meat industry, they're going to scale back their testing. The AP reports, "The Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow disease in 2003. About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55 in 2003." The proposed budget for testing this year, "calls for 40,000 tests annually, or about 110 daily." So, a tenth of what they had been doing. That makes sense, if you find more disease, stop testing. Agriculture secretary Mike Johanns says what's the big deal? "Keep in mind the testing was for surveillance. It was to get an idea of the condition of the herd." Well, that explains it.

Senator Tom Harkin says the confidence in the safety of our meat is a stake. "USDA ought to continue a sound surveillance testing program to demonstrate that U.S. beef is indeed safe and that anti-BSE safeguards are, in fact, working." What planet is this guy on? If you find BSE in cows, no one will want your meat. The government's policy is "don't find, don't tell." That's a lot cheaper than spending money on testing that could otherwise to go Iraqi reconstruction.