Posted on 04/07/2005 8:17:03 PM PDT by ex-Texan
A former American government packing plant veterinarian says the United States government is hiding cases of mad cow disease.
American Records Are Not Credible, Former Plant Veterinarian Says
Dr. Lester Friedlander said Wednesday that colleagues with the United States Department of Agriculture have told him of cases that the USDA has chosen not to announce.
Friedlander, who has been invited to speak to Parliament's agriculture committee next week on proposed changes to Canadian inspection legislation, refused to give details. He said the USDA employees are close to retirement and risk losing their pensions.
He has previously spoken out, however, about a Texas cow that had mad cow symptoms and went untested to a rendering plant after a USDA veterinarian condemned it at a packing plant in San Angelo.
Mad Cow Cases in the U.S.
There have been U.S. news reports that just three cows processed by the plant were tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy over two years. The plant, Lone Star Beef, processes older dairy cows considered at higher risk of carrying Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE Disease.
Friedlander said it's not credible that the USDA has found just one BSE case and only in a cow that entered the United States from Alberta rather than being raised in the U.S.
"You've found four cases (including a cow from Alberta discovered in Washington state with the disease) out of 12 million cattle and the United States has found none out of 120 million," Friedlander said in an interview during a speaking visit to Edmonton.
He said production practices in the two countries are similar enough that the USDA should be finding more BSE cases.
New Agency Needed
Friedlander was in charge of meat inspectors at the largest U.S. culled-cow packing plant, in Pennsylvania, until 1995. He lost his job for, in his words, "doing too good a job."
He has since become a public speaker on food and animal safety issues. He was in Edmonton as a guest of the Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society.
The USDA's record looks worse than the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's but Canada needs a new "consumer" agency to oversee packing plant inspections, he added. He said the USDA and CFIA both suffer from having too much influence from politicians eager to please the food industry. His proposed consumer agency would be a government body but would have more safeguards against political influence.
Marc Richard, speaking from Ottawa for the CFIA, said the agency enforces rules set by Parliament and does its job well.
He said it reports to Agriculture Minister Andrew Mitchell and a replacement government agency would have to do the same.
Ping. What do you think of this?
I became suspicious a few months ago when the 3rd initial positive went to Ames, Iowa for further testing and was found to be a false positive. The company that makes the test brags about there only being something like a 100,000 to 1 chance of a false positive. Three in a row.
That's my one question about this article. He seems to be relying on hearsay in his accusations.
Two strikes against the guy's credibility--
1. Article says he got fired from his meat inspector's job.
2. He's gone off to Canada to make his claims as a paid (presumeably) public speaker.
This guy Friedlander is such an idiot! The breeding practices of US livestock producers is TOP NOTCH! We have tons of sanctions against livestock from other countries just for this reason. In fact, the only reason livestock improves overseas is because of OUR exports.
Besides, if you do NOT eat the SPINAL COLUMN OR THE BRAIN YOU WILL NOT GET SPONGY BRAIN!!
Instead of forcing the USDA to become more fascist on producers they need to educate the public on what parts of a cow NOT to eat.
The Canadian gov't has become thuggish towards their own producers and Friedlander doesn't like to see that much freedom allowed in our own farms/producers/growers.
Individual farms should be allowed to test every head if they so choose. Believe it or not this is not currently allowed and one farm out there is going to court to do so.
And who is going to pay the vet bill for repeated tests on every cow??? Some people may not have to worry about the bottom line but who is to say what size of herd should have to be tested.
These tests are totally inconclusive, test an animal 3x to be negative then 4th time positive? Happens all the time. The USDA is predominantly run by people who have no idea about animal ownership/expenses/responsibilities/etc. It is a bureaucracy.
Friedlander has something else up his sleeve I guarantee it.
The primary link contains medical evidence to dispute your bold assertions.
Wrong end.
bingo
Number one I dont eat burgers at fast food places and two I dont trust anything that comes out of Canada or states Product of Canada.
I stand by my assertions and not by a vet gone canadian.
Yeah right. "doing too good of a job"? Smacks of doing things the way he wanted to do them and screw everybody else. Cry baby go home.
LMAO....good call
ROFLMAO!
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