From Sea to Shining Sea--Bush administration fights Mad Cow testing for all

Tthe US now tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cattle for mad cow disease, so some meat packers have tried to take up the slack. Big meat companies don't like the idea, fearing that competition from safe meat might hurt their business. Competition might be good for consumers, but, according to an Associated Press story today, it wouldn't please the big cattlemen. So the Bush administration opposes private efforts to ensure safety.

The Agriculture Department argues that if you do too much testing, you might get a false positive result, which would harm the meat industry. So far, three cows in the US have been found, after multiple tests, to have mad cow disease. The cows were from Washington, Texas and Alabama.

It's better for a sick cow to get into the food chain than to hurt the meat industry, according to the Bush administration.

Veggie burger, anyone?