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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (24891)	1/18/2004 3:11:26 AM
From: kumar	Respond to of 793670

<delete dup>

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (24891)	1/18/2004 3:13:56 AM
From: kumar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793670

Are you not concerned about Government regulations in foreign countries as far as food products? Many are not as rigid as those in U.S. I have not heard of a single instance of Mad Cow Disease in India, Australia, or New Zealand. These are countries I have lived in. I have heard/experienced the outcome of Mad Cow Disease, in UK, Canada and US. So, please get off the high horse attitude of "US knows best when it comes to food quality".

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (24891)	1/18/2004 5:49:54 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793670

Just recently green onions from Mexico caused Chi Chi's customers to become ill. You have a point. And the problem is widespread. I see SE Asian rice now in several stores I go to. The Mekong River Delta is considered the rice bowl of SE Asia...but I sure as heck would not eat anything grown there.

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (24891)	1/18/2004 6:19:14 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 793670

Are you not concerned about Government regulations in foreign countries as far as food products? No. One thing I have learned in my life is that people, in general, have a distorted sense of risk. They get all exercised over things with a small risk and ignore things with a big risk. Sure, you can get ill from Mexican green onions. You can also win the lottery. I don't bother with either because the odds on both are minuscule. I'm still eating beef. Still eating farmed salmon, too. I wish the US had better regulations on farming both for the sake of my health and because of the environmental problems caused by farming. I imagine that the regulation is even poorer in many other countries that supply my grocery store. But the chances of my getting a tummy ache from something I buy there is not worth worrying about. I think that the safer course of action is to eat a wide variety of food from a wide variety of places. It may be comforting to buy food locally. Home always feels safer than some unknown place but I think there is greater safety in variety. There are a lot of environmental problems out there. Not long ago the talk was all about arsenic in some local water systems. Down the road you might discover that your locality has one of these problems, long after you have consumed tons of food produced there. I suggest you not assume that your locally grown food is safer. While there may be a lower risk of a temporary illness from poor food handling with local products, there is a greater risk of the accumulation of toxins from single-source consumption. On top of that, relying on local produce reduces the variety of nutrients in the diet, another risk factor for one's health. I don't see the point in worrying about risks where the odds are trivial. I don't worry about being the victim of a terrorist attack, either. I find the mass anxiety over that quite overdone. <g> Karen@savethebay P.S. You didn't directly reply to my question about what you would do about foreign food products in the US. Since your response was about your personal choice and mine, I assume you would not stop the import of foods but rather encourage others to make a personal choice not to buy them.