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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (81047)	5/30/2007 8:00:20 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 93284

I didn't say that you where distorting the story. I said if you where not, then I oppose the policy. You do understand the distinction don't you? The difference between "your lying" and "if what you say is true"...

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (81047)	6/6/2007 4:33:22 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

It appears that the story may not be entirely correct. "...In the lawsuit, the government did not make an argument about "false positives." To the contrary, the government's brief in support of a motion for summary judgment (as well as its other briefs) argued that BSE tests would provide a overwhelming number of false negatives. Here's a long quote from that brief: As discussed previously, the vast majority of cattle that are processed into beef in the United States are less than 24 months old. See Ferguson Decl. ¶ 5. However, the average incubation period for the BSE disease is five years, meaning that on average it takes five years from the date a cow is infected with BSE for the cow to show any outward clinical signs of the disease, such as abnormal posture, inability to walk, or other impaired coordination. See id. Given that the earliest point at which current BSE testing methods can detect a positive case of BSE is only two to three months before a cow would demonstrate clinical signs of the disease, see id. ¶ 10; Rippke Decl. ¶ 9, testing all young normal-looking cattle for slaughter, as proposed by plaintiff, is not practical and offers no animal health or food safety value because testing a young infected animal with the current methodology would likely produce false negative results, Ferguson Decl. ¶ 10.23. Accordingly, when used to diagnose the presence of BSE in all cattle for slaughter, as proposed by plaintiff, BSE test kits are worthless and subject to regulation under [Virus-Serum-Toxin Act]. The false negative argument was also made in a 2005 rule from the USDA, which found universal testing to lack any scientific justification: We understand the interest expressed by some commenters in testing certain cattle for slaughter. However, no live animal tests exist for BSE and the currently available postmortem tests, although useful for disease surveillance (i.e., in determining the rate of disease in the cattle population), are not appropriate as food safety indicators. We know that the earliest point at which current testing methods can detect a positive case of BSE is 2 to 3 months before the animal begins to demonstrate clinical signs. We also know that the incubation period for this disease–the time between initial infection and the manifestation of clinical signs–is generally very long, on the average of about 5 years. Accordingly, we know there is a long period during which, using the current methodology, testing an infected animal that has not demonstrated clinical signs of the disease would, incorrectly, produce negative results. * * * Testing of individual animals, especially if it is performed on clinically normal animals at slaughter, is not in itself an effective risk mitigation measure for protecting public health. The purpose of a surveillance program is to gauge the level of BSE prevalence. This can be achieved through targeted sampling, as is being carried out in the United States and Canada. For these reasons, we do not consider the testing at slaughter of every bovine over 20 months of age, or the testing of every bovine at slaughter, to be scientifically justified or meaningful in the context of either human or animal health. Making this a criterion for minimal-risk regions would not contribute to human or animal health protection beyond the protection achieved by a statistically and epidemiologically valid surveillance plan, coupled with the risk mitigations specified in this rule. 3. Why is the government taking this position? I see no evidence, as of yet, that concern for "protect[ing] companies' profits" has anything to do with this. Instead, this seems to be a perfectly normal case of the liberal regulatory state protecting its turf..." stuartbuck.blogspot.com ------ Now having pointed that out, I think I still oppose the government's position on this issue. Even if the test will normally be useless I don't think that's necessarily a good reason to ban it. At very most the government should require a warning about the weaknesses of the tests, and even that could be debated. But the reason why I oppose the government's position, is not because it makes food more dangerous, apparently it does no such thing, but because its extending control over the actions of private individuals and corporations without (IMO) sufficient justification.