Just Unbelievable

When you first read this, you think, no, this has got to be a gag out of The Onion. This is what happens when the executive branch is staffed by lobbyists and executives from the very industries being regulated. This example is especially ballsy and transparnet, but it also is excruciatingly anti-consumer. What consumer would support less testing for mad cow disease? Christy of Firedoglake (still the best blog name) unloads on this one. I have seldom been so disgusted with the Bushies as over this one.

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.