USDA Rules Against Private BSE Testing.

[rsomer]

The Americans are far from brilliant but they are the school yard bully. They make the rules. And this is about protecting American economic interests, international power and not about food safety or consumerism. Cheney is in Japan right now. The issues on the plate are more than beef, they include 3 Japanese hostages in Iraq and the North Korean nuclear issue. In the world of international politics Japan is not in any position to continue their ban on U.S. beef. I believe the Japanese DIET will very quickly agree to begin accepting imports of U.S. beef. I would expect an announcement within days.
Grassfarmer, you said "At least the Japanese have the guts to send the Americans packing when they came last week trying to tell them what they had to do to re-establish beef trading." We will know pretty soon if they have the guts or not. Japan has not displayed any moral fortitude in the past as Japan has backed down every other time there was a major trade issue with the U.S. It was one thing for Japan to deny imports of Canadian beef, they are playing with the big dogs this time.
There are American forces stationed in Japan at this very moment if the Japanese forget who is calling the shots.

[cowman]

If Japan demands that their beef farmers must test every animal don't you think it is fair to ask all imports to be tested, especially from countries that have BSE? Why does it always have to be the lowest common denominator?
If Europe demands that beef be hormone free from it's farmers then wouldn't it make sense to insist that all incoming meat be hormone free? Where did the world sign on the dotted line that whatever the Americans think is right is what we all have to do?
Now America likes to go on about the "science" of food safety. The science of hormones and BSE. What "science" is that? The "science" that Monsanto puts out or perhaps the "science" that Cargill puts out? I would suggest that "science" has become whatever sells the product...safe or not?
Perhaps I have a jaded view or something but I see corporate America as a bunch of liars and thieves who will do anything to sell their products. They don't care about the people in foreign countries or in fact the American people.

[amazed]

Yes it is fair for the Japanese demand all imports be tested for BSE. Is it fair for the Japanese to demand all Norht American beef be tested for BSE, not only what they may import.

To assume that Japan and Europe will import North American beef if it meets their "demands" does not mean they will import it.

When Canadian beef was eliminated from the Japanese market last summer and replaced by American, the Japanese increased the tarrif on US product because they claimed the US over their allowable amount.

Politics being played by all involved.

[cowman]

amazed: Of course you are right about the politics. Japan has an election coming up and the whole political situation is pretty shaky over there. I guess in the USA too, or for that matter Canada?
What can you do? Japan states "We require you to test and if you do we will accept your meat". Will they? Or will politics rule the day?
The USA likes to talk about the "science"...now that they have Mad Cow! But do they practice what they preach? Well no they don't...probably because of politics? They also like to talk about the "science" of hormones and get quite agitated when Europe won't accept that "science". Now are all the 300 million people in Europe retards or something that they don't accept this "science"? Or are they really a whole lot smarter than us and don't believe all the "science" from Monsanto,Ayerst, Phizer and their ilk? Or have they been hoodwinked by greenies or something?
I don't know...but I do know I don't use hormones and try not to eat meat treated with hormones. I guess I'm as dumb as those Europeans?

[rsomer]

U.S., Japan to hold new talks on beef ban that followed mad cow case

IRA DREYFUSS
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - U.S. and Japanese officials will hold more talks on Japan's refusal to accept U.S. beef exports, but the two nations are still divided over Japan's contention that the United States does not test adequately for mad cow disease.

During the April 24-25 meetings, the United States intends to push its proposal for international mediation on the ban, Agriculture Department spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said Tuesday.

Japan so far has refused to accept the U.S. plan for both nations to present arguments before a panel of the World Organization for Animal Health. The United States wants mediators to support its testing standards as scientifically sound and to press the Japanese to end their ban.

J.B. Penn, undersecretary for foreign agricultural services, will lead the U.S. team, which may also include representatives of the State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative's office, Harrison said.

The dates for the new talks were set during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Tokyo, the first stop on his current weeklong trip to Asia, Harrison said. The talks had been in the planning stages before the visit, she said. The meetings would continue U.S.-Japanese consultations that began shortly after the one U.S. case of mad cow disease was found in a Holstein in Washington state in December.

In announcing the new talks, Cheney said he hoped they would lead to reopening the Japanese market "in the near future." But Tadashi Sato, agricultural attache at the Japanese embassy in Washington, said he has heard of no change in the Japanese stance. He also said Japan always is willing to talk with U.S. officials.

Japan refuses to accept any U.S. beef unless the United States requires mad cow tests of all 35 million cattle it slaughters annually. The United States says there is no scientific reason to test every animal. It intends to test at least 220,000 by the end of 2005.

The Agriculture Department denied last week a request from Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to allow 100 percent BSE testing at the company's Arkansas City, Kan., plant - a move that would have allowed the company to resume export sales to Japan.

Creekstone has said it is pursuing both political and legal options that might enable the company to start the testing in spite of the Agriculture Department's decision.

Japan had been one America's leading buyers of beef before the discovery of the U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. More than 50 other nations also banned U.S. beef or cattle, and most have kept their bans in place. People who eat beef tainted by the aberrant protein that causes mad cow can contract a rare but fatal disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

One exception to the international refusals to ease bans on U.S. exports is Mexico, which has decided to accept about three-quarters of the approximately $1 billion of U.S. products it imported in 2003. Mexico will allow imports of boneless cuts of beef, certain organ meats, tallow and veal.

[topper]

I see Creekstone is floating an idea to import Canadian cattle and test them for export to Japan. Now wouldn't that be nice, if a positive test happened to come along all the blame could be placed on Canada once again.

[blackjack]

Creekstone say they can test BSE for a cost of 18 dollars/head. They say it will cost the USDA approximately 325 dollars/head to test. Seems like its a no brainer in who should be doing the testing!

[rsomer]

The latest news regarding Creekstone and Japan as reportd in Japan Today.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=295181

U.S. meat firm eyes BSE testing in Japan

Thursday, April 15, 2004 at 10:28 JST
WASHINGTON — A U.S. meat processor has applied for U.S. government approval to ship brain stem samples of cattle to Japan for mad cow disease testing in a bid to help it resume beef exports to the Japanese market, a meat industry magazine reported Wednesday.

The Kansas-based processor, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, proposed the measure after the U.S. Agriculture Department rejected its request for the U.S. government to allow it to voluntarily test all its cattle for mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Meat Marketing and Technology said in an article on the magazine's web site. (Kyodo News)