Who voted for a Government so utterly stupid, that they have decided to relax Food Safety rules and allow the importation of beef from countries that have had BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy – otherwise known as ‘mad cow disease’)?
No Australians have been inflicted with the BSE-related variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and no Australian cattle have ever been diagnosed with BSE. Australia is THE largest exporter of beef, in value terms, and THE largest exporter of red meat. The ONLY reason we maintain this position (ahead of Brazil, for example) is because we are in the exceedingly fortunate position of not having BSE, FMD (Foot and Mouth) and some of the other major livestock diseases. This healthy position must be protected at all costs – for the good of the livestock themselves, for the good of native wildlife that would be decimated by some of these diseases, for the good of the food producers, and for the good of the food eaters and those who rely on this export income to support their way of life (that’s all Australians).
BSE HAS AN INCUBATION PERIOD OF YEARS. A friend who visited Britain 9 years ago is still not allowed to donate blood to the Bloodbank. We still don’t know a lot about BSE.
Just to cap this importation idiocy off – because of inadequate food labelling laws, Australians wouldn’t even know if they were eating local or imported beef, so personal choice would be removed.
How dumb is a government that would be so idiotic as to risk such a vital export income earning industry, the health of livestock and human beings? Why aren’t the general public – more than 20 million of us – creating a fuss about this and ensuring it doesn’t happen?
Why does the Australian Government want to allow the importation of beef from BSE countries? Blind Freddie could see this is simply due to pressure from countries such as Canada and USA, beef export competitors, who do not have Australia’s best interests at heart. It reminds me of the fuss the US kicked up re. the AWB ‘kickbacks’. Talk about hypocrisy – it is of course the US who makes & sells arms to dictatorships and countries in the grip of civil wars, so for the USA to complain about cash changing hands is laughable to secure food supply contracts. In any case, inside the boardroom of any big company, there would be regular dealings that the average person in the street would view as morally dubious – from rampant insider share trading to price fixing agreements with competitors (think fuel prices on Friday afternoon), deliberate price undercutting to bankrupt competitors (think supermarkets and big hardware chainstores), exceedingly slow payment of accounts to suppliers (one of the largest stock & station agency firms had a policy of not paying invoices for at least 5 months; and A & R have a current written policy of not paying suppliers for 3-4 months after EOM), etc.
Add up all the other nonsensical decisions the Rudd Government has made, and they still won’t top the idiocy of this decision. If you agree, tell as many politicians and others as you can, as soon as possible. And at the same time tell them to ensure the enforcement of a ban on feeding bonemeal etc to livestock (not just banning the feeding of ‘like-to-like’, which is what is thought to have caused the BSE outbreak in Britain in the first place).
To read more on the Australian Government’s decision to import beef from BSE countries, refer to this excellent article in The Australian.
Tags: Australian quarantine and biosecurity, Australian Beef Industry, Conservation and the environment