I'm sorry. Did I miss something? What does this have to do with Biodiesel?
dave --- Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1621733 > Economist.com > > Food safety > > Cheap chow > > Mar 6th 2003 > From The Economist print edition > > Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism > By Marion Nestle > > University of California Press; 366 pages; $27.50 > and £19.95 > > How the Cows Turned Mad > By Maxime Schwartz. Translated by Edward Schneider > > University of California Press; 238 pages; $24.95 > and £17.95 > > LOBBYING groups often try to disguise a financial > self-interest by > clumsily dressing up their arguments in the guise of > concern for the > public. You see this tendency in the pharmaceutical > industry and in > energy and lumber companies who like to tout their > stewardship of the > environment. But nowhere, two new books argue, are > these tactics more > of a cause for concern than in agribusiness. > > Marion Nestle's "Food Safety: Bacteria, > Biotechnology, and > Bioterrorism" looks at the way the American meat and > biotechnology > industries have campaigned successfully on Capitol > Hill against > stricter federal regulation, which the author argues > has undermined > the safety of the food supply. Meanwhile, Maxime > Schwartz's "How the > Cows Turned Mad" traces the origins of mad-cow > disease over more than > two centuries, and reveals the fallout from the > British government's > blind assurances that the disease could not be > transmitted to humans. > > Ms Nestle, who chairs the department of nutrition > and food studies at > New York University and whose earlier book, "Food > Politics", came out > last year, has an ear for a revealing anecdote. In > 1999, she writes, > Rosemary Mucklow, the executive director of the > National Meat > Association, lobbied against President Clinton's > attempt to establish > a more thorough testing regime for E. coli 0157:H7, > a potentially > deadly pathogen, by declaring the move to be just > "another step in > this administration's obfuscation of the impeachment > activities". > > Ms Mucklow's organisation-which represents > meatpackers and processors > who would have had to discard or reprocess meat > found to be infected > under the new testing regime-argued on Capitol Hill > that increased > microbial testing in meat could actually lead to a > greater public > health risk since confident consumers might relax > their own > safe-handling procedures at home. Ms Nestle finds > similarly fuzzy > logic in the biotechnology industry. She tells how > "Golden > Rice"-genetically engineered to contain > beta-carotene-has been > promoted with claims that it might help prevent > anaemia and blindness > in the developing world. Some independent > researchers have suggested > that an adult would have to eat nine kilos of the > rice every day to > meet Vitamin A requirements. > > There is an implied moral critique here of > Janus-faced profiteers who > ought really to admit that their arguments are > specious. But Ms > Nestle's larger beef is that this behaviour has > implications for > public health. The giant companies that now produce > our food have > also become potential vectors for mass infection. A > single lot of > hamburger meat at one processing plant was > determined recently to > contain parts from 443 different cows. > Slaughterhouses that process > 300 or more animals an hour and pass them through > the same grinders > allow a single infected carcass potentially to taint > tens of > thousands of kilos of meat. > > Click to buy from Amazon.com: "Food Politics", by > Marion Nestle (Amazon.co.uk). > > New York University posts a biography of Marion > Nestle. > > Such opportunity for cross-contamination is > especially worrisome in > the light of Mr Schwartz's book, which reveals that > the alarmingly > durable infectious protein, or prion, responsible > for mad-cow disease > and its human counterpart, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob > disease (vCJD), > can survive a formaldehyde bath and heat of 100°C > for 30 minutes. Mr > Schwartz is a former director of the Institut > Pasteur in France, and > his book maps out with great clarity the scientific > investigation > into how scrapie-a disease that has long been known > to afflict > sheep-came to cross the species barrier to cows, and > then from cows > to humans. > > Until recently, British and American cattlemen fed > their livestock > meat-and-bone stuffs to produce heftier and more > profitable animals, > even though cows are herbivores. The outbreak that > resulted from > these practices led to the destruction of 4m British > cows at an > estimated cost of $7 billion. Although > epidemiologists at Imperial > College, London, recently lowered their forecast of > how many people > are likely to get vCJD in the coming years from an > earlier high of > 500,000 to a maximum of 7,000, both these books > offer credible > arguments that more expensive food may-and perhaps > should-be an > acceptable price to pay for better food safety. > > > See also: > > "Crops without profit", New Scientist, 18 December > 1999 -- Low-cost > food, the great achievement of postwar high-input > intensive farming, > may be an illusion. The most detailed study yet of > the industry's > wider balance sheet has found the costs of cleaning > up pollution, > repairing habitats and coping with sickness caused > by farming almost > equals the industry's income. The true cost of £208 > per hectare is > double the amount suggested by previous, less > detailed, studies of > the costs in Germany and the US. But the survey's > chief author, Jules > Pretty of the Centre for Environment and Society at > the University of > Essex, describes this figure as "very conservative". > Environmental > economists say the findings suggest the need for a > radical rethink of > Europe's farming policy. > http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/ > population/population.jsp?id=22171800 > Summary of report: > http://www2.essex.ac.uk/ces/ResearchProgrammes/ > Externalities/Externsubheadings.htm > J.N. Pretty, C. Brett, D. Gee, R.E. Hine, C.F. > Mason, J.I.L. Morison, > H. Raven, M.D. Rayment, G. van der Bijl, An > assessment of the total > external costs of UK agriculture, Agricultural > Systems 65 (2) (2000) > pp. 113-136 -- this paper was this peer-reviewed > journal's > second-most-popular download of the year. > http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/4/0/5/8/5/1/ > > "European Union Goes Organic to Tackle BSE Scare", > February === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make Money Online Auctions! 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