BSE hurt the Tories in the UK in '97 -- helped Labour win.

[AP]

Just for a little perspective, in the mid '90s when BSE started to look like a problem, the Torie's response was very revealing.

First, the Tories tried to make sure nobody stopped eating beef, so they played down the dangers. Then it turned out that Tory deregulation of the rendering business might have played a roll in the causing BSE. Then people started wondering why the government wasn't able to stop the spread. They wondered why they didn't have the equivalent FDA. What did they have? They had a regulatory agency which was designed to PROTECT the interets of business. The decided they didn't like a government married with the interests of business. They decided they wanted a government that looks after the interests of the people. The voted in Labour next chance they got.

Of course there were dozens of other reasons Labour won in '97, however, the way Tories dealt with BSE confirmed peoples' sense of what the differences between Labour and the Tories really were.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I know this is political gold

some do not agree, even here, but this is pure political gold

Afetr all Venneman, who has weakened the Dept of Agriculture...is a former lobyist for the BEEF lobby...and she is serving meat for
Christmas, or so she tells us.

[AP]

2. It's like a rerun of that Tory minister who fed his daughter a burger to

convince people meat was safe. They played that over and over again on TV and it became a symbol of the Tories being more concerned about big business profits and having small (useless) goverment than they cared about their own kids.

[RamboLiberal]

3. I too think this is political gold and Dems need to stay on this

This is something those "soccer now security moms" will really care about. Especially when they find out that unlike e-coli you can't even kill this one by fully cooking the beef. Especially hammer that the Repugs shutdown any protection and as their latest practice locked the Dems out of their backroom dealing.

Legislation to keep meat from downed animals off American kitchen tables was scuttled - for the second time in as many years - as Congress labored unsuccessfully earlier this month to pass a catchall agency spending bill.

Now, in the wake of the apparent discovery of the first mad-cow case in the United States, the author of the House version of the cattle provision wants to press the issue anew when Congress returns Jan. 20 from its winter recess. The massive, $373 billion spending bill covering several government agencies is still pending in the Senate.

"I said on the floor of the House that you will rue the day that because of the greed of the industry to make a few extra pennies from 130,000 head, the industry would sacrifice the safety of the American people," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chief House sponsor. "It's so pound foolish."

<snip>

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a negotiator who voted for the measure in the House, said Democratic negotiators never had a chance to fight for the proposal.

"The Republicans, the leadership, shut off the conference, they closed it down, and this is one of a number of provisions which were handled in a backroom deal without the Democrats there and with only the Republican leadership," said Hinchey.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1224-09.htm

[AP]

4. NPR coverage today was, basically, "it was inevitable"

Farmers have been just waiting for this. They even had a web site up, just waiting to turn the switch on when the first one was reported. They inteviewed a rancher who said the battle will be against people's perceptions.

My problem with this is that NPR made it sound like there was nothing the government could do to protect people, which I'm not inclined to believe. And then the farmer made it sound like there was no such thing as BSE, which can really be an awful way to die. Dying of BSE really has nothing to do with "perception." When those prions start unfolding all over your brain, it has more to do with facts and science and less to do with perception.