U.S GOV'T: We Failed To Protect Your Beef!

A USDA audit finds pesticides, heavy metals, and veterinary medicines in supermarket meat. Even Mexico sent some of it back!

Rodale News, Emmaus, PA - A new report from the U.S Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) found that many dangerous substances, including pesticides, veterinary medicines, dioxin and heavy metals like arsenic, are winding up in the nations beef supply because government agencies haven't worked together to set limits.

The report makes clear that co-ordination between the USDA, the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) is lacking, making it difficult to recall beef contaminated with these harmful substances.

"They're all pointing their fingers at one another," says Tony Corbo, spokesman for the nonprofit watchdog group Food and Water Watch.

THE DETAILS: The audit report, released by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection General, found that common contaminents that can make there way into beef are not currently restricted in meat, even though contamination could harm human health. For instance, FSIS says the following medicines, feed supplements, and other contaminents could harm human health when people eat tainted beef.

1. Flunixin-a veterinary drug that can cause kidney damage, stomach and colon ulcers, and blood in the stools of humans.

2. Penicillin, a drug that can cause life-threatening reactions in people who are allergic to it.

3. Ivermectin, an animal wormer that can cause neurological damage in humans.

4. Arsenic, a known carcinogen.

5. Copper, an essential element, but harmful if too much accumulates in our bodies.

WHAT IT MEANS: When we think of food safety, we generally think about e-coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes contamination making people sick, but this report sheds light on the problems of drug, pesticide and heavy metal residues that can also accumulate in our bodies and make us sick. According to the report authors, "while cooking meat properly can destroy these pathogens before they are consumed, no amount of cooking will destroy residues. In some cases, heat may actually break residues down into components that are more harmful to consumers".

That's why it's more important than ever to seek out meat from sources you trust, and ideally, from farms where you can visit and perform an on-site inspection yourself, asking farmers what the animals eat, and seeing what type of conditions they live in.

Coupled with the threat of BSE contamination causing vCJD in humans,a fatal condition,with this complete absence of traceability, this is all very re-assuring. Just think Australia is set to allow this poison into our country, when the corrupt IRA is complete and the Australian government is all for it, kow towing once again to their free trade pimp masters while happily sacraficing the Australian people and Australian industries on the alter of free trade.

So long as we allow our great country to be governed by the dictatorship of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, we can only expect our situation to deteriorate.