*** Perhaps what Dean is referring to is that ruminant feeding should be strictly outlawed...and that the USDA has no teeth (and extremely soft gums) when it comes to contaminated meat. If I remember right, it only has the power to suggest that such meat is recalled. And I'm not even sure it has the legal authority to announce contaminations to the public. ***

I still can't see how this is Bush's fault. It seems to me the guilt lies within the indusrty itself. They saw the financial disaster Mad Cow caused England a few years ago. They should've been more proactive and learned from the mistakes of the British. It looks like they had their collective heads in the sand and now they're about to pay dearly.

BTW... I do not believe the gov't should step in and bail out the industry as Dean suggests. Like I said, they should've learned from the British when MC wiped out their herds. They should've been more proactive to ensure the same catastrophy wasn't repeated here. They didn't, so the taxpayers shouldn't be asked to come to their rescue. They blew it so they should take the financial hit and learn from their mistakes. If we bail them out, what will they have learned?