The Cow Jumped Over the U.S.D.A. (NY Times)

昨日のNYTのOp-Edで『ファストフードと狂牛病』（ISBN:4794211635）『ファストフードが世界を食いつくす』（ISBN:479421071X）の著者でジャーナリストのエリック・シュローサーがBSE対策にまつわる米農務省（USDA）の独立性について疑問を投げかけている。彼によればUSDA長官のヴェネマンの周辺は牛肉業界ロビイストの人間で固められているらしい。

The Agriculture Department has a dual, often contradictory mandate: to promote the sale of meat on behalf of American producers and to guarantee that American meat is safe on behalf of consumers. For too long the emphasis has been on commerce, at the expense of safety. The safeguards against mad cow that Ms. Veneman announced on Tuesday -- including the elimination of "downer cattle" (cows that cannot walk) from the food chain, the removal of high-risk material like spinal cords from meat processing, the promise to introduce a system to trace cattle back to the ranch -- have long been demanded by consumer groups. Their belated introduction seems to have been largely motivated by the desire to have foreign countries lift restrictions on American beef imports.