In a baffling case of doublespeak, the world’s largest meat processing company Tyson Foods has publicly admitted to injecting chickens with antibiotics—but it’s suing the US Department of Agriculture in order to keep the Antibiotic-Free label anyway. And how does Tyson plan on getting around the fact that the label is a bold-faced lie? By manipulating legal jargon of course! Tyson is claiming that since its chickens are merely injected with antibiotics before they hatch, they’re not really ‘raised’ with antibiotics.
Maybe amidst all that rushing around to get the label passed, Tyson forgot to actually enact the label’s claim?
First time around, a compromise was reached to adjust the label, since ionophores aren’t used to treat human diseases. That label was “raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans.” Which of course, has now been found to be completely untrue. So now perhaps Tyson will have to renegotiate their compromise—but “injected with antibiotics before birth, but subsequently raised without them” doesn’t quite have the same ring.
The USDA hasn’t been a leader in courageous defense of food standards – in decades. But, these past eight years set a new standard for sticking their legs straight up in the air in surrender to sleazy agribusiness.
Tyson set the pace for lowering already-mediocre standards in their meat factories, founding the whole industry’s switchover to an illegal migrant workforce. Perpetuating an unsafe reliance on distorted food chemistry is just another day’s work at the Tyson chicken factory.
Thanks, Justin
Tyson should still have a friendly administration and Congress to work with. They have always been chummy with the Democrats and the Clintons in particular.
http://tinyurl.com/56rxev
Lobbyists have no particular political party loyalty.
Clean out the cronies and lay down the LAW. Go go team Obama.
#1, #2 – Could this be the first test of how loyal to Clinton certain folks on Obama’s staff are?
#3
Considering that these eight years of Bush Administration did NOTHING..
#3 – I say it will be a test how loyal to their ethics in general. Lobbyists work both sides of the aisle and any administration regardless. Tyson seems to have worked well with Clinton as well as Bush.
#3
Specially since the Bush Administration had EIGHT YEARS to fix things up and instead expanded the whorehouses known as the FDA and the USDA.
#6 – Angel
Sounds like you have “hope”. I’m more cynical. We’ll see some changes but I predict mostly cosmetic. The lobbyists will be pressing hard to retain as much as they can. And the Democratic Congress has not lived up to the promise and hope they brought two years ago. Now with Obama as prez, they have no excuses but I’m still not holding my breath.
Birds of a feather flock together. They’ll strut and squawk in front of the cameras but in the end, they will look for more donations, favors and power. But we can at least try to keep them honest.
“founding the whole industry’s switchover to an illegal migrant workforce.”
I think Sir Walter Raleigh did that.
But I will give you that the USDA has been in agribusiness’ pocket for a long, long time. Heck, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1914(?) was passed due to lobbying by industry insiders so they could put the heat on the little guys.
Why can’t they just inject the chickens with Melamine, like the Chinese?
9,
It works with Chocolate, milk and various other dairy based items, but it would ruin the chickeny flavour.
I wonder if the conservative right wing will come out in defense of the chickens…. Since the right believes that life begins when you talk to a girl, wouldn’t these chicks be considered “raised” once they were a twinkle in the cocks eye?
#8, But I will give you that the USDA has been in agribusiness’ pockets
Yep. How many other branches of the government PAY you not to do something? Artificial price stabilization. What a crock.
See, this is how the Repukes “Regulate” Big Business – they have Big Business come in and WRITE THE LAW !!! Dumbya Bush and Prick Cheney continue to GIVE AMERICA THE FINGER !!!
First thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers.
(Shakespeare—Henry VI)
Then we quit buying those chickens.
Why count on the Chinese to poison us, when we can have domestic agro business do it more efficiently and locally? Just hid the fact, from the public, with a team of lawyers.
Ya know I have to seriously question the sanity of people who become corporate lawyers. When they often defend those who design on protecting their profits, at the expense of the public’s health. And then, said lawyers probably expect their cars, medicines, and food, all be safe in spite of this. Who’s living in a fool’s paradise, expecting that?!
Hope is worthwhile, and worth experiencing. But the new admin’s response to our festering wound of a regulatory apparatus, and their ability to make good upon their promise to put the public interest first, will be the test.
Let us hope that our hope is not misplaced, for if it is, I can see little to be hopeful for.