THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 211, October 4, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHY TOLERATE DEADLY FOOD BACTERIA?
By Dennis T. Avery
GOVERNMENT REGULATION & FOOD SAFETY: FOOD SCARE CAMPAIGNS & THE DEMAND FOR MORE EXTENSIVE &
EXPENSIVE PROGRAMS OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION THAT WILL NOT KILL THE DEADLY BACTERIA WHICH CAUSE FOOD
POISONING -- ELECTRONIC PASTEURIZATION AS THE SOLUTION TO OUTBREAKS OF FOOD POISONING
FULL STORY:
We are into the second wave of anguish about the 1600 people made ill by salmonella-contaminated eggs, which caused
the recall of a billion fresh eggs.
“We’re not in favor of government takeovers, but, in the case of the egg producers who poisoned as many as 1,600
people with salmonella, we’ll advocate that,” said the Frederick, Maryland, News-Post on October 1, 2010.
The News-Post concludes:
“No one died, but the symptoms for some continue today
— diarrhea, sickness, fever, not to mention the weeks of
medical care needed by some victims, and the impact on
other more conscientious egg producers, in terms of lost
sales. . . ."
"This is an area where more government regulation is
needed, and the free market cannot be relied on to govern
itself.”
The food scare industry is rubbing its hands in glee. The public has been scared witless about its food safety again, the
farmers are hanging their heads in shame — and the media response is to demand more expensive government
regulation that won’t kill the bacteria. Thus, the food scare industry can go right on flogging the food industry, while
people keep on getting sick.
And pretending this is all the fault of “industrial agriculture.”
I’ve got news, folks. Salmonella bacteria are pretty much everywhere, and always have been. Salmonella sickens more
than a million people per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and kills about 400. The bacterium is found
in ground beef, on lettuce, on spinach, even in peanut butter and unpasteurized orange juice. Salmonella can be inside
the live chicken and even inside the eggs!
The even-more-dangerous E. coli: O157 is carried by cattle, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it has never
tested for the bacterium in any cattle herd without finding it.
Remember that awful spinach O157 outbreak a couple of years ago, the outbreak that caused three deaths? There were
cattle nearby. There were wild pigs running around through both the cattle pasture and the spinach field.
It’s also true that the spinach field was in transition to organic production. That means the farmer couldn’t use chemical
fertilizers on it. Did he use composted cow manure? Are we sure that every bit of that composted cow manure got hot
enough -- 130 to 150 degrees for 30 days -- to kill the O157?
The University of California/Davis says they’ve found occasional O157 infections in wild pigs, coyotes, mice, crows,
and cowbirds. How does more government regulation keep the food safe from all this natural risk?
There is a solution, one that the newspapers and food-scare artists hate — electronic pasteurization. Hitting the fresh
food with an electron beam is cheap, quick, and kills virtually all of the food-borne bacteria on your food. It even kills
the bacteria that promote rotting, so your fresh produce will taste even fresher.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved electronic pasteurization for eggs ten years ago. The
treatment has also been approved for poultry, fresh produce, and hamburger. But the food stores are frightened that
news of electron beams will set off consumer boycotts — fear encouraged and managed by the food scare activists.
Think about the News-Post’s litany of suffering for 1,600 egg consumers — and multiply it by 875 — to get
the annual national illness impact of salmonella. Add 400 deaths. That doesn’t even include the deaths and agony
from O157. We in the United States have the safest food system the world has ever known. Don’t let food-scare
pushers tell you otherwise. It would take only this already-approved step to eliminate the bacteria that causes a
million of us each year to suffer the misery of what we commonly call “food poisoning,” and what, occasionally,
causes death.
Isn’t it time for consumer organizations to support electronic pasteurization? What can you do to protect your family?
Start with talking to your grocery store manager about your support for electronic pasteurization.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
Agriculture, the Economy, & Human Health & Welfare:
Policy Issues Relating to Food Production & Consumption
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, is an environmental economist. He was
formerly a senior analyst for the U.S. Department of State. He is co-author, with S. Fred Singer, of Unstoppable
Global Warming Every 1500 Hundred Years. Readers may write him at PO Box 202, Churchville, Virginia 24421 or
send him email at cgfi@hughes.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity