enthalpy

Monday, September 25, 2006


I'm tired of hearing about all the bullshit (literally) about the spinach contamination, but this tack really makes me ill.
The direct cause is spinach contaminated with cow manure that contains the virulent strain of E. coli. But the root causes of toxic spinach affair lie in a host of issues tragically familiar to anyone following the state of consumer and worker safeguards during the Bush administration: weak laws and regulations, budget cuts leading to fewer inspections and weaker enforcement, over-reliance on voluntary efforts instead of mandatory regulations, and industrial cattle raising.
'Cause we all know what the real cause of E. coli is. . . . lack of funding.

Who has the most to lose from this kind of national hysteria about a food product? A spinach farmer that's got a crop in the field that's going to have to pitch it all in the river because Katie Courick won't shut up about it. Sure it's sickening to think of all the people's lives that have been changed forever (or worse, ended) because of this event, but who is better equipped to fix it? Some moron in a white Ford Tarus with a USDA badge making $37K a year, or a spinach farmer who depends on selling bagged greens to hippies?

Yes it's a problem, and no, government is not the answer.



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