USDA PR Chief Flacked for the Beef Industry

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Eric Schlosser, author of the hugely popular bestseller Fast Food Nation, notes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's PR point person on mad cow disease, Alisa Harrison, flacked for the beef industry. "Before joining the department, Ms. Harrison was director of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the beef industry's largest trade group, where she battled government food safety efforts, criticized Oprah Winfrey for raising health questions about American hamburgers, and sent out press releases with titles like 'Mad Cow Disease Not a Problem in the U.S.' ... Right now you'd have a hard time finding a federal agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to regulate. Dale Moore, Ms. Veneman's chief of staff, was previously the chief lobbyist for the cattlemen's association." Meanwhile, the federal government is failing to take the only steps that will solve the mad cow crisis in America: a total ban on feeding slaughterhouse waste to livestock, and testing tens of millions of cattle. John Stauber says 'it's the cow feed, stupid!'