MsSage said:
Can any supporters give me information about R~Calf? I have looked at thier website. There was really no information and there were no links. I am standing on the outside and I am trying to decide.
MsSage I'm NOT a supporter of R-CALF in any stretch of the imagination but if you really want to know what R-CALF is all about look at some of the things they have said and done.
Within a week of finding the first case of BSE in Canada they wrote their congressmen demanding we be quarantined claiming all beef from here was tainted and unfit for human consumption. They later took out a Washington Post ad claiming to have the World Highest Standards and the World Safest Beef. They wrote this in their comments to the USDA on the final rule
Under no circumstances should the United States accept any cattle, beef or beef products, from countries that do not maintain identical or more stringent safeguard measures that is presently required or presently proposed in the United States which measures have been enforced for at least as long as the United States.
When the USDA took all comments into consideration and decided the best thing to do was to do as the OIE recommended and implement import/export rules reflected the Science which in turn made trade resume with countries known to have BSE (CANADA). R-CALF took the USDA to court spouting All beef coming from a country affect with BSE is Tainted and in Judge Cebulls own words "Presented a GENUINE RISK OF DEATH." And one of the arguments R-CALF tried to use to stop live cattle and beef imports was the US have loopholes in your feed bans that would allow imported cattle and beef to contaminate the US herd. And if the US was to resume imports of live cattle and beef from Canada, the US cattle industry
deserved to have the same firewalls in place as Canada has to stop the spread of BSE.
Now let us look at what R-CALF did after BSE was found in Texas. Did they ask for a quarantine of the US or at least Texas?
NO Did they claim all beef coming from a country affect with BSE is tainted so don't eat US or again at least Texas beef?
NO. Leo's plan was to tell the US consumers this ,
don't worry we have had these firewalls in place for years, the only country prior to having a case of BSE to have these firewalls in place for so many years. And we did it to make sure if a case was ever found it was a non-issue.
Now MsSage these are the same firewalls that R-CALF claimed wouldn't protect the US consumer and Herd from the spread of imported BSE but now they are the firewalls that made US native BSE a
NON ISSUE. If R-CALF won't allow Canadian cattle into the US until the US industry has the same firewalls as Canada has had for Years then who had the higher standards and more stringent firewalls?
CANADA. As far as the Safest Beef in the World, what makes the US beef the Safest if according to R-CALF all beef coming from a country affect with BSE is tainted and you have weaker firewalls than Canada has AND THE US HAS BSE? Is you head swimming yet from all the flip flopping R-CALF has done? Let me add this, R-CALF's Trade Committee Chairman was quoted saying this
"If there is a positive case again in the U.S., we as a beef producing nation shouldn't market beef in cattle older that 20 months".
Have you ever heard R-CALF stand up in front of the media demanding this since BSE was found in Texas? NO because the over 20 month beef sales accounts for a very large share of the US producers income including R-CALF supporters income. R-CALF claimed it was a lack of Canadian imports that was causing the historically high cattle prices in the US but when Beef was allowed in the prices continued to climb. R-CALF claimed that when the border openned to live cattle the FLOOD of Canadian cattle poised at the border would destroy US cattle prices, but when the Live Cattle imports resumed there was NO FLOOD, (just like the Canadian producers said there wouldn't be) and cattle prices continues strong. R-CALF admitted they USED the "Consumer Groups" to get their word heard by a larger audience to stop imports from Canada. They admit they took the USDA to court as that was the only way they could get anyone to listen to them. Even if it meant holding up the US Beef export markets the USDA was trying to get reestablished. R-CALF is like a bunch of little boys just wanting attention. If one story doesn't get the results they want they are not beyond making the story a bit more sensationalized to get peoples attention. They have used out and out lies and word games to damage consumer confidence in a product (Canadian Beef) that is raised under higher standards than the US beef is. With the leadership that R-CALF has and the support of blind followers like Sandhusker, Oldtimer and Haymaker, God help us all :roll: . If you want to know how blind the support is ask Sandhusker how the firewall that Leo says were put in place so many years ago will protect the consumer from US BSE but not imported? The US producers are just lucky the public didn't listen to their rantings and kept eating beef.You may wonder Why R-CALF and the their supporters would do this, well because they are CATTLEBOYS AND THEY HATE THE BEEF INDUSTRY(PACKERS) TO THE POINT OF DESTROYING THEM EVEN IF IT MEANS TAKING THEMSELVES AND EVERYONE ELSE DOWN IN THE PROCESS. :roll: :roll: :roll:
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