While PETA may have taken things too far by labeling meat consumption "child abuse," the U.S. Department of Agriculture allowing meat from sick cows to make their way into the food supply seems cruel and unusual. In February, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against the department, alleging they created a loophole that encouraged meat producers to allow product from sick cattle onto shelves and into the mouths of hungry Americans.

Now a spokesperson for the department says the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer refuses to take a position for or against a proposed ban that would prevent these "downer" cattle from making it to slaughterhouses for processing. However the representative did say Ed is "serious about addressing the issue." Apparently he won't address it until an investigation into the matter is completed later this year.

Downer cows, by the way, could potentially carry mad cow disease which is why they were originally banned from the food supply in 2004. The aforementioned loophole allows sick cows to be slaughtered for food if they are first checked out by a veterinarian and given clearance. Earlier this year, 143 million pounds of beef were recalled due to video evidence that tainted meat may have been released to the public by a California plant.

Well if Tuesday's news that the Bush administration is controlling which chemicals the EPA can assess for potential toxicity didn't make you completely paranoid suspicious of the government's motives, Ed Schafer's reluctance to actually take a stance on this ought to do it. Ed will take action "later this year." Could somebody from the Department of Agriculture please clarify exactly how many millions of pounds of tainted meat that is the equivalent to because some brains just can't calculate that kind of math.

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