The courts have cleared the path for a class action suit against the Canadian government. The multi billion dollar suit claims that the feds’ handling of the mad cow outbreak was poorly handled, and public safety was jeopardized. This is serious stuff, with a compromised food supply that has the potential to leave people to a nasty death where the brain slowly develops spongy holes and the body slowly shuts down, and there are doubtless some consumers out there who don’t realize a vegan diet can be an effective way to mitigate the risk.
Oh, wait – the lawsuit isn’t about consumers.
In fact, the lawsuit is being filed on behalf of Canada’s beef farmers. Separate suits against the federal government have been filed in several of Canada’s provinces, and they all come from the beef industry, which has lost an estimated $9 billion dollars (estimated by the farmers, that is) since the first Canadian mad cow was discovered, and well, they want to get paid. They’re also suing an Australian feed company who put bovine protein in their cattle feed. That’s right, people have known since the 1980’s that feeding cows to cows could cause mad cow disease, but it’s not the poor farmers’ fault. They’re just trying to run a business, and if their products turn out to be unsafe, well, gosh darn it, the government should have done a better job of informing the public that everything was fine. I mean come on, would it have killed parliament to have passed a mandatory beef quota law for every citizen?
Of course, in all other matters, the industry should be allowed to self-regulate.
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