Change but no change

[kato]

Looks like we have the same Agriculture minister as ever. Oh well, I guess that means we can just keep on sending those petitions without having to re-explain it all.

[jensend]

just started a book by naomi klein - shock doctrine. talks about how disasters are used (maybe staged) in order to use 'disaster capitalism'. it's like a manual for what happened with bse. cargill and tyson followed the procedure precisely. maybe it should be required reading for abp and cca so they'll know how not to react when fmd hits. i think over the long haul it's what everybody is in for.

[kato]

IMHO, the day fmd hits the U.S. the rules will all change and suddenly it will not be a significant disease any more.

Call it a hunch.....

[grassfarmer]

I don't think so Kato, these things are all goverened by international standards and they won't be able to cover up an outbreak of FMD unless they got extremely lucky and could nip it in the bud before it spread. The global reporting of FMD is fairly comprehensive and swift so I dont think they could SSS their way out of FMD the way they did with BSE.

[smcgrath76]

I don't see the rules around FMD changing
much either. The biggest difference
between the US and here is that they are
320M and we are a mere 32 or so. We can't
eat our way out of even our diminished
cowherd.

[kato]

I'm saying if it hits the U.S., not Canada. They will muscle in rule changes. They'll bully until they get them. And they'll get support from every single country that has ever had a border shut to it due to an outbreak.

There's NO WAY you'll ever see piles of burning carcasses in a Nebraska feedlot. It ain't going to happen.

This disease is common in a lot of countries, and it's main drawback is with trade. It's not harmful to people, but it's a handy way to put up a barrier. It's a barrier that won't work over the U.S. Canada border either. It's far too contagious for that. Too many people travelling back and forth, let alone cattle. Just think of the restaurant and grocery trade for one.

There is too much money involved, and too many people at the top with money invested to not step in and change the rules. I bet there are contingency plans in place already.