In article <cl%_h.807$Q96.567@trnddc04>,
"wff_ng_7" > wrote:

> First it was just some pets. Then it was just some hogs. And later
> yet is was just 2.5 million chickens. Now today it's 20 million
> chickens. The scope of this problem gets bigger every day.

While I realize that poultry is under USDA authority, the gluten is
under FDA authority and I fear that the chickens have come home to roost
there as well. I wonder if one agency has the slightest clue what the
other is doing or if the Administration even cares. I recently heard
Diane Rehm interview Andrew Von Eschenbach, FDA Director,...

<http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/07/04/16.php#13066>

....who is the latest appointee in Bush's Brownification* of Federal
agencies. Note that Von Eschenbach is not merely a sleazocon crony;
he's a longtime personal friend of Dubya. Von Eschenbach insists that
the FDA is the "Gold Standard" in the protecting consumer safety. Given
the long string of recent FDA failures under his authority, I'd have to
say that Von Eschenbach's characterization of his agency's performance
is preposterous. While Bush pursues his disastrous Iraq agenda, our US
infrastructure is falling apart.

> Here's what the federal government is saying now...
[brevity snip]
> http://tinyurl.com/374hq3
>
> For all those who claim this is just a "chicken little" reaction to
> the issue, perhaps you should read the very good book "Silent Spring"
> and look into how the author Rachel Carson was branded as an alarmist
> at the time. It might seem like ancient history to some (being over
> 40 years ago), but her concerns turned out to be quite prophetic.
> Obviously the immediate topic is a bit different, but the reactions
> to warnings of a public threat are quite similar.

Absolutely. What scares me the most is what might happen in the long
term after all the lies that this crap has no harmful effect. The
notion that you can feed garbage to animals and have healthy animals and
then feed them to humans is insane. I can't understand why the American
public tolerates it. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

* Brownification is a term, coined by Jane Hamsher IIRC, alluding to
incompetent Bush appointees like Michael Brown, former FEMA director.