Free Killer Politics by Ed Schultz

Organization, “in industrialized countries, the percentage of the population suffering from food-borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30 percent. In the United States of America (USA), for example, around 76 million cases of food-borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year” (emphasis mine).
    That’s astonishing. The American dinner table has become more dangerous than a war zone. This is happening in industrialized countries! Plain and simple, it’s because profit has begun to trump food safety and consumer protection. Take for instance COOL, the country of origin labeling legislation, which was passed in 2002. COOL would label foods so consumers could decide if they wanted an American steak or one from Canada, where there have been well-publicized incidents ofmad cow disease. But bureaucratic and legislative stall tactics have delayed the implementation of these rules. Why? Big conglomerates think it would hurt their business if you knew where your food originated.
    Without COOL, American food conglomerates can buy cheap food overseas, which leverages down the price American producers can get for their produce. But knowing that food safety oversight is even more lacking in some countries other than in our own, shouldn’t we, as consumers, be accorded the basic respect of knowing where the food on our plates came from?
    Do I think mad cow is a serious issue in Canada? No. But I ought to be able to decide if I want to buy American, Mexican, or Australian beef. Good grief, I know my boxer shorts come from China, but don’t have a clue about my T-bone!
    The monopolization of the food industry by just a few corporations is chilling. It drives small producers out of business and puts the control of our food supply in the hands of just a few. In 2005, Smithfield, Tyson, Swift & Company, and Cargill owned nearly 64 percent of the hog market. Also, according to 2005 statistics, Tyson, Cargill, Swift & Company, and National Beef Packing slaughtered 84 percent of the cattle in the United States.
    It’s not a stretch to suggest that that kind of market share creates an opportunity to manipulate prices. A cattlemen’s watchdog group, R-CALF, sued Tyson, but after a federal jury ruled for the cattlemen, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the verdict. In June 2009, Tyson, in what R-CALF says was an effort to intimidate, sought attorneys’ fees from Herman Schumacher, a Herreid, South Dakota, cattleman, who led the lawsuit against Tyson. Schumacher, who refused to pay, returned home one day to find U.S. marshals seizing his property.
    Schumacher says the official edict taped on his door by the marshals was a warning to any other rancher with the notion to stand up against violations of the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act, which prohibits packers from engaging in “unfair and deceptive practices, manipulatingprices, creating a monopoly or conspiring to aid in unlawful acts.” In our justice system, deep pockets win out. The rich and the big corporations use the courts to financially bully enemies into submission.
    Of the Four Pillars, Feeding the Country is the most important one. Nothing else happens unless the people are fed. Americans have become accustomed to low prices and overall high safety standards, but consolidation and market manipulation have eroded both. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has seemingly looked the other way—in part because urban Americans don’t grasp what is at stake. But I have no doubt that unless we challenge these food monopolies now, we will regret it later.
    While it is easy to eat cheap in America, it isn’t cheap to eat healthy. I’ve heard some commentators cite obesity rates as evidence that Americans are doing well. It’s quite the opposite. Inexpensive prepackaged, starchy, corn syrup–laden products fill our supermarket shelves, and that has