01/17/05 Was it the feed? Compliance?

01/17/05 Was it the feed? Compliance?

Could the cause of Canada's third case of b.s.e. have been a nutritional supplement bought a year after that nation implemented a ban on ruminant to ruminant livestock feed? That speculation seems to be growing after the rancher of the diseased cow told Canadian media he bought some calf starter feed as a nutritional supplement in 1998. Wilhelm Vohs said the product was readily available at a feed supply store and he assumed it contained mostly grain, minerals and vitamins. Has the U.S. complied with recent World Trade Organization rulings involving timber disputes with Canada? If a recently formed W.T.O. panel finds that compliance has not occurred, such a ruling could allow our neighbors to the North to retaliate with tariffs on some of our lumber products. The background of this case started when the U.S. raised import duties on Canadian softwood lumber three years ago as protection for U.S. timber producers from what our nation claimed was illegal subsidies. Canada appealed to the W.T.O., which ruled last spring in favor of the Canadian timber industry. That resulted in W.T.O. orders for the U.S. to comply with the ruling or face retaliation. The W.T.O. panel is expected to make a ruling within three months. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: One of our reporters received a critical e-mail for his on air comments that rural conservatives won the last election. The listener responded that the election was won by the Republican Party not conservatism. He went on to write that in conservative theory there are no subsidies for agriculture. It was his opinion that farmers who accept subsidies and vote republican are just big government welfare republicans. I thought my co-workers response to his e-mail was worth sharing. He said "Farmers are not welfare recipients. Welfare is for those who don't work and I don't know a farmer who doesn't work hard. Subsidies are simply a means of balancing out an unfair playing field in today's world economy. Having affordable safe food is just as important to our nation's security as subsidizing the UN. Subsidies allow US farmer to compete with foreign countries who also subsidize like Canada, and those that do not have fair labor, or chemical application laws that drive up our cost of farming. Whatever our government and farmers are doing, the results are astounding. We have the least expensive and safest food in the world." You know I couldn't have said it better. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought.
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