Not Only the Cows are Mad

Every good Republican knows that government regulation is a bad thing, right? They reduce profits and hinder the free market, and so on … right?

Of course, the point of regulation is supposed to be to protect the public from “market failures,” which are situations not necessarily covered by market forces. For example, there are economic incentives toward pollution — it’s a lot cheaper to dump chemicals in the local pond rather than dispose of them properly. Most of us don’t think that chemical companies should simply compete in the market (”Sure, we dump our toxic waste in the lake, but we pass the savings on to you!”) … we’re okay with regulating the practice for public protection.

However, sometimes regulations get imposed to REDUCE public safety. You see, the Agriculture Department tests about 1% of beef in the US for mad cow disease. One beef producer wanted to test all of its beef. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef would then, I’m sure, advertise that its beef is all tested, and all safe. Surely, that’s a great selling point. Here in New Hampshire, I do admire and pay more for products from some companies that take special care of their production — Garelick Farms and Stonyfield Farms come to mind (actually, I don’t like yogurt … but I’m glad that Eagle and one of my sons do!).

Larger producers, however, didn’t want to have to deal with this little upstart. So, they turned to the government and asked for help. A regulation has been imposed that can only reduce public safety. In order to prevent the widespread use of private testing, the Agriculture Department has prohibited Creekstone Farms from testing its own beef. The excuse? Fear of false positives.

The proof that that’s madness? Creekstone Farms is using the same test as the Agriculture Department.

Creekstone Farms challenged this in court, and won. Sadly, the Agriculture Department appealed and won on appeal.

I would love to hear anyone defend this policy of the USDA’s intelligently. If regulation is bad, why is this one an exception? This is nothing less than businesses winning a favor from the government. The little business trying to make a name for high quality have been stamped down by the big more-massive producers with friends in high places, and a cooperative court.