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A Seoul butcher has been selling U.S. beef since Tuesday, from batches imported but held up last year when inspections were halted upon the detection of backbones. The shop sold out 200 kg of the American meat within a few hours, and five staffers were reported to have been busy taking telephone inquiries on Wednesday. Customers came by word of mouth. The shop intends to secure greater quantities of U.S. beef.
If one can be infected with mad cow disease by eating American beef, as claimed by the television and some Internet media outlets, those who bought the meat will risk their lives eating it. Who would eat beef at the risk of their life? No one. Because they know the allegation that U.S. beef equals mad cow disease is false, they buy beef with their own money and eat it with their families.
Ninety-six countries including European ones import and eat American beef with no restrictions imposed on the age of cattle. Our republic alone has undergone the mad cow disease uproar. If you want to say American beef is really dangerous, you should have evidence that even one U.S. cow has suffered BSE or that even one American has been infected with the human form of mad cow disease. Since the use of powdered meat and bone feed was banned in 1997, however, no U.S. cattle has been confirmed to have suffered BSE. Every year the Americans eat nearly seven million cattle no younger than 30 months and eat soup made from beef bones like a staple. None of the 300 million Americans has been confirmed to have caught variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease, from eating U.S. beef.
The incompetent and irresponsible Lee Myung-bak administration is primarily responsible for the mad cow disease uproar, unprecedented in the world. The government, after taking no steps when unimaginable scare stories caused lots of repercussions, hid itself behind the riot police after the protests spun out of control.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo revealed that he bought 12 kg of U.S. beef on Tuesday and ate it with his family, including his grandsons. It's natural. But President Lee, not the premier, should have been the first to eat U.S. beef. The presidential family should be shown in public eating not only U.S. beef but also U.S. beef intestine and oxtail soup. And not just once, but until the public is assured of its safety. The same is the case with Cabinet members. Considering our livestock farmers, it's preposterous that the president and ministers have to eat U.S. beef, not Korean. It's unavoidable, however. It's a question staking the trust of the entire government.
For sure, people who don't want to eat American beef should be assured of not eating it. For group meals at schools, hospitals and barracks, opinion should be collected with priority given to those who hate to eat U.S. beef. And restaurants selling American beef disguised as Korean should be deprived of their business licenses after even one instance of deception.
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