05/11/05 Drop full testing; Reconsider refusal

It is only the latest step in what expects to a long process. But it was significant step Friday, when Japan's Food Safety Commission recommended that its government waive b.s.e. testing for cattle younger than twenty one months of age. It is a step the U.S. has been pushing for. U.S.D.A. Under Secretary J.B. Penn says U.S. surveys of Japanese consumers show they overwhelmingly want to buy American beef again, and believe it would be safe to do so under a relaxed testing standard. But despite the Food Safety Commission's recommendation, the Chief of the F.S.C. says some seventy per cent of over 1,200 letters received from Japanese citizens over the past month urged the panel to recommend continued 100 per cent b.s.e. testing. Three months ago the U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit Court ruled that livestock producers who don't discharge into U.S. waters do not have to apply for discharge permits under the federal Clean Water Act. However, environmentalists have been pushing the Court to reconsider the decision on the Environmental Protection Agency's Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation rule. Now there is word the Court of Appeals is refusing to reconsider its previous decision. And according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman, there is no need for the Court to reconsider, because, in his and his organization's opinion, there is no need for every livestock producer to apply for a Clean Water Act permit. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: Farmers are literally "bee sides" themselves wondering where all the bees have gone. When most of us see bees, we think honey. But to farmers see bees as valuable little workers who pollinate at least $15 billion dollars worth of crops each year. Typically fruit and nut farmers will pay $30 to $40 to place a hive in an orchard while letting the beekeeper retain the honey, but this year, due to bee shortages, competition is brewing because almond growers in California are paying keepers up to $100 a hive. Like the gold rush of the 1800's, other beekeepers are rushing to California to make good, leaving farmers in the east short of bees. Most bee deaths have been attributed to the Varroa mite who arrived in the 1980's and began feeding on wild honey bees. Researchers are scuttling to find new methods to rid the mites that have become resistant to insecticides. One keeper has even imported a queen from Russia, whose meticulous grooming and housekeeping keeps mites and dirt out of the hive. That's a true queen bee. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought.