03/09/07 No Imported Beef & Cutting In Line

No to Imported Beef & Cutting in Line. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. USDA's proposed rule to allow fresh and frozen meat imports from a particular portion of Argentina is not receiving the support of two of the nation's cattle industry groups. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and R-CALF USA are speaking out in opposition to the proposed rule that would recognize the disease status of a subregion of a country for the first time - and declare Argentina's Patagonia South region as free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease - or FMD. NCBA Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes says animal health concerns dictated NCBA's position. STOKES: Currently we have very tight controls on imports from Argentina due to the risk of foot and mouth disease; better known as FMD. It's been almost 80 years since the United States has had a case of FMD within its borders and we want to do everything we can to keep it that way. The Washington State Patrol has been cracking down on onramp motorists who cut onto the freeway early by crossing what`s called the gore point. The patrol is focusing on motorists who cross the white painted lines on roadways that extend from onramps. Those lines, usually forming a triangle-shaped area, are called gore points and are designed to ease merging at on and offramps. They`re considered barriers. Those motorists caught cutting across the gore points each now face a $388 fine. Now here's today's Washington Grange Report. (GRANGE) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.