05/23/07 U.S. Controlled Risk & Proposal Under Fire

U.S. Controlled Risk & Proposal Under Fire plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Yesterday the World Organization for Animal Health formally classified the United States as a controlled risk country for bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns said that the classification confirmed that U.S. regulatory controls are effective and that U.S fresh beef and beef products from cattle of all ages can be safely traded due to interlocking safeguards. JOHANNS: It's very good news. We're going to do everything we can now to move with our trading partners to try to get their borders open. Last weeks Senate announcement of a new immigration reform proposal has come under fire. While a lot of Ag industry officials are excited about the work being done on Capitol Hill, according to American Farm Bureau Labor Specialist Paul Schlegel certain aspects face heavy opposition. SCHLEGEL: I don't think there's any one provision in the bill that's not under attack. It's depending whom you speak to and when you speak to them so yea, this is vulnerable to criticism particularly conservatives who feel it might be tantamount to amnesty. We don't feel its amnesty; Farm Bureau does not support amnesty. We do think the provision however does deal with a very difficult problem in a practical, effective way for farmers. Now here's Susan Allen with today's Food Forethought. Al Gores scrambling to make sure he is covered. Hillary says she is, the Dave Mathews band count themselves players, along with celebrities like Orlando Bloom, and Brad Pitt. What about you? What are you doing to become a carbon neutral citizen of planet earth? Me, I lose sleep over my enormous carbon consumption. Think about the guilt I experience rolling into a gas station pulling a four horse goose neck with a big old diesel rig. I sink lower behind my tinted windows but invariably some tiny square car that gets over 40 mpg pulls up and that is when I desperately wish I had purchased a Terra Pass. You know, that that pretty "green" sticker slapped front and center on the rear window or bumper to show all the world that "I too" paid $29.95 to have someone somewhere plant a tree to offset the thousands of carbon I purportedly produce. Come to think of it maybe I can donate some horse manure for the trees because it is going to take a heck of a lot more guilt before I am caught dead with a Terra Pass posted next to the hunting and rodeo decals. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.