Think about it, in a month, there has been a consumer backlash, and, at least for human consumption, output has been slashed, and anti-consumer officials like SecAg Tom BallVilsak have come out in favor of "voluntary" labeling.
Why has this happened?
Well, because of the name.
If the reporting had said, called this shit, "lean finely textured beef (LFTB) or boneless lean beef trimmings (BLBT)," it probably would never have hit the evening news.
Even if it did, as mechanically deboned meat, which has litle bits of bone in it, did during the 1970s, not much would have happened. (I would argue that these days, the FDA requiring labling would not have happened)
The uproar is not about the health issues, though BSE is an issue, it's THE NAME.
The phenomenon is something that the Republicans constantly use to push their agenda:
- Death Tax for the Inheritance tax
- Job creators for worthless scions of wealth families (See Bush, George W.)
- Freedom of religion for enforcing their religion on you.
- States rights for "keeping people of color down."
- Law and order as a synomym for the Nixon administration.
- Etc.
When ever the Republicans come up with one of their bon mots, the response on our side is to claim that it is dishonest and Orwellian.
Of course it's dishonest and Orwellian. But it works.
That's been the reality ever since there have been elections.
Wringing your hands over this is, to quote Nietsche, "Like the bite of a dog into a stone, it is a stupidity."
The right thing to do is to do it back and do it better.