STORIES WE DO NOT READ IN THE US PRESS

FRENCH ROQUEFORT CHEESE AND AMERICAN BEEF

Gripped by an economic-crisis-induced fit of purchasing madness, I recently bought a nice square of that elegant blue French cheese--Roquefort..the lovely creamy, piquant cheese which is made of ewe's (sheep) milk and which is aged in cool limestone caves in southern France where it has been made since ancient times. Even the ancients knew and enjoyed this famous product of Gaul. The Roman historian and natural scientist Pliny the Elder (who died in the August 25, 79AD eruption of Vesuvius) wrote glowingly about the cheese in his "Natural History". It was very expensive!. A little triangle was over ten dollars! The price in the local market was much more than one would pay in France itself. Perhaps three times more....Why?

The answer: Our so wise, US government has had a 100% entry tax on this fine product since 1999. They were planning to raise the tax to 300%. That would make it simple out of reach for all except the Wall Street hedge fund managers to buy. Simply a way to punish the rest of us and the French? Yes indeed!

But the part of the story which disturbs me is why we have imposed this big import tax.

Since 1980 the EU block has put an embargo on American beef --our beef laden with hormones-- since the EU considers that American beef treated with hormones was detrimental to the health of the consumer it has prevented this beef from entering its markets. The US imposed import tax on French Roquefort cheese, Italian mineral water, Belgian chocolates, EU meats, grains and other foods were simply a reaction and a threat (a tit for tat) for the EU action.

Today Le Monde reports that some deal has been struck. The Obama government will not jump the tax to 300%---in return, the French and the rest of the EU will import American beef of the non-hormone-treated variety to the tune of 20,000 tons during the first three years and raising to 45,000 tons on the fourth year.

That's great for the EU farmer and consumer. Their beef should be cheaper and their farm products will have an expanded market---but what about the US consumer? Our government is too much under the influence of the beef lobby to label meat accordingly so we continue to have to eat growth-hormone treated beef. And perhaps now that the EU's markets are opened to the non-hormone treated variety, that scarce product on American shelves will be now even more difficult to find and more expensive.

We should all demand that our government label our meats, and demand hormone-free beef and other products from our producers.

To read the whole Le Monde piece see:http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2009/05/06/b-uf-contre-roquefort-l-ue-et-les-etats-unis-passent-l-eponge_1189829_3214.html

On a related topic, a recent study, spanning the past decade, evaluated the food preference of more than one-half million 50-71 year-olds and the effects of their preferences on their mortality. It found that men and women eating the most meat were one-third more likely to die of a variety of causes over those who ate the least red meat. To read the facts about hormone treated American beef and how it decreases your life span read :http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_82019.html

rjk speaks