Beef: It's What's for the Election?

"U.S. and Japanese negotiators struck a deal Saturday to allow limited imports of U.S. beef into Japan," reports Canadian Press. Japan imported $1.7 billion of U.S. beef in 2003, but closed its markets last December, after a Washington state cow was found to have mad cow disease. The chair of the Canada Beef Export Federation called the announcement was "old news," saying, "The Americans are trying to put a new spin on it for their election." The head of U.S. beef producer Creekstone Farms, which unsuccessfully petitioned the USDA to do its own mad cow disease testing, said, "We would still like to test."