Editorial: Meat-testing snafu acts as wake-up call

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 4:44 a.m.

On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would stop testing for salmonella in beef that is destined for school lunches. The meat industry sought the testing ban, but this was a stunning change, especially since children are more vulnerable than adults to suffering death and serious illness from contaminated beef. But Americans might not have been too surprised, as many already have become jaded to the Bush administration's fawning over business interests who have sought to turn back important Clinton-era regulations that would protect the environment, working conditions and public health and safety.

Fortunately, by Thursday the Bush administration said the salmonella testing would continue after all. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer blamed the initial decision on lower-level agency employees, adding that Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman was not aware this new policy would be announced. That isn't reassuring, though. It suggests that career employees throughout the federal government are adopting a none-too-subtle message from the White House: What big business wants, it gets.

The Bush administration is just 2 months old, but it already caters exclusively to business interests, whether it's rolling back ergonomics rules that would benefit workers, suspending regulations that would reduce arsenic in drinking water, or halting the implementation of regulations that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. It is hoped that the fallout over the salmonella testing finally serves as a wake-up call to the administration that such extreme policies can only backfire with the public.