Personal Injury Law

The delay isn’t going over very well in Washington, D.C. where Congressmen say the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea won’t be approved unless the government in Seoul fully opens its market to American beef.

Prior to being locked out of South Korea in 2003 when a cow from Canada immigrated to Washington State where it was found to be contaminated with Mad Cow disease, the Asian nation was the third largest foreign market for American beef. The industry badly wants back in.

Standing in the way are the protest rallies that have been held every day since the pact was announced. More than 1,700 civic groups are involved in the street protests, and 1.3 million have signed a petition against the re-entry of U.S. beef to their country. Korean ranchers, who have enjoyed not having competition from Americans, and opposition political parties are keeping the pot well stirred.

For an American view of what this all means, may I suggest you check out Martha Rosenberg who gives all of this her own special viewpoint in the May 15th issue of CounterPunch.

Rosenberg, a rare editorial cartoonist who writes, caught our attention by including a list of people who’ve died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the U.S. during the past nine months. Like Mad Cow, C-J is a prion disease.

Rosenberg's point is that concern about Mad Cow disease in the U.S. beef supply is not unfounded.   We agree.  Nor do we think the South Korean public is acting in a sane and rational manner.