Sippy Cups and Burgers

We moms do our best to keep our families safe.  But in light some recent safety news, I think my family is going to go find Saddam Hussein's worm hole and take up residence there.

Not that I have to worry about toxic chemicals leaching out of sippy cups anymore.  PunditGirl is way past that stage.

When she was a toddler, I thought I was being a conscientious mom by providing her with chlorinated water, sugar-free fruit juices and organic, low-fat milk.  But apparently, there's a good chance all those drinks were contaminated with toxic chemicals that have been linked to diabetes, breast cancer, and a whole host of other diseases I really can't think about right now.

At least the food we're eating isn't contaminated, right?

Unless I'm getting the ground beef directly from my dad's farm, it looks like burgers are off the menu here at Chez PunditMom-- almost 150 million pounds of beef have been recalled today because of possible contamination.   

I might feel like we had dodged a bullet, except that MSNBC is reporting that the beef from these cows has been in the food chain since February 2006.

Yeah, you heard me -- for TWO YEARS.

Sippy cups and ground beef are two staples of motherhood as we know it.  If we can't rely on regulators to demand that plastic manufacturers make sure that synthetic hormones aren't going to leech out of sippy cups after a few times in the dishwasher or that family summertime barbecues won't result in death from E. coli, mad cow, or salmonella poisoning, then what's the point of having them there?  May as well close them down and let us keep the tax money that funds them.  I bet we'd be getting more back than the much touted stimulus package.

The tainted beef could still be in our freezers.  News reports say that 37 million pounds of the potentially tainted beef went to school lunch programs.  And we wouldn't know about the potentially deadly meat if not for an undercover video  showing cows who were too sick to stand at a California  slaughterhouse.

I think I'm going to be sick.

What's next?  I know in my gut it's not going to stop there.  Maybe it's time to go all Gilligan's Island.  At least I know the tropical fruit would be safe.

After she's done getting rid of those packages of ground beef in her freezer, you can find Joanne at her place, PunditMom, as well as The Huffington Post and MOMocrats.

Comments

[Donna]

The only thing we can do is make decisions based on our knowledge RIGHT NOW.

We grew up in a world where there were fewer safety precautions. Who knows what kind of horrors were in the food chain 30 years ago?

Am I disturbed by the fact that my kid has bought school lunches while this beef was in the food chain (and just because the stuff that was recalled goes back two years, there's no telling how long the abuses were really taking place -- or how many other slaughterhouses are just as bad)? Yeah. This is upsetting.

And my 11-year-old may have played with lead-tainted toys that weren't discovered until this year. When you think about it, I grew up in homes that contained lead paint.

I think just living in the world is a calculated risk, and has always been that way.

We do the best we can and leave it at that. Worrying about things we cannot see or what we did not see in the past will not protect our children or us -- but it will make us crazy.

[Gunfighter]

I second Donna's comments.

[QSMama / Lea]

I agree that living in this world means mitigating risks. But there's been an enormous backlash against lead in toys, houses, and other things we come into contact daily.

Where's the same backlash against deadly crap in our food?

Thirty years ago our meats (and other foods) simply didn't face the same risks. Beef cattle weren't raised on feedlots and slaughtered at the astounding hourly rates they are today. Human forms of transmissible spongiform encephaly, like Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, showed up in the mid-90s. It is different today.

I love burgers. I don't want to stop eating beef. And, yes, I've changed my buying habits to try to mitigate much of the worry and risk--which, I know, is really tiny to begin with. For me, though, it's the principle. These major mess-ups should not be happening. Safety regulations HAVE to be followed, whether it's lead in my kids' toys or the stuff in their food.

I think the reason this really burns me up is because I see it as a failure of government oversight--one that has much more dire consequences than, say, a road with potholes. I want the right people to take responsibility.

- Lea at Quick Serve Kids