FORCES - The Theatre of the Absurd

STUPIDITY DOES NOT BELONG JUST TO ANTI-TOBACCO

THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION TELLS US WHAT TO DO WITH EGGS!

When will the American people realize that the health establishment is sick, and it must be thrown down the toilet?

As foreseen by FORCES long ago, the chickenheads in the state, medical establishment, and bureaucracy will tell us what to do with everything -- not just cigarettes.

Here comes the Food and Drug Administration with warning labels on egg cartons! You'd better know about the dangers of the egg, you stupid citizen! What would you do without the FDA? And what do you mean raw eggs are good? Do you want to kill your children?

While we leave the rest of the comments to the press release of the US Libertarian Party, if you click-on-the-chicks you'll read two excellent, simple recipes that require the use of raw eggs (aaaahhh!! When will the control freaks get a handle on the Internet?).

They are great for breakfast. Just make sure that the eggs are fresh -- and that the warning label gets recycled in the washroom.

NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/
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For release: July 8, 1999
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com
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Are Americans too dumb to fry an egg?
New egg warning label suggests we are

WASHINGTON, DC -- A new federal plan to require a cigarette-style health warning on egg cartons -- that's right: egg cartons! -- proves that government bureaucrats think Americans are too dumb to boil an egg.

And that's no yolk.

"The eggheads in Washington, DC have gone too far," charged Bill Winter, Director of Communications for the Libertarian Party. "This new regulation -- which assumes that Americans can't cook breakfast without instructions from the FDA -- shows what happens when bureaucrats' judgment has been fried, scrambled, and poached by too much power."

This month, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it wants to require all egg cartons to carry a new warning label, which will lecture consumers about the danger of improperly cooked eggs.

The label would read: "For your protection: Keep eggs refrigerated; cook eggs until yolks are firm; and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly."

The President's Council on Food Safety is also getting into the act: It has announced it will come up with its own "strategic plan" to control egg safety by November 1.

But Libertarians say the regulation has laid an egg.

"Think about the real message behind this warning label," said Winter. "Bureaucrats are, in essence, saying to the American people: 'You eat 67 billion eggs a year, but we can't trust you to put them in your refrigerator, or to cook them properly. So, with our new federally mandated warning label, we're going to nag you every time you pick up an egg carton. Why? Because you're too dumb to be trusted.' "

Ironically, the new warning comes at a time when food-borne illnesses caused by salmonella are falling: They declined by 44% from 1996 to 1998, thanks in large part to voluntary quality-control standards implemented by the egg industry.

And experts agree that eggs have never been particularly dangerous: While the average American eats 245 eggs annually, the odds of running into a spoiled egg is only one in 20,000. So, a typical consumer might encounter a dangerous egg once every 42 years.

But if bureaucrats can demand a warning label for a problem that might occur every 42 years, so can Libertarians, said Winter.

"We're concerned that bureaucrats may have missed some egg-related problems, so we've got some warning labels of our own to propose," he said. For example:

  • WARNING: Remove egg from shell before eating.

  • WARNING: Just say no to over easy.

  • WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

And probably the most useful one, from the perspective of the Washington, DC crowd, said Winter:

  • WARNING: Don't throw these eggs at the bureaucrats and politicians who think Americans are too dumb to fry an egg.


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