This was originally posted on Dave’s ESL Cafe, as part of this thread.
Scotticus wrote
Haha, I love having a poster who’s willing to put in the time to expose every one of komerican’s lies. Watching him get smoked is one of my favorite pastimes on Dave’s.
Actually, I’m only here because my wife’s away this weekend and I’m bored. I really don’t want to embarrass anyone, and I’m glad there is a Korean perspective here in this debate, but just look at the myths that have been completely busted in the past week or so in the various threads on this topic.
1. Koreans are more susceptible to Mad Cow Disease than Caucasians (completely false. Even the Korean scientist who wrote the only paper positing this theory admits this is just a hypothesis at best, no conclusions should be drawn from his paper and only further research can establish its validity. See here http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805090017.html
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/05/08/mad-cow-disease-professor-likes-us-beef-mad-as-hell-about-controversy/ )
2. The US beef being imported is beef Americans won’t eat (complete lie)
3. The US beef being imported doesn’t pass US inspection standards (complete lie)
4. Americans don’t eat 30 month+ beef (totally false Americans eat tons of it. See here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7436914.stm)
5. Korean beef is safer than US beef (false. Korea doesn’t do enough BSE testing to establish the BSE risk of eating Korean beef. The US does. As a result eating Korean beef is considered riskier by OIE standards than eating US beef. See here
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/05/123_24896.html
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805200015.html
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805160027.html
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1622384/)
6. The US bans 30 month+ beef from Canada but expects Korea to import 30 month+ beef from the US (totally false, the US does import 30 month+ beef from Canada. See here
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=67e3dd65-f8b3-471b-b15c-b59d63025358&p=3
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=e1c4cadc-4c55-4fe6-a703-6ae8ef499574
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/prbpubs/prb0301-e.htm#a1theamericanbordertxt).
7. Korea can’t stop imports of US beef if Mad Cow breaks out again (false Article XX of the GATT grants Korea this right. US Trade Representatives confirmed this weeks ago. See the text of GATT or here
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2890095)
9. LMB changed the deal on US beef when he met Bush to allow 30 month+ beef in (false, Pres. Roh agreed to this in 2007. LMB just followed through on his commitment)
10. The US is imposing American food safety standards on Koreans (wrong, the US is asking Korea to abide by internationally accepted OIE guidelines for BSE risk, something Pres. Roh agreed to last year. See here
http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=B3A494EC-B78A-2568-1D9B01F99858DD9D)
11. Japan doesn’t accept older US beef, why should Korea? (Because Japan has a “test-all” standard for BSE and tests every single domestic animal before it goes to market. They merely demand the same standards of imported beef. Korea wants one set of higher standards for imported beef and a separate lower standard for domestic beef. See here
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2004/aug04/aug02/JapanmovingtoeaseBSEtesting.CFM
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2004/jul04/jul19/JapanwaitsforUSBSEtest.CFM
http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/a01_0125.html
Every single one of these is an exaggeration, half truth or outright falsehood. What’s left? It astounds me that so many people could be on the streets protesting on the basis of this misinformation.
