Tariffic!

Trump’s imposing tariffs on steel and the world implodes…we’re going to have a trade war and the wondrous globalisation enrichment programme will come to a shuddering halt….the BBC tells us. Trump is just so stupid and ignorant.  How soon they forget….

EU raises import duties on Chinese steel, angering Beijing

If a country dumped its excess steel at rock-bottom prices that is just the opposite of a tariff….it is ‘trade war’ by other means…it’s unfair competition…which is why tariffs are imposed…to produce a level playing field.  As we know the EU imposes tariffs on imports…unless you’re in the single market…remember that?  Curious the BBC/Remainers complain about Brexit and subsequent likely tariffs but don’t blame the EU for those tariffs…whilst they do blame the US for its tariffs.

Once again the BBC carefully selects who the ‘bad guys’ are…and is also pushing hard on the ‘poisonous food’ from America…#duetobrexit.  We will be importing food from America that is produced cheaply and in filthy conditions and the poor will be forced to eat it as they won’t be able to afford the wholesome, healthy and highly regulated food the EU produces.  Hmmm…so how do these ‘poor’ eat now then as we don’t import this cheap toxic beef and chicken from the US now?  Just how do Americans not die in their millions from all that rubbish they put in their mouths?  You’d have no idea that the US has strict food hygiene standards if you listen to the BBC….let’s not forget for 20 years British beef and lamb were banned from the US…and how many food scandals have we had across Europe in recent years?  Pot calling kettle black methinks.

Here’s the Guardian on the EU’s own chicken production standards….

If consumers knew how farmed chickens were raised, they might never eat their meat again

The year 2012 marked a leap forward for animal welfare in the European Union. Farmers were no longer allowed to keep egg-laying hens in barren battery cages smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. Instead, the minimum requirement now is that hens are kept in a cage the size of an A4 sheet of paper, with an extra postcard-sized bit of shared space that allows them to scratch and nest. These are known as enriched cages.

Again…this is all hypocrisy…there’s a hue and cry about tariffs on steel but not on the blocking of the sale of products from part of the huge US food industry….a block which is largely political and economic not on health grounds….as proven with ‘chlorinated chickens’ which they EU knows have no health concerns…they are blocked as a protectionist measure for their own farmers.

Is the EU ban on safety or shutting out competition?

The ban is really just one more form of EU protectionism. EU chicken-producers don’t like US chicken because it retails for around 80 per cent the price of European chicken.

The European Food Safety Agency has passed chlorinated-washed chicken for safe consumption. As well, it might, given that it is quite happy for us to drink water which has been chlorinated in order to kill off microorganisms. At the levels used by US producers, the agency concluded, you would have to eat three whole chickens every day to risk exceeding safe limits. Even among regular consumers of US-produced chicken 99 per cent of the chlorine they ingest comes from drinking water rather than food.

The European food safety regulator EFSA looked at the issue of chlorine treatment and found “chemical substances in poultry are unlikely to pose an immediate or acute health risk for consumers.”

In conclusion, the review did not identify any likely consumer risks that might arise from the use of ASC, chlorine dioxide or aqueous chlorine (including hypochlorite) when used as decontaminant washes of chicken meat. This also includes the view that there was no evidence that the use of these washes lead to the production of substances with the potential to cause cancer, particularly at the levels of use by the poultry industry. Accordingly there was no need to identify existing risk management options.

The BBC are still peddling that old lie about chlorinated chickens despite chlorine being in our tap-water and of course in swimming pools, ingested by the gallon by our kids.

There is also a lot of noise about hormones in US beef…but it has been shown that they are safe if handled correctly and the right dosage given to the animals…..the EU believes that high dosages will result in cancer and thus bans the import of meat produced in such a way….just in case mistakes happen….which is a bit like banning all cars from a country ‘just in case’ a dangerous fault is introduced due to a mistake at the factory….if that standard was applied to the EU’s own food production then we probably wouldn’t eat anything at all judging by all the past food scandals.

A European Commission directive banning the use of hormones in meat production was introduced in the 1980s. Imported meat from animals with detectable levels of hormonal residues was also banned.

The ban was introduced as evidence suggested oestrogenic hormones were carcinogenic at high levels. While animals given correct dosages were unlikely to have high levels, they could occur if there was misuse, such as tissue from an implantation site being sent for consumption.

But the EU was not just concerned about health – the ban was also based on consumer perception that using hormones to manipulate growth is unnatural, unnecessary and a risk to animal welfare.

In the US, where hormones are used, officials maintain there is no good evidence of any health risk from using hormones. The country has long-debated the issue with the EU as it claims the ban is against the spirit of free trade between countries.

Countries that use hormones can export meat to the EU from production facilites that don’t use hormones…thus we could still import cheaper meat from the US post Brexit hormone-free…

Overseas producers supplying the EU usually designate special production units where no hormonal growth promoters are used. The loss of extra productivity is balanced by the high prices received. However, it can still be argued that producers in these countries are at an advantage compared with EU producers because the bulk of their production benefits from greater overall efficiency and can ‘subsidise’ exports of meat from untreated animals.

Shame we never get the context just the anti-Brexit alarmism from the BBC.