Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with Mike Deering of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association about the rumors about the cattle industry using mRNA technology.
Deering clears up misinformation going around on social media about livestock industries using mRNA vaccines as a way to give the meat-eating population messenger RNA- or mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines through digestion.
“(House Bill) 1169 was put forward by an attorney in Ohio and sponsored by a state representative here in the state that happens to work for that attorney as well,” Deering said. “The bill is designed to be informed consent when it comes to vaccinations and those kinds of things, but it was poorly written and targeted at the agriculture industry, specifically targeting genetically modified organisms, so anything that would be fed corn or soybeans would have to be segregated and labeled separately, and vaccinations as well.”
Any livestock that receives vaccines, Deering said, is targeted by House Bill 1169.
According to the bill, any product that has been created to act as, or exposed to processes that could result in the product potentially acting as, a gene therapy or that could otherwise possibly impact, alter, or introduce genetic material or a genetic change into the user of the product, individuals exposed to the product, or individuals exposed to others who have used the product shall be conspicuously labeled with the words “Potential Gene Therapy Product” unless the product is known to be a gene therapy product.
“Nowhere in the bill does it have any definitions on what potential gene therapy is,” Deering said. “Nowhere in the bill does it define anything. It would be a nightmare.”
With this bill, Deering said the burden of proof lies on the producer, so anyone can sue a producer for not following the set regulations.
“We don’t use mRNA vaccines in the beef cattle industry, but regardless of the vaccine technology, those vaccines are essentially digested when they are administered, and we don’t give vaccines to cattle when they are getting ready to be slaughtered,” Deering said. “So, there is absolutely no component, no residue, of that vaccine left in the meat whatsoever.”
Deering also added that vaccines go through a rigid approval process in the animal industry. Vaccines are given for the right reasons, Deering added, to keep beef healthy.
“People are making false accusations that somehow we are trying to hurt people, and that is just not true,” Deering said. “Our family eats at the same table their family does.”
House Bill 1169 was in committee this week, Deering said, and failed with six Republicans and four Democrats voting against the bill. The fight is not over, Deering said, as attempts will be made in more states, including Oklahoma.
“We are going to have to work together and make sure that we protect the livestock industry as well as the corn and soybean folks, and then the row crop guys and biotech as well and to make sure we continue to stand with science,” Deering said.
To read a statement from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association correcting internet falsehoods about mRNA Vaccines in Cattle, click here.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
