Meat producers are seeing red over a new federal report drafted by Obama administration-selected nutrition experts that suggests Americans adopt a greener diet for environmental reasons.
Such a report, Texas rancher and physician Dr. Richard Thorpe told FoxNews.com, "can absolutely kill an industry."
The report, now open for 45 days of public comment, will be used by the government to both mold dietary guidelines and form the basis for government food assistance programs and school lunch programs.
It wouldn't be the first time the Obama administration has tried to kill an industry. The president, as a candidate in early 2008, made it clear in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that the cap and trade policies he would put in place would make it so expensive for the coal industry that it wouldn't be cost-effective.
"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can," he said. "It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted. That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches. ... What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as an ideological matter ... I think is the right approach. The same with respect to nuclear."
Americans with reasonable intelligence understand that too much red meat in a diet is not healthy, but the report suggests Americans need to consider the sustainability of their food sources. That's wrapped up in the amount of land, water and grain needed by cattle as well as the cows' flatulence that is said to contribute to greenhouse gas levels.
It draws on reports like an Oxford University study that suggests the average meat-eater in the United States is responsible for almost twice as much global warming as the average vegetarian and almost triple that of the average vegan.
Baloney, said Thorpe, adding it would take a wheelbarrow full of spinach to equal the same amount of iron in a serving of beef. And a vegetarian or vegan diet, he said, would be harmful to some people.
The government has little or no business telling Americans what food is right and proper to serve their families on a daily basis and even less in trying to bend those eating habits based on the likes of cattle flatulence.