I'm sure those of you who aren't in the cattle business don't understand the issues here. But to those of us who who's living depends on the cattle market, selling cattle, raising the best beef possible... this is frustrating. As far as my family, we don't eat at McDonald's much (Subway is our choice of fast food), but this will keep us from ever stopping there again, even for a drink. The original message is from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. American cattle producers are very passionate about this. McDonald's claims that there is not enough beef in the USA to support their restaurants. Well, we know that is not so. Our opinion is they are looking to save money at our expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of the USA are the ones who made McDonald's successful in the first place, but we are not good enough to provide beef. We personally are no longer eating at McDonald's, which I am sure does not make an impact, but if we pass this around maybe there will be an impact felt. Please pass it on. Just to add a note, all Americans that sell cows at a livestock auction barn had to sign a paper stating that we do NOT EVER feed our cows any part of another cow. South Americans are not required to do this as of yet. McDonald's has announced that they are going to start importing much of their beef from South America . The problem is that South Americans aren't under the same regulations as American beef producers, and the regulations they have are loosely controlled. They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that have been banned here at home because of residues found in the beef. They can also use various hormones and growth regulators that we can't. The American public needs to be aware of this problem and that they may be putting themselves at risk from now on by eating at good old McDonald's. American ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the world and this is what Americans deserve to eat, not beef from countries where quality is loosely controlled. Therefore, I am proposing a boycott of McDonald's until they see the light. I'm sorry, but everything is not always about the bottom line, and when it comes to jeopardizing my family's health, that is where I draw the line. I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you? Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. David W. Forrest, Ph.D., PAS, Dipl. ACAP Department of Animal Science Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-2471 Email d-forrest@tamu.ed

