Alexandra, give it a rest. I phoned the USDA supervisor, Dr. Magid, in
Raleigh today, and she said the following: "People are trying to draw
conclusions from something you can't draw conclusions from."  I read
her your post over the phone. She went on to tell me that anyone who
requests a USDA information packet is sent a form letter that says
something on the order of "Thank you for your interest in becoming
licensed" and they put it in their file in the category of requesting
licensing and keep it until eventually they stamp it cancelled. They
only have so many forms, but I am told want to keep a record of who
has contacted them should they follow up after reading the packet.
Theoretically, if I sent in a request to get their booklet of info
for an entire year, I would have in their files that I had requested
licensing 365 times. I pointed this out to Dr. Magrid and she laughed
and said that after the first week, someone would probably not keep
sending them due to postage, but she said that I was correct on that.
If it means all that much to you to think that I am hiding something,
go ahead and think it. But I think most people can see what motives
might lie behind it.

[Posted in FML 6807]