BSE "Testing is not a food safety measure" in the US
- From: "TC" <tunderbar@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 15 Mar 2006 12:02:02 -0800
http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/US_plans_to_scale_back_mad_cow_testing.shtml
US plans to scale back mad cow testing
By Sue Mueller
Mar 15, 2006, 10:28
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has considered scaling back the
enhanced national BSE testing program, which resulted in the discovery
of the third US case of mad cow disease. The US Chief Veterinary
Officer John Clifford indicated such a move in his announcement.
The reason may be this: the enhanced BSE (bovine spongiform
encephalopathy) testing program has been not intended as a measure to
prevent mad cow disease. Rather, it is designed to survey the
prevalence of mad cow disease, according to the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency of the USDA.
"Testing is not a food safety measure. Rather, it's a way to find out
the prevalence of the disease," The associated Press said, citing
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns who was at a trade meeting Monday in
Warsaw, Poland.
The BSE testing program, part of the BSE surveillance plan, was
initiated in March, 2004 to respond to the possible high risk of mad
cow disease in the US after the first case of mad cow was discovered in
December 2003. The goal of the plan is to test as many cattle in the
targeted high risk population as possible in a 12-18 month period,
APHIS states.
Under this program, 1000 cows at high risk are tested daily compared
with 55 per day in 2003. The Department of Agriculture intends to call
for a budget that supports 110 tests a day, according to the AP.
Reduction in the testing would lower the odds of discovering new cases
in the US as APHIS acknowledges that more cases of mad cow disease
should be expected when the enhanced testing program remains in place.
The testing program does not test all cows, but only those at a higher
risk of mad cow disease. Cows at high risk include dead cows;
non-ambulatory cattle or downers who can't walk into the
slaughterhouse; cattle showing signs of a central nervous system
disorder, or other signs associated with BSE. So far, more than 650,000
cows, a small fraction of the total cow slaughtered, have been tested
for mad cow disease.
The testing protocol does not seem satisfying to everybody. At least,
Japan, one of the US largest beef consumers, required the US last year
to test all beef cows as a prerequisite to lift its ban on US beef
imports.
Japan may have more say about how to find mad cow disease. So far, at
least 23 cows have been diagnosed with mad cow disease in Japan. The
latest case, a 38-month-old cow, was announced on Wednesday March 15,
according to Xinhua. As a Japanese official once said last year, Japan
would have missed six or so cases if they followed the US surveillance
protocol.
The USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) on Feb 2, 2006 filed a
report saying that the USDA surveillance program is spending much of
its resources looking in the wrong places for this disease and the
agency does not adequately sample the cows at highest risk of BSE or
mad cow disease.
The possible move to scale back the BSE testing program worried
consumers' groups, which had already believed the program is
insufficient to safeguard the US beef and protect the public against
mad cow disease. Consumers Union issued a statement on March 13 urging
the government "to expand its surveillance program, which tests less
than 1 percent of US cattle per year and to require that all cattle
over 20 months of age be tested at slaughter for mad cow disease."
USDA officials said the BSE testing program should not be regarded as a
preventive measure. Other effective measures are in place to protect
American consumers against getting mad cow disease.
There is no doubt the testing program has been improved. Keeping the
program intact or expanding it could help reveal the real situation of
mad dow disease in the country. There appears no reason for the
government to scale back the testing unless there is a shortage of the
budget.
But money does not seem the problem, at least not the only one.
Last July, the state of Montana said it would test Canadian cattle
entering the state in an effort to protect against mad cow disease and
protect the business integrity of the Montana cattle industry. The USDA
opposed Montana's test, saying that Montana does not have the authority
to conduct such a testing or to collect a fee for the test, Reuters
reported last year.
Creekstone Farms in Kansas tests each and every head of cattle intended
for Asian markets. But the USDA is blocking the beef producer, saying
that only the government is authorized to conduct mad cow tests, Los
Angels Times reported today.
Consumers Union urged the USDA early last year to adopt the more
sensitive Western blot test for mad cow. The USDA rejected the idea,
saying it was unnecessary, according to Los Angels Times.
"The Western blot test, which concentrates the brain sample, can detect
mad cow disease in an animal at an earlier stage of infection. It is
used in virtually all European countries and Japan," said Michael
Hansen, Ph.D. a scientist for Consumers Union.
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin was cited by the AP as saying the confidence of
U.S. and foreign consumers is at risk if testing is reduced.
******
In Canada, BSE testing is a food safety issue. Buy Canadian beef.
TC
.
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