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News :: Health |
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USDA And Beef Industry Downplay Discovery Of Mad Cow Disease In US Beef Supply |
Current rating: 3 |
by Benjamin Grosser
Email: grosser (nospam) uiuc.edu (unverified!) |
24 Dec 2003
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Despite assurances from the USDA that they think beef is safe to eat, there may be substantial risks to beef consumers throughout the world. |
The USDA reported on Tuesday that a cow from Washington state was likely infected with Mad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Agriculture secretary Ann Veneman, a former lobbyist for the cattle industry, sought to calm growing fears, stating that “the risk of spreading is low based on the safeguards and controls we have put in place." However, former USDA veterinarians, multiple foreign goverments, and comparitively lax USDA testing procedures suggest that fears are justified.
The infected cow was a “downer” cow from a ranch in southern Washington. According to the USDA, these downer cows, so-called because of their inability to walk (a known symptom of the disease), are routinely tested for BSE. Downer cows are typically pushed around with bulldozers, or dragged by chains before being slaughtered.
The USDA says they’ve tested about 20,000 of these cows in 2002 and 2003, or approximately ten percent of all known “downer” cows. Last July, United Press International (UPI) requested documentation of this testing. The USDA said at the time that they would forward any pertinent documents, but they have been unable to provide documentation ever since. They are required to provide this information within one month under the Freedom of Information Act.
While Veneman said there was no risk for the U.S food supply, the three largest foreign importers of US beef, Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico, quickly moved to ban its import. Russia, South Korea, and Australia have also followed suit. Japan and some European countries already require testing of every animal for BSE before it is consumed.
Former USDA veterinarians have told UPI that they have suspected for a long time that BSE was present in the US cattle supply. One such vet, Lester Friedlander, pointed out that this problem potentially affects billions of people around the world, due to the high incidence of beef export from this country.
The incubation period for BSE is three to eight years. This long period suggests that the detection and isolation of one case does not limit the potential for disease in other animals. Parts of the infected cow were sent to three different processing plants. The USDA has issued a ‘voluntary recall’ for the beef, but it may have already been consumed as food in the United States.
The disease, known in humans as variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (vCJD), is known to infect humans who eat contaminated beef. An outbreak of BSE in Britain in 1986 devastated that country’s beef industry, resulting in import bans around the world, massive destructions of animals, and 143 human deaths. The brain-wasting disease, which causes sponge-like holes in the brain, is “invariably fatal” according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
BSE is known to spread through the cannibalization of animals for animal feed that was common before the British outbreak in 1986. The brains, spinal columns and other parts of the animal relatively useless for food needs were typically fed back to the herds. In response to Britain’s outbreak of BSE, the USDA says it had banned the use of these items in cattle feed. However, despite FDA regulations in 1997 banning feed protein made from cows, sheep and deer, it is still legal to feed beef blood and beef fat to calves.
A report from the General Accounting Office from 2002 found that ranchers may be violating the 1997 ban and concluded: “While (mad cow disease) has not been found in the United States, federal actions do not sufficiently ensure that all (mad cow)-infected animals or products are kept out or that if (mad cow) were found, it would be detected promptly and not spread to other cattle through animal feed or enter the human food supply.”
Dan Murphy, spokesman for the American Meat Institute, an industry lobbying organization, said that “the U.S. beef supply is safe” and that they think “it’s safe for U.S. consumers to eat.” Ms. Veneman insists the food is safe, and plans to “serve beef for [her family’s] Christmas dinner.”
Sources:
UPI (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1224-06.htm)
UK Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4825483-110878,00.html)
NY Times (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1224-01.htm)
Associated Press (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Mad-Cow.html)
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/national/24CND-COW.html)
CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/cjd/bse_cjd.htm)
Howstuffworks.com (http://science.howstuffworks.com/mad-cow-disease1.htm)
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