Democrats urge ban on sick cattle for US human food
Originally published in Forbes
Democrats urge ban on sick cattle for US human food
Reuters, 12.29.03, 8:18 PM ET
By Julie Vorman
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday said they backed a Senate plan to ban U.S. "downer" cattle, those too sick or injured to walk, from the human food supply as a safety precaution against mad cow disease.
The nation's first case of the fatal mad cow disease was diagnosed last week by the U.S. Agriculture Department in a downer cow sent to slaughter in Washington state on Dec. 9.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, urged the Bush administration to support an amendment approved by the Senate last month that would prohibit U.S. slaughter plants from using downer cattle in beef for human consumption.
The Senate language, adopted as part of the USDA's annual spending legislation, was dropped from a final bill by House Republicans.
"This situation requires effective and decisive leadership," Dorgan said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.
The industry has estimated there are about 195,000 downer cattle out of nearly 36 million cattle slaughtered in the United States each year. The USDA said it will test about 20,000 cattle for mad cow disease in 2003, and aims to nearly double that in 2004.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential hopeful, separately said he would introduce legislation next month to ban downer cattle from the human food supply.
The proposed House bill would also require testing of all downer cattle for mad cow disease, establish a mandatory traceback system for all cattle, and prohibit the use of any mammal remains in livestock feed for any animals that humans eat, he said.
Kucinich said the case of mad cow disease in a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state was the result of "irresponsible U.S. agricultural policies."
USDA officials have defended their current policy of testing mostly cattle with neurological symptoms for mad cow disease.
Expanding testing to all downer cattle "doesn't appear to be prudent, from at least a food safety standpoint," Kenneth Petersen of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service told reporters on Monday. Some downer cattle have broken legs or other injuries that do not affect the quality of their meat, he said.
Dorgan asked the USDA to hold a meeting of beef producers and consumers in January. "Our beef supply is absolutely safe but we must give American consumers credible and reliable assurances that it is safe and wholesome," he said.
The North Dakota senator also repeated his longstanding opposition to any measures that would reopen the U.S. border to live imports of cattle from Canada, which reported a case of mad cow disease in May.
The sick U.S. cow was born in 1997 in Canada and may have eaten contaminated livestock feed while young, according to USDA officials. Canada said until DNA tests are completed later this week, there is no definitive proof the infected U.S. cow was born in Canada.
"We clearly need a process that allows us to know more about the condition of live cattle we import, as well as the feed supplements they consumed before coming into this country," Dorgan said.
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