Saturday, April 24, 2004
Seattle Times: Considering the devastation that the single U.S. case of mad-cow disease has done to the nation's beef industry, the Food and Drug Administration's best intentions are falling short.
On Jan. 27, the agency announced new animal-feed rules designed to prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which can be transmitted through contaminated feed. But the agency's foot-dragging at putting the rules into effect is not helping the difficult task of restoring the confidence of about 50 foreign countries that banned U.S. beef after the infected Mabton Holstein was discovered in December.
The U.S. agriculture secretary's expert panel urged the complete ban of risky feed material.
The holdup is frustrating for industry members scrambling to demonstrate U.S. beef is safe. If Japan and South Korea continue their ban on U.S. beef, Washington state beef exporters will lose about $250 million this year.
This week, Washington Agriculture Director Valoria Loveland and Lee Englehardt, president of the Cattle Producers of Washington, joined U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell in urging the agency to act. Though most animal parts are banned from cattle feed, the rules would close loopholes that still permit cattle blood, chicken litter and restaurant waste.
Banning risk factors
Loveland and the cattle producers support Cantwell's proposed bill that would expand the rules to ban all materials that are at higher risk of carrying the disease from any animal feed, including to pet food. This would prevent possible cross-contamination that might be caused by contaminated chicken feed accidentally fed to cattle.
The government banned downer cows -- those too sick or injured to walk -- from the human food chain and is increasing testing of cattle by tenfold.
Still, only China reportedly is reconsidering its ban. And officials from Japan, once the largest importer of U.S. beef, say they'll stick with Australian beef until they are assured that all U.S. beef headed for Japan has been tested. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials and the beef industry are resisting that costly standard.
The FDA should move quickly to adopt the new strict rules as part of a comprehensive plan to restore the confidence of foreign consumers.