WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to drastically scale back its mad cow testing next month has drawn mixed reactions.
The USDA spends about $1 million each week to test 5,000 animals. Under its new program it will test about 40,000 animals per year at a cost of about $8 million, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, opposes the decision.
"It's a very bad idea to scale back on testing because even the USDA's enhanced surveillance program is seriously flawed," said Michael Hansen, staff scientist for Consumers Union. "It doesn't look at high-risk cattle. Eighty-five percent of those tested were dead on the farm and that doesn't necessarily mean they're high risk. They can die from things like drought. It's a 'don't look, don't find' situation."
As part of its ongoing surveillance program, the USDA will test animals "exhibiting some central nervous system disorder," said Ron DeHaven, administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "From there we will focus on animals that are non-ambulatory, unable to rise or otherwise would be exhibiting clinical signs that would be consistent with [bovine spongiform encephalopathy], and probably focus less on animals that are dead on the farm."
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Centennial, Colo., believes the enhanced surveillance program is no longer necessary.
"The scientific analysis of USDA's enhanced surveillance program found the disease to be extremely rare, occurring at a rate of less than one case per 1 million adult cattle," said Gary Weber, the NCBA's executive director of regulatory affairs, in a statement. "This analysis is the strongest evidence yet that the BSE risk in this country is exceptionally low."
Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of the Billings, Mont.-based Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, is concerned that the timing of the announcement could jeopardize the resumption of trade with Japan and South Korea.
"We believe this decision is premature as demonstrated by the fact that the U.S. still has not regained lost export markets as a result of BSE concerns," Bullard said. "Until those markets are restored we shouldn't be relaxing monitoring and risk mitigation issues."
Enhanced testing for the disease began in June 2004 after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was discovered in December 2003. Since then, two additional mad cow cases have been confirmed in the U.S.
Johanns noted he's been open about his plan to scale back testing during trade negotiations. He announced late last year his plans to cut back on mad cow testing sometime this year.
"It would be enormously disingenuous of me, if not downright dishonest, to hold back and wait until they open the marketplace and then come forward, a week or a month or two months or six months later and say, 'Guess what, we're bringing our surveillance program down to where it's at,'" Johanns said.
"At the moment, I don't see a hiccup with Japan or South Korea," he said.
"Some people have suggested that we continue the enhanced surveillance program indefinitely," he said. "There simply is no scientific justification for doing so. The reality is this and it's really straightforward: There is no significant BSE problem in the U.S. And after all of this surveillance, I am able to say there never was."
Hansen and Bullard, foresee problems related to beef imported from Canada. Earlier this month, Canada reported its fourth case of mad cow disease this year.
"With such a small testing program in the U.S., if an infected Canadian cow came across the border, USDA would almost certainly fail to catch it," Hansen said in a statement. "Steak from the cow could end up on some consumer's dinner plate, while its remains could be converted to feed for pigs and chickens, potentially spreading the disease."
In January 2005, the USDA issued a final rule relating to its mad cow import restrictions. The amendment allows for the importation of cattle from Canada as long as the animals are slaughtered under the age of 30 months.
"The USDA is proposing to further relax import restrictions and allow the importation of animals above 30 months," Bullard said. "If they're going to do that, we should maintain our current testing levels."
The scaled-back testing plan will not necessarily be permanent.
"Once the transition takes place, we'll continually analyze the surveillance strategy and make adjustments if needed to ensure that we maintain a robust surveillance program that provides the foundation for market confidence in the safety of U.S. beef," Johanns said.
