Canada's Problem - and America's (mad cow disease) NYT 5/27/03

[Guest guest]

(New York Times Editorial)

 

Canada's Problem - and America's

 

May 27, 2003

By MICHAEL K. HANSEN

 

 

 

YONKERS

The discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Canada

underlines the need for American officials to exercise much

greater vigilance to prevent the emergence of this fatal

brain-wasting disease in the United States. Live cattle,

beef products and animal feed move relatively freely

between the United States and Canada; last year the United

States imported one billion pounds of beef from Canada.

Unfortunately, the federal government's defenses are full

of gaps.

 

 

Mad cow disease is one of several similar fatal brain

diseases known as transmissible spongiform

encephalopathies. They are so named because of their main

effect: the infected brain eventually becomes riddled with

spongelike holes. The disease is believed to be caused by a

mutant protein that, when eaten, travels through the body

to the brain. The effect on the victim is always the same:

mental deterioration and death.

 

 

There have been 100 confirmed deaths in Britain from the

human form of mad cow disease, which is thought to be

caused by eating tainted beef, and the number is rising. So

far the United States has been lucky. But to prevent an

outbreak, a number of steps need to be taken immediately.

 

 

First, we need to screen more cattle for the disease. Last

year, the United States Department of Agriculture tested

only 19,990 cows believed to be at risk for mad cow

disease, out of a population of about 96 million. This

sample is far too small to detect a problem that might be

small but growing. The department should mandate the use of

rapid tests, currently used in Europe, which have allowed

testing of all cattle above a certain age at slaughter.

Last year European regulators tested more than 10 million

cattle for mad cow disease, out of a total population of

some 40 million.

 

 

The Food and Drug Administration should also ban the

feeding of all animal remains to food animals. At factory

farms and feed lots, cattle, hogs and chickens eat a

relatively high-protein diet, and much of this protein

comes from the rendered remains of other cattle, hogs or

chickens.

 

 

The European Union, for example, does not allow animal

remains to be fed to any food animal. (In Britain, cows are

believed to have been infected by eating sheep with

scrapie, which is a form of transmissible spongiform

encephalopathy.) But under the F.D.A.'s current rules,

cattle remains can still be fed to other animals, such as

pigs and chickens, whose remains can then be fed back to

cows. Even the remains of an animal known to carry a form

of mad cow disease could go into rendered feed, under

F.D.A. rules.

 

 

More than just meat is at risk. Materials from some of the

most potentially infectious parts of a cow, including

brains, eyes and spleen, sometimes end up in dietary

supplements. This fact, along with recent deaths associated

with use of the dietary supplement ephedra, underlines the

need for Congress to require dietary supplements to prove

their safety before being marketed.

 

 

Despite all these efforts, an outbreak could still occur.

If it does, we might not know for some time if Americans

were becoming infected with a mad-cow-like disease at an

increased rate - because it is not one of the diseases

doctors and hospitals must report to the Centers for

Disease Control. It should be made a mandatory reportable

disease.

 

 

While the government considers what it can do, what should

consumers do? The size of the risk is unknown, so it's hard

to say. However, some foods are clearly more risky than

others.

 

 

Since the most infectious material is to be found in the

brains of cows, consumers could simply avoid them. Some

processed beef products, like many sausages and hot dogs,

are produced using machines that scour a cow carcass for

all available meat. Since they may contain central nervous

system tissue, some people may want to avoid them as well.

A steak, or hamburger that the butcher grinds in front of

you, carries the least risk. Consumers may also want to

consider organic or grass-fed beef, since these cows are

not fed any animal proteins.

 

 

The bottom line is that the government should act now to

protect the food supply. Delay will only allow any

potential problem to get worse.

 

 

 

Michael K. Hansen is a senior research associate at

Consumers Union.