More Mad Cow Mischief - NYT Editorial 5/8/04

May 10, 2004

New York Times - Editorial

More Mad Cow Mischief

May 8, 2004

The federal Department of Agriculture is making it hard for

anyone to feel confident that the nation is adequately

protected against mad cow disease. At a time when the

department should be bending over backward to reassure

consumers, it keeps taking actions that suggest more

concern with protecting the financial interests of the beef

industry than with protecting public health.

Just a few weeks ago, the department refused to let a small

private company test its cattle for mad cow disease to

satisfy Japanese customers. That decision was

incomprehensible, unless it was driven by a desire to

protect the beef industry from pressure to conduct such

tests on all 35 million cattle slaughtered annually in this

country.

Now the department has been caught refusing to test a cow

that collapsed at a slaughterhouse in Texas; such a

collapse could be an indication of mad cow disease. The

department's own inspectors at the site wanted to take a

brain sample for testing but were overruled by their

regional office.

Further evidence of lax regulation emerged when the

department quietly expanded the range of beef products that

could be imported from Canada, where mad cow disease has

been detected, only to be stopped short by a lawsuit.

There is no evidence yet that mad cow disease has invaded

American cattle and thus no reason for inordinate worry.

The task ahead is to make sure that our herds remain free

of the disease. No one can be confident if the department

remains so blatantly protective of the American meat

industry.

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