Official Tells of Investigation Into Mad Cow Discrepancies

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/politics/04COW.html?thOfficial Tells of Investigation Into Mad Cow DiscrepanciesBy DONALD G. McNEILJr.Published: March 4, 2004The government has begun a criminal investigation into whether documents werefalsified in the lone case of mad cow disease found in the United States, theAgriculture Department's inspector general said yesterday.The official, Phyllis K. Fong, told a House appropriations subcommittee that theinvestigation focused on whether the Holstein dairy cow was a "downer" — a cowtoo sick or injured to walk — when it was slaughtered on Dec. 9 at Vern's MosesLake Meats in Washington State.The inquiry was "based on allegations that were reported in the media in earlyFebruary concerning possible alteration of official records," Ms.

Fong said. Shedeclined to identify any targets of the investigation.The official records of the veterinarian at the slaughterhouse, released by theAgriculture Department in January, said the animal was "sternal, alert," meaningthat it was conscious but down on its sternum, or chest, before it was killed.But three witnesses — the worker who killed the animal, the trucker who hauledit to the slaughterhouse and an owner of the slaughterhouse — have all saidpublicly that it was walking.Dave Louthan, the slaughterer at Vern's, said in a February interview that thecow walked to the edge of the truck when he killed it with a "knocking gun" tokeep it from doubling back and trampling the downed cattle inside.At the time, Mr. Louthan said he believed that the slaughterhouse veterinarianhad falsified the records. He repeated that assertion yesterday in more detail.On Dec. 23, the day it became known that a cow from Vern's

had tested positivefor bovine spongiform encephalopathy and a team from the Agriculture Departmentarrived, he barged into the office of the veterinarian, Rodney D. Thompson, andfound him "hip deep in the paperwork and writing like a madman," Mr. Louthansaid.The paperwork included the slips a veterinarian fills out on each animal inwhich illness is suspected."I said, `Hey, this is wrong, that cow was a walker,' " Mr. Louthan said. "Andhe got mad at me and said, `Then why the hell do I have him down as a suspect?'" ("Suspect" describes any animal suspected of being seriously ill, includingdowners.)Dr. Thompson did not respond to phone calls or e-mail messages left for himyesterday and has not spoken to the press.The Agriculture Department tested fewer than 21,000 cows last year — comparedwith millions in Europe — but Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman hasrepeatedly said that amount is enough to assure

that the country's beef is safebecause it focuses on downers, which were more likely to be diseased. If thedisease was found in a walking cow, the premise behind the testing system wouldbe undermined.Asked yesterday whether it was possible that someone in the top ranks of thedepartment could have ordered Dr. Thompson to forge a report, Alisa Harrison,the department's chief spokeswoman, repeated five times: "I cannot fathom thatthat would happen."Asked several times if she was saying it did not happen, Ms. Harrison said Ms.Veneman did not order it. Asked if someone else in the top ranks could have, sherepeated, "I'm saying I cannot fathom it."Mr. Louthan noted that the cow in question was the only one on the downer recordnot having a temperature recorded that day. It was marked "unable to get temp."It is easy to get a rectal temperature from a downed cow, he said, but difficultto do so in a moving, upset one. He

called the absence of such a reading the"smoking gun" showing that the records were changed.A very low temperature indicates an animal is dying. A very high one suggests ithas a systemic infection. Both make it unfit for human consumption.

 

 

 

 

karl theis jr

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