Fwd: [S-A] [SymphonicHealth] USDA Refused to Relase Mad Cow Records

[Guest guest]

" Misty L. Trepke "

Thu, 25 Dec 2003 18:17:57 -0000

[s-A] [symphonicHealth] USDA Refused to Relase Mad Cow Records

 

What is the world going to do when the meat is tainted, and milk,

grains, fruits and veggies are all GE modified? What is the world

going to eat? And how long are we going to be deluded that these

alphabet agencies are looking out for our best interests?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

USDA refused to release mad cow records

 

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031223-103657-3424r

 

USDA refused to release mad cow records

By Steve Mitchell

United Press International

Published 12/23/2003 11:05 PM

View printer-friendly version

 

 

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Although the United States Department

of Agriculture insisted the U.S. beef supply is safe Tuesday after

announcing the first documented case of mad cow disease in the United

States, the agency for six months repeatedly refused to release its

tests for mad cow to United Press International.

 

The USDA claims to have tested approximately 20,000 cows for the

disease in 2002 and 2003, but has been unable to provide any

documentation in support of this to UPI, which first requested the

information in July.

 

In addition, former USDA veterinarians tell UPI they have long

suspected the disease was in U.S herds and there are probably

additional infected animals.

 

USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced late Tuesday during a

hastily scheduled news briefing that a cow slaughtered Dec. 9 on a

farm in Mabton, Wash., had tested positive for mad cow disease. The

farm has been quarantined but the meat from the animal may have

already passed into the human food supply.

 

The slaughtered meat was sent for processing to Midway Meats in

Washington and the USDA is currently trying to trace if the meat

went for human consumption, Veneman said.

 

The fear is mad cow disease can infect humans and cause a brain-

wasting condition known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that is

always fatal. More than 100 people contracted this disease in the

United Kingdom after a widespread outbreak of mad cow disease

in that country in the 1980s.

 

An outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States has the

potential to dwarf the situation in the United Kingdom because the

American beef industry is far larger and U.S. beef is exported to

countries all over the globe.

 

" We're talking about billions of people " around the world who

potentially have been exposed to U.S. beef, Lester Friedlander, a

former USDA veterinarian who has been insisting mad cow is present

in American herds for years, told UPI.

 

The USDA insisted the case is probably isolated and the US beef

supply is safe. " I plan to serve beef for my Christmas dinner, "

Veneman said, " and we remain confident in the safety of our food

supply. "

 

Responded Friedlander: " She might as well kiss her (behind) goodbye,

then. "

 

Veneman went on to say she had confidence in the USDA surveillance

system for detecting mad cow and protecting the public, noting the

agency has tested more than 20,000 cattle for the disease this year.

 

This represents only a small percentage of the millions of cows in

the U.S. herd, however, and experts say current procedures are

unlikely to detect mad cow.

 

The Washington cow was tested because it was a so-called downer cow -

- a cow unable to stand on its own -- which is a sign of mad cow

disease. However, the United States sees approximately 200,000 of

these per year or about 10 times as many animals are tested

for the disease.

 

USDA officials told UPI as recently as Dec. 17 the agency still is

searching for documentation of its mad cow testing results from 2002

and 2003.

 

UPI initially requested the documents on July 10, and the agency

sent a response letter dated July 24, saying it had launched a

search for any documents pertaining to mad cow tests from 2002 and

2003.

 

" If any documents exist, they will be forwarded, " USDA official

Michael Marquis wrote in the letter.

 

Despite this and a 30-day limit under the Freedom of Information Act

on responding to such a request, the USDA never sent any

corresponding documents. The agency's FOI office also did not return

several calls from UPI placed over a series of months.

 

Finally, UPI threatened legal action in early December if the agency

did not respond.

 

In a Dec. 17 letter to UPI from USDA Freedom of Information Act

Office Andrea E. Fowler, the agency wrote: " Your request has been

forwarded to the (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) for

processing and to search for the record responsive to your

earlier request. "

 

To date, the USDA has not said if any records exist or if they will

be sent to UPI.

 

" It's always concerned me that they haven't used the same rapid

testing technique that's used in Europe, " where mad cow has been

detected in several additional countries outside of the United

Kingdom, Michael Schwochert, a retired USDA veterinarian in Ft.

Morgan, Colo., told UPI.

 

" It was almost like they didn't want to find mad cow disease, "

Schwochert said.

 

He noted he had been informed that approximately six months ago a

cow displaying symptoms suggestive of mad cow disease showed up at

the X-cel slaughtering plant in Ft. Morgan.

 

Once cows are unloaded off the truck they are required to be

inspected by USDA veterinarians. However, the cow was spotted by

plant employees before USDA officials saw it and " it went back out

on a special truck and they called the guys in the office and said

don't say anything about this, " Schwochert said.

 

Veneman said the Washington case " does not pose any kind of

significant risk to the human food chain. "

 

Friedlander called that assessment, aptly enough, " B.S. " Referring

to the USDA's failure to provide their testing documentation to UPI,

he said, " The government doesn't have records to substantiate their

testing so how do they know whether this is an isolated case. " The

agency also cannot provide any assurance that this animal did not

get processed for human consumption, he said.

 

Schwochert agreed with that, saying the USDA's sparse testing means

they cannot say with any confidence whether there are additional

cases or not.

 

Both Schwochert and Friedlander said the report of a mad cow case

would devastate the U.S. beef industry.

 

" It scares the hell out of me what it's going to do to the cattle

industry, " Schwochert said. " This could be catastrophic. "

 

Only hours after Veneman's announcement, Japan -- the biggest

importer of U.S. beef -- and South Korea both banned the importation

of American meat.

 

The American Meat Institute, a trade group in Arlington, Va.,

representing the U.S. meat and poultry industry, maintained the U.S.

beef supply is safe for human consumption.

 

" First and foremost, the U.S. beef supply is safe, " AMI spokesman

Dan Murphy told UPI. " We think its safe for U.S. consumers to eat. "

 

This is because infectious prions, thought to be the causative agent

of mad cow and vCJD, are not found in muscle tissue that comprises

hamburgers and steaks, he said. They are generally located in brain

and spinal cord tissue.

 

However, recent studies have suggested prions may occur, albeit in

smaller numbers, in muscle tissue, and bits of brain and spinal cord

tissue have been detected in hamburger meat.

 

Other protective measures have also been put in place that should

protect consumers, Murphy said.

 

Mad cow disease is thought to be spread by feeding infected cow

tissue back to cattle -- a practice that was common in the United

Kingdom and is thought to have contributed to their widespread

outbreak. The practice has been banned in the United States by the

Food and Drug Administration since 1997, which should help ensure

this is " an isolated case, " Murphy said.

 

A report from the General Accounting Office issued just last year,

however, found some ranchers in the United States still violate the

feed ban and do feed cow tissue to cattle.

 

The GAO concluded: " While (mad cow disease) has not been found in

the United States, federal actions do not sufficiently ensure that

all (mad cow)-infected animals or products are kept out or that if

(mad cow) were found, it would be detected promptly and not spread

to other cattle through animal feed or enter the human food supply. "

 

--

Steve Mitchell is UPI's medical correspondent. E-mail

sciencemail

 

2001-2003 United Press International

 

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031224/D7VKEAN00.html

First Suspected U.S. Mad Cow Case Found

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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