November 11, 2005

US allocates US$17 million to mad cow surveillance
 

US President George Bush Thursday signed the fiscal year 2006's US$100-billion agriculture spending bill into law, White House and congressional aides said.

The law contains funding such as US$23 million for renewable energy loans and grants and US$17 million for mad cow disease surveillance.

Not included in the law are two controversial mad cow disease-related amendments adopted by the Senate, but removed during negotiations with the House of Representatives before the legislation was sent to the White House.

The Senate had approved legislation in the bill that would have prevented the USDA from opening the US border to Japanese beef until Japan eased its ban on US beef, but Senate-House conferees cut that wording on their combined bill.

The USDA is now working on a rule that would allow US imports on Japanese beef despite the fact that Japan has reported 20 cases of mad cow disease.

Japan still has not eased its two-year ban on US beef, but US officials have speculated it may do so as early as December.

Another Senate amendment cut from the agriculture spending bill was legislation that would have prohibited the processing of "downer" animals that are too sick to walk or stand into meat for the human food supply.

The USDA considers "downer" animals a higher risk for BSE infection, but currently bans "downer" cattle meat from the food supply only as an interim measure.