March 31, 2004
USDA Appoint Seven Laboratories For Mad Cow Testing
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service late Monday announced the approval of seven geographically dispersed state laboratories that are to assist in the surveillance program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease.
Other laboratories that meet specific criteria may be certified to analyze surveillance samples in the future, the USDA said in a release.
"USDA's intensive BSE surveillance program requires increased laboratory capacity strategically located across the country," said Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator for Veterinary Services, in the release. "Reducing the distance to the nearest lab will help ensure that we have the most rapid turnaround time possible."
On March 15, the USDA announced an enhanced BSE surveillance program which incorporates recommendations from an international scientific review panel and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Both reviewed and supported the plan, the USDA said.
Under the program, sampling about 268,000 animals would allow for the detection of BSE at a rate of one positive in 10 million adult cattle with a 99% confidence level. In other words, the enhanced program could detect BSE even if there were only five positive animals in the entire country.
The following laboratories are to receive federal funding as needed for high throughput testing equipment: California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab System, University of California-Davis; Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory; Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (College Station); Wisconsin Animal Health Laboratory (Madison); Washington State University Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory; Athens Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia; and NY State College of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Cornell University.
These laboratories are part of an existing network of state and federal labs that already assist APHIS with animal disease testing as needed. These labs will use approved rapid tests for BSE. The USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, remains the national reference lab for BSE and will conduct confirmatory testing.
