July 2, 2004

 

 

US Consumer Groups Raise Beef Concerns

 

US health and consumer experts Thursday challenged federal government assertions that the possible discovery of a second U.S. case of mad cow disease should not concern American consumers or foreign buyers.

 

Department of Agriculture scientists are retesting brain tissue from a slaughtered animal suspected of having mad cow to determine whether it was infected.

 

Final results could come as early as this weekend.

 

"If we turn up another one, the government need not test 200,000 animals, they should go for a yearly test all the animals over 20 months old," said Carol Tucker Foreman, food policy director for the Consumer Federation of America.

 

Foreman did not advise consumers to stop eating beef if a second case emerges on the heels of the first diagnosis on December 23.

 

But testing millions of U.S. cattle for mad cow would give the government a "baseline so we really know what's out there," Foreman said.

 

USDA officials this week insisted that a new case of the brain-wasting disease, which can cause a similar fatal disease in humans, should not set off alarms.

 

Even if a second case is diagnosed, it does not "change our risk profile" for beef exports, Agriculture Undersecretary J.B. Penn said Monday.

 

Wednesday, USDA chief veterinarian John Clifford said, "No matter how the confirmatory test comes back, USDA remains confident in the safety of our U.S. beef supply."

 

Some private sector experts said if mad cow disease is detected in a U.S.-born animal, it will get the attention of trading partners worried about safety.

 

Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said, "If this really turned out to be a domestic case, an animal born in this country ... I do think that that would change things."

 

The Washington state cow that tested positive in December was imported from Canada, allowing the USDA and beef industry to at least hint that U.S. cattle remained unblemished.

 

Washington has hoped Japan would weigh that suggestion, along with new U.S. mad cow safeguards now in place, and ease a ban on American beef imports by September.

 

South Korea, another traditionally large importer of U.S. beef, has taken its cues from Japan regarding trade and has a ban against U.S. beef.

 

A second case of mad cow disease also could undercut the USDA's total ban on live cattle imports from Canada, Lurie said. That trade barrier has been in place since May 2003, after one case of mad cow disease was identified in Alberta.

 

Currently, "we can justify not opening the border to live Canadian cattle. But if we turn out to have a case of our own, then I think that is less well-justified," Lurie said.

 

Mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to be spread when cattle eat feed made from infected cattle parts.