02 July 2003

U.S. FDA takes a closer look at mad cow feed ban
By Randy Fabi, Reuters

WASHINGTON — The United States may tighten a six-year-old ban on feeding cattle remains to other livestock due to the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada.

The brain-wasting illness, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in a single cow in Alberta May 20. Mad cow disease, linked to the deaths of more than 100 people in Europe and Britain, is spread by livestock feed made from infected animals.

In 1997, the FDA banned the use of most mammalian protein in feeds for ruminant animals like cattle, goats, and sheep as a precaution against the disease. Since the Canadian incident, consumer groups and some lawmakers have urged the U.S. government to do more.

"I can tell you that we are considering modifying the ruminant feed rule," said an FDA official. She declined to elaborate.

U.S. farm industry sources said the FDA might tighten the ban based on recommendations from a panel of international experts examining the situation in Canada. The panel last week recommended that Canada ban cattle brains and spines in human and animal food, removing the high-risk material from the food chain.

Earlier this week, two senior lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee asked the General Accounting Office to analyze what other steps may be needed to protect U.S. cattle. Republican Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa asked the congressional watchdog agency to investigate how well the FDA is policing the 1997 ban on feeding cattle remains to other livestock.

Under the existing FDA rule, cattle remains can be used in pet food and poultry food.

Separately, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said Japan's agriculture minister will come to Washington next week to discuss U.S. safeguards against mad cow disease. Japan is the single biggest buyer of U.S. beef products. Tokyo demanded that Washington tighten measures against mad cow after the Canadian cow was diagnosed.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei will meet with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman before Kamei goes to Canada July 12.

Kamei is "coming to cover the whole range of our bilateral interests, which would include among other things WTO negotiations and obviously the BSE situation," said David Hegwood, special trade adviser at USDA.

Japan last week agreed to delay until Sept. 1 its deadline requiring U.S. certification that beef exports are free of Canadian product. The original deadline was July 1.

Canada fears Tokyo's concerns will keep the United States from easing its ban on Canadian beef. Canada's beef industry is losing an estimated $20 million a day since trade stopped.

A U.S. meat industry official said it may be mid-July before it becomes clear when the U.S.-Canada beef trade will resume in any part.

"The wheels are definitely turning, but they're turning at a bureaucratic pace, not a crisis management pace," said the industry source.

(Additional reporting by Charles Abbott)
Source: Reuters