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USDA to Kill 450 Calves on Mad Cow Fears

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Unable to determine which calf was born to the nation's first cow diagnosed with mad cow disease, federal officials plan to kill a herd of 450 calves out of "an abundance of caution."

The herd of bull calves from Sunnyside will be killed this week at an undisclosed and unused facility, said Ron DeHaven, the U.S. Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian.

Agriculture officials decided to kill all the calves in the unidentified herd because the calf born to the sick cow was not tagged and can't be identified. They have said they can't rule out the possibility that mad cow disease could be transmitted from mother to calf.

Both federal and state officials have declined to disclose how the dead calves will be disposed of, but have said the meat from the animals will be kept out of the food supply. The calves also won't be rendered for animal feed or other products.

"This should just continue to instill additional confidence among consumers," said Mary Beth Lang, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture. "The likelihood of any transmission to this calf is very remote," she said. "This is an abundance of caution."

The calves range in age from 1 month to several months.

The herd is one of three under quarantine in Washington because of ties to the infected animal, a 6 1/2-year-old Holstein dairy cow that was shipped to the United States from Canada in 2001. The other herds include cows that may have come from the same Alberta farm.

Officials are awaiting DNA tests to confirm the sick cow's origins.

"I'm glad that the USDA is responding openly to the situation and that the decision has been made to ensure consumers of the safety of the beef supply," said Patti Brumbach, executive director of the Washington Beef Commission.

Officials have said contaminated feed is the most likely source of the infection. U.S. and Canadian investigators still are trying to locate the other animals from the Canadian herd and trace the feed eaten by the sick cow to determine if it contained tissue that carried the disease.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, eats holes in the brains of cattle. The disease is a concern because humans can develop a brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, from consuming contaminated beef products.

USDA will not submit the calves' brains for testing for mad cow disease, because the illness does not usually show up in animals under 30 months of age, DeHaven said. The illness can incubate for up to five years.

"Even in the unlikely event that there was maternal transmission to the bull calf, the calf would not test positive at this point," DeHaven said.

The owner of the Sunnyside herd will be compensated at fair market value, DeHaven said.

John Top, co-owner of the Toppenish Livestock Commission in central Washington, said destroying the herd would have no effect on the state's cattle industry.

"Taking that number out of the cow supply is not a lot," Top said. "I'm sure USDA's intention is to boost confidence in the beef supply. It won't hurt."

DeHaven also said USDA officials would visit Mexico to discuss that country's ban on American beef products. Mexico was among more than 30 countries that halted U.S. beef imports last month after scientists diagnosed the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., left Monday on a tour of Japan, Vietnam and Hong Kong aimed at persuading their leaders to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports.

"U.S. beef, and in particular Kansas beef, is of the highest quality and is the safest in the world," said Brownback, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and chairman of the East Asia Subcommittee of the Committee of Foreign Relations.

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On the Net:

Agriculture Department BSE pages: http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/06/resources.html

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