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USDA to reduce mad cow testing program by 90 pct

Posted on: Thursday, 20 July 2006, 14:47 CDT

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will scale down its mad cow surveillance program by 90 percent to reflect a smaller presence of the disease in the United States, but reduced testing should not slow efforts to reopen foreign markets to U.S. beef, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will reduce its cattle-testing level to 40,000 head per year. That will be down from an average of about 30,000 head each month since June 2004, after discovery of animals with the disease prompted fears that resulted in Japan, Korea and other countries banning U.S. beef.

The reduced testing level, to take effect after 30 days, will cost $8 million a year, down from $1 million per week at the height of testing. USDA said it will focus on the "most at-risk animals" that show telltale signs of the disease.

"It's time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in the United States," said Johanns.

The enhanced program, which was initially scheduled to run for 12 to 18 months, has tested more than 759,000 animals -- far more than initially planned -- and was responsible for finding two of the three cases of the brain-wasting cattle ailment in the United States.

USDA officials have said the testing program was designed only to gauge the prevalence of the disease. Public health is guarded by rules that protect cattle feed from contamination and require meatpackers to remove the brains and spinal cords from older cattle, they contend, not additional testing.

"Those who are attempting to cause consumers to believe that somehow they're protected by testing really aren't being fair with consumers," said Johanns. "It's pretty blunt, but it's true," he said.

USDA said the new guidelines are science-based and provide testing at a level 10 times higher than international standards proposed by the World Organization of Animal Health.

In April, Johanns said mad cow disease hits fewer than one in 1 million U.S. adult cattle, "an incredibly low prevalence" of the disease which is likely to decline.

Still, critics have argued that reducing the testing program sends a message to Americans and U.S. beef importers that USDA is being less cautious and taking fewer precautions to protect animal and public health.

"We're appalled by the rollback of the surveillance program and feel they could be playing Russian roulette with Americans health," said Mike Hansen, a spokesman with Consumers Union.

Many countries including Japan and South Korea shut their markets to U.S. beef in 2003 after America's first case of mad cow disease was discovered. Despite intense lobbying by the Bush administration, top export markets remain closed.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, urged USDA to ensure that any changes to the BSE testing program do not cause further market delays.

"The Japanese appear ready to take advantage of any gap as an excuse to drag out this trade dispute further," he said.

U.S. beef exports this year are estimated at 1.0 billion lbs, down nearly 60 percent from 2003.

The new testing level "should have no effect on reestablishing trade with our trading partners," said National Cattlemen's Beef Association spokesman Gary Weber, "because all the safeguards in place that protect the safety of beef and beef products are internationally recognized."

Johanns said the United States has been making progress with Japan and South Korea toward reopening their markets to U.S. beef. He added USDA will monitor its surveillance program and consult with trading partners on any planned changes.

Source: REUTERS

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