Report Raises Questions About US Cattle Feed Ban

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Report Raises Questions About US Cattle Feed Ban

WASHINGTON - The effectiveness of the most important US safeguard

against mad cow disease was questioned Monday when a government report

accused the Food and Drug Administration of " overstating " feed mill

compliance with a ban on cattle remains in animal feed.

 

The Government Accountability Office report was released as many US

lawmakers seek to prevent Canadian cattle from entering the United

States because of concerns that its neighbour was not effectively

enforcing its own animal feed ban.

 

In 1997, the United States and Canada both outlawed the use of cattle

remains as a protein supplement for cattle, goats and sheep to prevent

the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

 

Canada found two more cases of mad cow disease as 2005 began and both

cases are believed due to infected feed. So far, the United States has

found only one case of mad cow disease, in a Washington state cow

imported from Canada.

 

The GAO said the FDA, which regulates livestock feed, cannot pinpoint

how many plants comply with the 1997 feed ban.

 

" We believe FDA is overstating industry's compliance with the animal

feed ban and understating the potential risk of BSE for US cattle in

its reports to Congress and the American people, " the GAO report said.

 

The FDA has repeatedly claimed that the industry has a 99 percent

compliance rate with the 1997 ban.

 

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture

Committee who requested the GAO report, criticized the FDA for not

testing livestock feed. " Common sense tells us the best way to measure

compliance is to sample feed to make sure it does not contain ruminant

byproducts, " Harkin said.

 

An FDA spokeswoman was not available for comment.

 

However, the GAO report said the FDA was provided a draft of its

report and responded that its enforcement of the feed ban did not

" place US cattle at risk of spreading BSE. "

 

The FDA said in a letter it agreed with GAO's call for uniform

procedures to identify businesses subject to the feed ban. The agency

also said it concurred with GAO recommendations to collect test

results from states that sample feed and to tighten controls on feed

destined for export.

 

 

CANADA BEEF TRADE UNCERTAIN

 

Although the GAO report examined only US enforcement of livestock feed

regulations, it was made public at a time when some American lawmakers

and farm groups have raised questions about Canada's enforcement of a

virtually identical ban.

 

Earlier this month, Harkin and a majority of US senators voted to keep

Canadian cattle out of the United States, saying they were concerned

Canada may not be adequately enforcing its feed ban. The United States

halted trade in May 2003 after Canada found its first native case of

mad cow disease.

 

A federal judge in Montana separately agreed to a request by R-CALF

USA, a cattle group, to block a US government plan to lift the ban on

March 7. That decision is being appealed by National Meat Association

members, who want access to Canadian cattle to keep their slaughter

plants running efficiently.

 

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said it examined 404

inspection reports by the FDA in 2003-04 to assess how effectively the

agency is enforcing its feed ban. The report said it found about 2,800

entities that make or handle livestock feed had not been inspected

since 1999 or earlier.

 

In one instance, the GAO said an inspector discovered a firm

inadvertently allowed banned material into cattle feed for nearly a

year. The firm issued a voluntary recall, but the FDA did not alert

the USDA. USDA officials told GAO investigators they would have

tracked the animals and tested them for mad cow disease had they known

about the recall.

 

The GAO said FDA improved its oversight of the feed ban rule, but

added, " Program weaknesses continue to limit the effectiveness of the

ban and place US cattle at risk of spreading BSE. " Specifically, the

FDA lacks a uniform way to identify cattle feed manufacturers,

transporters and others beyond the 14,800 firms already inspected.

 

About 19 percent of feed companies have not been inspected in five

years or more, and " several hundred are potentially high risk, " the

GAO said.

 

Story by Randy Fabi

 

Story 15/3/2005