WASHINGTON - Food and consumer groups handed mediocre grades to the
Agriculture Department in a "report card" Tuesday on its handling of mad cow
disease.
Groups such as Center for Food Safety, Consumers Union and the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (news - web sites) Foundation gave no "A's" and
only one "B" - for a new policy prohibiting non-ambulatory animals from use
in food and feed - out of 10 categories. There was one "C" for initial steps
to better identify and track cattle nationally.
Six "D's" were given in the areas of testing cattle 20 months or older,
ensuring feed restrictions, increasing surveillance, strengthening authority
to recall tainted meat, implementing use of country of origin labels and
allowing for public input.
The groups, which also included Friends of the Earth (news - web sites),
Government Accountability Project, Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy Action and Public Citizen, said the administration deserved two
failing grades.
The "F's" were for not allowing private cattle producers to test their
cattle voluntarily for mad cow disease and for breaking its own Agriculture
Department rules meant to prevent the brain-wasting condition, the groups
said.
Julie Quick, a department spokeswoman, said the agency disagreed with the
groups' findings.
"We've been addressing these issues over a decade and we're committed to
protecting public health," she said. Quick noted several improvements
including prohibiting the use in food for human consumption of brain or
spinal cord tissue from cattle over 30 months in age, which are at higher
risk of mad cow disease.
The department this month expanded national testing for the disease with the
aim of checking about 220,000 animals over the next year to 18 months. Last
year, it conducted mad cow tests on tissues from 20,543 animals, nearly all
cattle that could not stand or walk and had to be dragged to slaughter.Associated Press:
