WASHINGTON - U.S. regulators are still trying to work out the details for running a vastly expanded testing program for mad cow disease that has already started up.
The much-advertised program to test at least 220,000 cattle by the end of 2005 - including healthy-looking animals - began June 1. But U.S. Department of Agriculture officials this week acknowledged that many components of the program are still being drafted and a U.S. cattle industry group complained that the government must provide some quick answers.
At the urging of international experts, the USDA is trying to find out whether mad cow disease has taken root in U.S. cattle herds. Suspicions were raised following the Dec. 23 discovery of one case of the brain-wasting disease in Washington state.
Since then, USDA has promised to increase testing for mad cow to at least 200,000 sick animals over the next 12 to 18 months, a ten-fold increase from last year.
USDA also vowed to test 20,000 healthy-appearing cows and bulls over the next year to 18 months.
Andrea McNally, a spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said she did not know when veterinarians would begin collecting samples from brains of older, slaughtered cattle that do not appear to be sick.
"We're continuing to work with industry on how we'll be collecting these samples," McNally said, adding that the agency ultimately will meet its goal.
Some experts outside of government want an even broader sampling of the 35 million healthy-looking animals slaughtered each year. They argue that if mad cow existed in the United States, this would be the most likely population to harbor the disease because its numbers are so high.
McNally acknowledged that the USDA had yet to address a raft of other questions about the new mad cow testing plan.
Among those are where suspect cattle will be held for testing, whether government or industry will pay for some related costs and how suspect animals will be transported.
On Monday, the USDA will meet with cattle traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to discuss its new testing plan.
SOME OLDER ANIMALS PREDATE FEED BAN
The 20,000 older, healthy-looking animals still to be chosen for testing are an important test group because they could include animals that predate a 1997 ban on cattle parts in animal feed. Scientists think cattle get the fatal central-nervous system disease by eating cattle remains.
The Washington state "mad" cow, as well as a Canadian cow that tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy a year ago, were both born before the U.S. feed ban. More recently, USDA admitted that it failed to test a 12-year-old Texas cow sent to slaughter even though it exhibited possible central nervous system problems.
During a May 21 briefing for reporters, Ron DeHaven, head of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, stressed the importance of testing older healthy-looking animals.
"We'd like to target our testing at animals that were born before the feed ban," DeHaven said. "This is a disease with a very long incubation period."
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, representing ranchers, last week complained about the USDA's recent handling of mad-cow-related matters, including secretly allowing imports of previously banned types of beef from Canada.
In a May 25 letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, association President Jan Lyons wrote. "We are obligated to hold USDA accountable and cannot afford to see a repeat of the recent decisions that have raised questions about the department."
That same day, the group sent a memo to USDA citing "questions and concerns" about the expanded testing program.
Gary Weber, the association's executive director for regulatory affairs, said what is lacking from the USDA are nuts-and-bolts details on the new testing program. "We know that plants operate on the details, not on the broad brush," Weber said.Reuters:
