Urge the USDA to to keep U.S. beef safe from mad cow disease!
- by: Consumers Union
- recipient: Honorable Mike Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed in June that a cow born and bred in the United States had tested positive for mad cow disease. This was the second confirmed case of mad cow in the United States. And shockingly, even thought the animal was suspected of having the disease last November, the USDA failed to use the best available tests to diagnose the case for seven months!
This is a wake-up call to American consumers. We need swift and decisive action from federal regulators to ensure that the U.S. beef supply remains safe, and recommend that the USDA test all cattle over 20 months of age for mad cow disease.
USDA claims it can measure the extent of the mad cow risk because it tests the highest risk animals, or approximately 1% of all cattle slaughtered each year. But USDA's surveillance and testing program is so secretive that the public has no way of knowing whether they are targeting high-risk or low-risk animals, or if their methods are based on sound science.
We must act sooner rather than later. If people eat beef from an animal infected with mad cow disease, they are at risk of contracting the incurable brain-wasting disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The United Kingdom illustrates what can happen when regulators are slow to react; in that country an outbreak of mad cow disease resulted in millions of cattle being destroyed, beef exports being blocked for many years, and 147 human deaths.
Urge the USDA to take immediate action to keep the U.S. food supply safe from mad cow disease.
This is a wake-up call to American consumers. We need swift and decisive action from federal regulators to ensure that the U.S. beef supply remains safe, and recommend that the USDA test all cattle over 20 months of age for mad cow disease.
USDA claims it can measure the extent of the mad cow risk because it tests the highest risk animals, or approximately 1% of all cattle slaughtered each year. But USDA's surveillance and testing program is so secretive that the public has no way of knowing whether they are targeting high-risk or low-risk animals, or if their methods are based on sound science.
We must act sooner rather than later. If people eat beef from an animal infected with mad cow disease, they are at risk of contracting the incurable brain-wasting disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The United Kingdom illustrates what can happen when regulators are slow to react; in that country an outbreak of mad cow disease resulted in millions of cattle being destroyed, beef exports being blocked for many years, and 147 human deaths.
Urge the USDA to take immediate action to keep the U.S. food supply safe from mad cow disease.
Dear Secretary Johanns:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's June 10 announcement that a cow that tested negative for mad cow disease last November using the immunohistochemistry (IHC) test has now tested positive using a form of the Western blot test, together with the USDA's inspector General's report raising concerns about the quality of the agency's surveillance program, has eroded consumers' confidence in USDA's ability to keep beef safe.
To ensure the highest level of safety protection for American consumers, we urge you to immediately require that all cattle over 20 months of age be tested at slaughter for mad cow disease. We also urge you to lift the veil of secrecy which currently surrounds the USDA testing program.
USDA so far has refused to disclose any details of its program, revealing neither the ages of cattle tested, the states they came from, whether they were downers, or any other identifying information. We urge you to disclose these details.
The USDA must be more proactive in taking steps to ensure the U.S. food supply safe from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The experience of the United Kingdom, where millions of cattle had to be destroyed, beef exports were blocked for many years, and 147 people have died, painfully demonstrates the consequences of insufficient action to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.
The trust of American consumers and of foreign markets in the safety of American beef rests on having confidence that USDA is utilizing the best science available, comparable to that used in other scientifically advanced countries, and is operating in an open and transparent manner.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[your name]
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