The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) didn’t even get through the first month of its new bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) rapid testing of “high risk” cattle without a couple of inconclusive test results. Upon further testing, both proved negative.
Those inconclusive results should come as no surprise, what with the government warning that there would be false positives – or initially inconclusive results. Nevertheless, USDA’s announcement brought forth a rare evening press conference, a flurry of media interest, and jitters to cattle markets.
Officials continued to pledge that the department would publicly announce any “inconclusive” results during the next year or so that the “enhanced surveillance plan” is in effect. That plan will run at least until next June, and possibly into the fall of 2005, as more than 200,000 animals are tested.
But why make everyone nervous and announce results that aren’t final – especially since any meat would not be allowed into the food chain until final results are in? According to John Clifford, a veterinarian and deputy administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), folks there want to be “transparent.”
Translated, that means the department doesn’t want to look like it’s covering up anything – or have to wipe egg off its face vis-à-vis the incident of Canadian beef products coming across the border while they were still supposedly banned. Or as Clifford explained, it is “very impor-tant for the public to hear that from us versus the possibility of that informa-tion being leaked by someone else.”
Does USDA think there are more cows out there that could really test positive for BSE?
It’s possible, officials admit. As APHIS chief Dr. Ron DeHaven put it, “If this weren’t a concern, we obviously would not be undertaking the huge surveillance effort that we are.” The government’s goal, he said: To find out, “with a degree of certainty” whether or not BSE exists in the United States and, if so, to what extent.
Note, however, that right at press time, The Washington Post, under the headline, “Animal Suspected of Having Mad Cow Disease is Uninfected,” had its own interpretation: “The USDA has said that while many false positives are anticipated with the new tests, it also expects to find additional cases of mad cow disease.” (Expects is a pretty strong word!)
Money Talks
How is USDA planning to get producers to cooperate and offer up “high risk” cattle for testing? After all, most of them don’t want to be tied to any possible BSE-infected animal.
USDA is betting on a financial incentive – removing any dead or impaired animals at government expense if producers agree to the testing. USDA would pay, in DeHaven’s words, “dead wagon haulers” – those who take carcasses from the farm to renderers – to get the animals off the farmers’ hands.
Risky Venture
USDA is looking to innovative ways to get rid of certain BSE “risk materials,” such as spinal cord and brain tissue, from processed cattle. It has a kitty of $50 million that it can offer as loan guarantees to help fund projects that would generate renewable energy from such livestock material.
The department will stand behind no more than 50 percent of the cost of an individual project. It expects to accept up to three proposals. Due date for applications, at state rural development offices, is August 16.
Renderers aren’t pleased with the program. The National Renderers Association (NRA) wrote to USDA Secretary Ann Veneman, stating, “While USDA shows resourcefulness in developing this type of program to facilitate productive private disposal of specified risk materials from non-ambulatory disabled livestock, the construction of the program effectively and totally eliminates the rendering industry from participation.”
NRA wants assurances on certain provisions and is asking USDA to return to the drawing board to see how the program can include current cooperative plans between USDA and the rendering industry.
Terrorists Targeting Cows?
As if BSE isn’t enough to keep those associated with the cattle industry astir, there’s also the case this summer of the dairy cattle in the state of Washington being exposed to a strong oxidizing chromium compound.
FDA test results deemed the milk safe, yet some cows were ill, and three were reported to have died from the toxin.
The fact that FDA’s forensic lab got involved, the local sheriff’s office, USDA, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Office of Homeland Security strongly suggested that wrongdoing was initially suspected. In the end, improper storage of the compound, rather than sabotage or ecoterrorism, was the cause of the illnesses and deaths.
Battling the Flu
Has a strain of avian influenza been changing so over time that it is becoming more virulent to mammals? Yes, concludes a study done by Chinese researchers and reported recently in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientists focused on the H5N1 strain that passed from birds to humans this past winter in Hong Kong, killing six of its 18 victims. From this research, they found the virus to be more dangerous to mice a couple of years ago than it had been four years ago.
Although not mentioning any human threat in her formal press release, Veneman has released $13.7 million to deal with avian flu. Nearly $11 million will go to develop “a national low pathogenic avian influenza control and prevention program,” focusing on both H5 and H7 strains.
The rest of the money will help Texans hurt by getting rid of more than 9,000 chickens when high pathogenic avian influenza was found there early this year. That outbreak led to more than 30 countries suspending poultry trade with at least part of the United States.
Note: USDA has also tightened up its import regs on live birds and poultry products from parts of the world known to have the H5N1 strain.
Cleanup Time
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expanding its efforts to get cleaner air. One of those is new emissions standards for off-road diesel engines, combined with reducing sulfur in the diesel fuel for those engines. Such engines are used in construction, agriculture, and industrial areas.
The new engine standards won’t start until 2008 and will be phased in, according to EPA, “over a number of years.” Controls on fuels will also phase in, beginning in mid-2007.
How the Buffalo Roam
USDA recently released the results of a new census that may have some “buffaloed.” It’s an official count of the number of commercially raised bison – 231,950 in 2002. That’s way up from the number the University of Wyoming counted in l997 – 138,000 – the last real tally taken. More than 4,000 operators now raise the critters.
USDA figures wild buffalo at between 15,000 and 16,000 – a mere fraction of the 20 to 39 million that roamed before the pioneers started west.
August 2004 Render