Des Moines Register
04-29-06
Study: U.S. mad cow incidence 'very low'
PHILIP BRASHER
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
Washington, D.C. — A government study says the incidence of mad cow disease among U.S. cattle is "very low," most likely about four to seven cases.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the estimate should reassure consumers that beef is safe.
The study, released Friday, was based on an analysis of results from a testing program that has targeted cattle considered at the most risk for the brain-wasting illness. The Agriculture Department has tested more than 696,000 cattle since
June 2004. Two animals have turned up positive.
The nation has 42 million adult cattle. "We have an extraordinarily healthy herd of cattle," Johanns said.
Nolan Hartwig, cattle disease specialist at Iowa State University , said, "This prevalence estimate is not surprising."
Johanns said the Agriculture Department will cut back the testing program, which is costing about $1 million a week, after the study is reviewed by outside experts.
Based on international guidelines, the government is likely to test about 40,000 cattle a year, said Ron DeHaven, administrator of the Agriculture Department's
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to a rare but fatal brain disease in humans.
Caroline Smith DeWaal, a consumer advocate with the Center for Science in the
Public Interest, said the Agriculture Department should not use the study "as a justification to relax BSE protections."
Without a mandatory identification system for tracking cattle, investigators have been unable to track down all the cattle that may have been exposed to the same infected feed as the diseased cattle, she said.
Agriculture Department officials say there are a number of safeguards to prevent beef from the infected cattle from reaching consumers.

The department has banned the slaughter of animals that are unable to walk.
Cattle are supposed to be protected from the disease by a ban on the use of beef meal as a protein supplement in cattle feed.
The discovery of an infected cow in Washington state in late 2003 temporarily shut down U.S. beef exports, and the industry still has not regained access to some key markets, most notably Japan.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said the Agriculture Department testing program had a number of limitations, including the fact that the tests were not conducted randomly.
"While it is clear prevalence of BSE is very low, these shortfalls limit the conclusions we can draw from USDA's expanded testing program," said Harkin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., called on Johanns to reverse a policy that bars meatpackers from doing their own testing of cattle.
A Kansas-based processor, Creekstone Farms, recently sued the USDA for the right to test the cattle it slaughters. The USDA says the tests can't detect the disease in the young cattle typically slaughtered by Creekstone. But Grassley said packers should be allowed to do the testing anyway.
"Some people in the industry believe that testing all of the cattle they slaughter would give them a marketing edge in foreign market," he said in a letter to
Johanns.