Senate hears testimony on mad cow disease

From Peter Hartogs and Miriam Falco
CNN Medical Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There is very little chance that bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- BSE, or mad cow disease -- will enter the United States, a panel of scientists and industry experts told senators Wednesday. But consumer advocates said even more needs to be done to ensure it is kept out.

BSE is linked to a human brain-wasting disease -- new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (nvCJD) -- that has killed some 80 Europeans, mostly Britons, since the mid-1990s.

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Members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer affairs, foreign commerce and tourism, asking if current government standards are sufficient to keep the diseases out of the United States, heard testimony from representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, beef industry and consumer groups.

"The likelihood of BSE in the United States is very low," said veterinarian William Hueston of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. "We realize there are potential exposures to BSE in the United States, but they are very, very few and very low."

But not everyone is convinced.

"The U.S. has had fire walls in place to protect the cattle population from getting infected with mad cow disease and there are some gaps in these fire walls," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of the food safety program for the consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

One of the gaps, she said, is that the FDA, despite its strong rules, "doesn't have the manpower to actually enforce these rules." She also said tighter regulations are needed for meat processing plants.

Hueston agreed that more needs to be done.

"We need to dramatically increase the amount of research dollars that are going into assuring healthy animals. Healthy animals is the basis of safe food," he said.

Although it is believed nvCJD is spread in humans after they consume BSE-contaminated cattle products, scientists were quick to dispel concerns such as those that have arisen in Europe about eating meat.

"The danger of driving to the airport is probably greater than the danger of eating meat in Europe," said Dr. Richard Johnson of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes at the National Institutes of Health.

Concern about mad cow disease in the United States entered the spotlight after the USDA's seizure of a flock of sheep in Vermont last month. Some of those sheep had tested positive for scrapie, one of several degenerative neurological diseases similar to BSE.

The outbreak of mad cow disease that surfaced in Britain in 1986 is believed to have originated from cattle feed made from infected animal carcasses. In 1996, the first cases of nvCJD were reported in Britain. The incubation period, during which there are no visible signs of the disease, ranges from three to eight years in cattle and five to 20 years in humans.

There is no test for BSE or nvCJD and there is known treatment or cure. The only conclusive diagnosis is made by examining the brain after death.

Since 1989, the USDA has banned importation into the United States of live cows, sheep and goats from Britain, a prohibition that was expanded in 1997 to include all of Europe. Last December, the USDA banned all imports of rendered animal products from Europe, regardless of species. The USDA also inspects all cattle before they go to slaughter and impounds those that show possible symptoms of BSE.

Based on these restrictions, "it would be highly unlikely for BSE or mad cow to occur in the U.S.," said Dr. Linda Detwiler, senior veterinarian for the USDA.

The FDA, which regulates food safety for humans and animals, also has banned the use of any animal protein in feed for cows, sheep and goats since 1997. And it requires feed manufacturers to ensure that animal protein does not find it's way into feed for ruminants.

But a General Accounting Office report issued last year found that 20 percent of feed processing plants weren't aware of the FDA regulations.

In January, more than 1,200 cows were quarantined in Texas because they ate feed containing animal parts, which was caused by an error at the feed plant.

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WHO - Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)
The BSE Inquiry Report
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