Senate to hear testimony on mad cow disease

By Miriam Falco
CNN Medical Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States has not seen one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease. But is the government doing enough to keep it that way? That is a question senators will be posing at a hearing Wednesday on mad cow disease and meat safety.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the beef industry and consumer advocates are expected to testify before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism.

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Mad cow disease has been back in the spotlight, following the USDA's seizure of a flock of sheep in Vermont last month. Some of those sheep had tested positive for scrapie, a disease similar to mad cow disease.

Lawmakers want to know if current government standards are sufficient to keep mad cow disease and the human form of BSE, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (nvCJD), out of the United States.

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

She said the federal government needs to do more to "make sure mad cow disease can't get into the human food supply." Smith DeWaal planned to tell the Senate committee that "in addition to stronger protections, the FDA also needs many more inspectors" because even though the FDA has strong rules in place, it doesn't have the manpower to actually enforce these rules.

BSE first surfaced in the United Kingdom in 1986. It is believed to have originated from contaminated cattle feed made from infected animal carcasses. The first cases of the human form of the disease, nvCJD, were reported in the UK in 1996. Since then 98 cases of nvCJD have been confirmed in the European Union, according to the FDA Web site. Scientists believe humans contract nvCJD after they consume BSE-contaminated cattle products.

BSE and nvCJD belong to a group of progressive, degenerative neurological diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). 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 are no tests for BSE or nvCJD, nor is there a treatment or cure for either condition. The diseases are fatal to both animals and humans. The only conclusive diagnosis is made during a brain autopsy.

The USDA and FDA have put several restrictions in place in an effort to prevent cattle from being infected with BSE or humans contracting nvCJD.

Since 1989, the USDA has banned the importation of live ruminants (cows, sheep and goats) from the United Kingdom. In 1997, the ban was expanded, prohibiting the importation of live ruminants from all of Europe. Last December, the USDA banned all imports of rendered animal products from Europe, regardless of species.

The USDA also inspects cattle before they go to slaughter. If they show signs of BSE, the animals are killed, but the meat can't enter the human food chain and the brains are examined. 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 regulates food safety for humans and animals. In an effort to prevent U.S. cattle from consuming imported animal feed which may contain BSE contaminants, the FDA has banned the use of any animal protein in feed for ruminants since 1997. It also requires feed manufacturers to ensure that animal protein does not find its way into feed for ruminants.

Not everyone is convinced that these firewalls are impenetrable.

A General Accounting Office report issued last year found that 20 percent of feed processing plants weren't even 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. No meat from those cows was allowed to enter the human food chain.

Meat processing methods are also a source of concern for lawmakers and food safety experts. They say manufacturing plants, in an effort to get every bit of meat off the bone, force the spinal cord into a machine that scrapes away at it. The infectious agents that cause mad cow disease -- called prions -- are found in the central nervous system. For that reason, Smith DeWaal said, "We would like to see this bony spinal column banned from advanced meat recovery systems in the U.S., because I think this would provide important additional protections for consumers."

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April 2, 2001
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January 27, 2001
Cost of BSE scare rockets
January 22, 2001
Global action over mad cow fears
December 22, 2000

WHO - Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)
The BSE Inquiry Report
Mad Cow Disease Home Page

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