Washington, D.C. R-CALF USA today, along with 75 other organizations that
represent tens of millions of Americans, sent formal correspondence to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to request that the agency immediately
strengthen protections against Canadas ongoing problems with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease. The groups letter is in
response to the disclosure this month of Canadas 18th case of BSE in a
Canadian-born animal, which also is the 11th case of BSE in a Canadian cow that
met USDAs age requirements to enter the United States. USDAs relaxed import
standards are putting not only U.S. beef consumers at risk, but also the U.S.
cattle herd and the livelihoods of independent U.S. cattle producers.
Mr. Secretary, above all other considerations, the health and safety of the
people of the United States and United States livestock must come first first
before trade and first before international relations, the letter states. Your
agencys current BSE policies and regulations compromise directly this health
and safety priority and we, the undersigned, urge you to take immediate action
to, at the very least, restore for the United States the protections against the
introduction and spread of BSE that were in place before USDA began to
systematically dismantle its BSE-related border restrictions. We respectfully
implore you to, as a first step, immediately overturn the OTM Rule.
USDA first relaxed U.S. safeguards against BSE in 2005, and then further relaxed
those safeguards in 2007 with its OTM (over-30-month) Rule, which facilitates
the importation of Canadian cattle born after March, 1, 1999, and beef from
Canadian cattle of any age. At that time, Canada had detected only three BSE-positive
animals born after March 1, 1999, but as of March 10, 2010, Canada has detected
11 BSE-positive animals born after that date all of which met USDAs age
requirement for export to the United States.
We are asking the Administration to immediately reverse this reckless and
unscientific approach to the dangers of BSE by withdrawing the OTM Rule that
basically eliminated the United States only defense against the introduction of
BSE into the United States its import restrictions that prohibited the
importation of cattle old enough to have been exposed to the disease, said
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
While USDA allows the importation of cattle old enough to be exposed to BSE in
Canada, the letter explains USDA also allows Canadian cattle to be subject to
far less stringent risk mitigation measures than what is required in the
European Union and Japan, thus assuring that U.S. consumer are less protected
against the introduction of BSE into their food supply than are consumers in
those countries.
USDAs dismissal of the epidemiological significance of Canadas high rate of
BSE detection is simply inexplicable, Bullard said. USDA can no longer ignore
the empirical facts that show Canadas ongoing BSE problem is far more serious
than the agency predicted.
Also in the letter, the groups indicate they wholeheartedly disagree with USDAs
chief assumption that slaughter controls alone prevent the recycling of BSE
infectivity into human food and cattle feed, including the prohibition against
the use of tissues from downer cattle in the human food supply and the removal
of specified risk materials (SRMs) from human food and animal feed, as well as
feed manufacturing controls to prevent the recycling of BSE into cattle feed.
Unfortunately, USDA, it seems, has decided that measures other than border
restrictions are adequate to protect against this always fatal disease, yet we
cite page after page after page of various violations over the past several
years in both U.S. slaughter facilities and U.S. feed production facilities
that continue to put the general public at risk and our U.S. cattle herd at
risk, Bullard pointed out.
The following evidence is what has occurred in only the past few years and
involves more than 144.5 million pounds of beef. This evidence further undercuts
USDAs assumption that BSE risk pathways to humans have been effectively
alleviated:
Jan. 15, 2010: New York recall of a beef carcass that may not have had the
spinal column removed.
Oct. 17, 2009: Wisconsin recall of about 5,522 pounds of beef tongues that may
not have had the tonsils completely removed.
Oct. 16, 2009: California recall of approximately 11,500 pounds of assorted
meat and poultry products (including beef) that were produced without the
benefit of federal inspection.
Oct. 15, 2009: Nebraska recall of approximately 33,000 pounds of beef tongues
that may not have had the tonsils completely removed.
May 29, 2009: Idaho recall of approximately 14,560 pounds of beef primal and
subprimal products that were imported from Canada and not presented for
re-inspection upon entry into the United States.
Apr. 29, 2009: New York recall of approximately 16,213 pounds of seasoning
products, which contained cattle by-products that were ineligible for import
into the United States.
Apr. 26, 2009: Michigan recall of an undetermined amount (estimated at 30,973
pounds) of frozen meat and poultry pasta products (including beef) that were
prepared without the benefit of federal inspection.
Mar. 28, 2009: South Carolina recall of approximately 2,925 pounds of beef and
other meat products that were mislabeled and possibly produced without the
benefit of federal inspection.
Aug. 7, 2008: Texas recall of approximately 941,271 pounds of cattle heads with
tonsils not completely removed.
Jun. 26, 2008: Missouri-based recall of approximately 120 pounds of fresh
cattle heads with tonsils not completely removed.
Jun. 26, 2008: Texas recall of approximately 2,850 pounds of fresh cattle heads
which may have contained SRMs.
April 4, 2008: Kansas recall of approximately 406,000 pounds of frozen cattle
heads with tonsils not completely removed.
Feb. 17, 2008: California recall of 143,383,823 pounds of raw and frozen beef
products, which were produced without the cattle receiving complete and proper
inspection, including requisite inspections of non-ambulatory cattle that were
supposed to be removed from the food supply.
A feed manufacturing firm was cited this year by the FDA for manufacturing and
distributing adulterated animal feed to nine states: Idaho, Nevada, Utah,
Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Washington, California, and Oregon; yet nowhere was
specified exactly how long this manufacturer had been distributing the
adulterated feed.
In October 2006, the FDA issued a warning letter to an animal feed protein
supplement manufacturing facility in Alabama for producing adulterated feed by
failing to implement measures to prevent commingling or cross-contamination of
prohibited proteins, as well as for subsequently misbranding animal feeds for
more than 15-months.
In 2006, the FDA issued a Louisiana rendering plant a warning letter for
violating U.S. BSE-related feed manufacturing controls, again by failing to
prevent commingling or cross-contamination with prohibited protein and for
misbranding feed.
In 2005, FDA inspectors found that a Minnesota rendering plant was in violation
of requirements to prohibit certain proteins in ruminant feed and revealed the
rendering plant failed to use proper clean-out procedures to prevent
cross-contamination and failed to properly label feed to prevent its consumption
by ruminant animals.
These were just the incidents that were caught and likely represent only a
fraction of the cattle that were processed without complying fully with required
BSE mitigation measures. Thus, there likely are hundreds of thousands of U.S.
consumers who have purchased beef that likely was not subject to U.S. mitigation
measures, the letter states.
This ongoing, potential human exposure to BSE is unnecessary and can and should
immediately be avoided by prohibiting the introduction of cattle and beef from
Canada where the BSE agent is known to have recycled in that countrys feed
system through at least all or part of 2004, and where it likely continued to
recycle at least until Canada implemented its upgraded feed ban in mid-2007,
the group wrote.
We are hopeful that Secretary Vilsack will respond favorably to the tens of
millions of Americans represented by the groups joined in the letter by
immediately restoring our border restrictions to prevent the introduction of BSE
from Canada, Bullard concluded.
# # #
R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of
America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the
continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA
represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues.
Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators,
cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA directors and committee
chairs are extremely active unpaid volunteers. R-CALF USA has dozens of
affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate
members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
Source:
R-CALF USA
