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Veneman: No timetable for considering BSE report
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DTN)--Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman said Feb. 5 that she has no timetable for considering recommendations made by an international panel on changes in the U.S. animal health and food safety systems to address mad cow disease.
In a speech to a joint meeting of the Food Group, an agribusiness organization, and the Commodity Club, Veneman also said she believes the investigation into the case of mad cow disease would be completed soon.
The international panel said continuing the investigation is likely to have "diminishing returns." USDA investigators have been trying to track down the 80-some animals from the diseased cow's herd and the investigation has extended to other animals as well, but Veneman has said several times that many of the animals have likely been slaughtered.
She said she considered the international panel's report to be complimentary of USDA's efforts to date and not in conflict with the Harvard risk assessment that has governed USDA policy on mad cow disease so far.
The Harvard study had also said there was low risk of the disease in the U.S., Veneman said. Representatives of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said they considered the international panel and the Harvard studies to be in conflict with each other. The report has recommended banning cattle brains and other risk material in all animal feed, including pets, and banning mammaliam and poultry feed for cattle.
Veneman spent much of her speech praising her staff for their efforts in dealing with the crisis after the discovery that a cow had the disease in Washington state Dec. 23. She said one scientist at the federal laboratories in Ames, Iowa, gave up Christmas with his family to take the specimen from the diseased cow for final testing in London.
Date: 2/12/04
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