Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee BSE/TSE MAD COW feed ban

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From: TSS ()
Subject: Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee BSE/TSE MAD COW feed ban
Date: March 14, 2005 at 7:36 pm PST

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:39:21 -0600
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

GAO: FDA Must Do More To Oversee Mad Cow-Linked Feed Ban

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
March 14, 2005 5:59 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP)--The Food and Drug Administration is not doing enough to
enforce the ban on feed linked to the spread of mad cow disease,
congressional auditors say.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative wing of
Congress, said that while the FDA has made improvements in its
management of the feed ban, "various program weaknesses continue to
undermine the nation's firewall against BSE ."

The FDA, in response, said it believed its inspection approach to the
feed-ban rule was adequate.

BSE , or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to result from
feeding protein material from one ruminant, such as cattle, to another.
Consuming meat from infected cattle is thought to have caused the deaths
of about 150 people worldwide and resulted in the slaughter of 5 million
cattle in Europe to stop the spread.

The discovery of a single Canadian-born, BSE-infected dairy cow in
Washington state in December 2003 has had a devastating effect on U.S.
beef exports.

The report said the FDA had no uniform approach to identify the feed
manufacturers and shippers that are subject to the feed ban but have not
been inspected. It added that almost 20% of the 14,800 firms inspected
since 1997 have not been re-inspected in five years or more.

The GAO added that FDA's feed-ban inspection guidance does not include
instructions to sample routinely cattle feed to test for potentially
banned material.

Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who requested the GAO
report, also cited the finding that the FDA doesn't set consistent
standards for cleaning machinery and transport vehicles that handle both
prohibited and allowed feed materials.

The U.S. food supply is still the safest in the world, Durbin said
Monday in a statement. But "this GAO report is one more link in a long
chain of evidence that the threat of BSE is not being taken seriously
enough," he said.

The FDA said the weaknesses identified were not sufficient to place U.S.
cattle at risk and its inspection approach assured adequate oversight of
the feed ban.

It also disagreed with the recommendation that tests should be a part of
compliance inspections, noting that tests cannot detect the prions that
cause BSE .

The Agriculture Department is responsible for detecting the disease in
cattle, while the FDA has the task of preventing its introduction and
spread through animal feed.

Also on Monday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, and the panel's top Democrat, Max Baucus of Montana, met Japan's
ambassador to the U.S. to press Japan to lift the ban on U.S. beef
imports in place since the discovery of the diseased Washington cow in 2003.

"There is a sense, even among some Japanese, that the sluggish pace of
progress so far is driven more by politics than science," Baucus said.

Grassley said it would be a boost for U.S.-Japan relations if Japan
announces an end to the ban when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
stops in Tokyo on her round-the-world trip. Japan imported $1.5 billion
worth of U.S. beef in 2003.

On the Net:

Senate Finance Committee: http://www.finance.senate.gov

GAO: http://www.gao.gov/

http://online.wsj.com/

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

570 News, Canada - 13 minutes ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...
Report: FDA Needs to Do More on Feed Ban

ABC News - 33 minutes ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Report: FDA needs to do more on feed ban

Pioneer Press, MN - 34 minutes ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

CBC News, Canada - 2 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

940 News, Canada - 2 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

Macleans, Canada - 2 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

Winnipeg Sun, Canada - 3 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Congressional report says FDA needs to do more to oversee feed ban

CJAD, Canada - 3 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...

Report: FDA Needs to Do More on Feed Ban

phillyburbs.com, PA - 3 hours ago
... the safest in the world, Durbin said Monday in a statement. But
"this GAO report is one more link in a long chain of evidence that the
threat of BSE is not ...