Testing Alone Can't Protect Us from Mad Cow Disease; Urge the USDA to Make the Downer Ban Permanent |
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July 8, 2005
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Compassion Over Killing
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In November 2004, federal officials found themselves staring at a pair of inconclusive test results for mad cow disease after examining a dead cow who turned up at a pet food processing plant in Texas. The cow wasn't dead when she was first loaded for transport—she was then a downer, an animal too sick or injured to walk—but had died in transit to the slaughterhouse for processing for the human food supply. Because the cow was dead, however, the animal was transferred to a pet food plant in Waco.
That's when officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested the animal for mad cow disease, which proved inconclusive. Officials then applied a test that they consider the "gold standard" for determining bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in cattle; it came back negative. Satisfied, the USDA went about its business again—until, more than six months later, the agency's inspector general Phyllis Fong decided to have the cow retested using a more robust test known as the "Western blot." The animal tested positive for mad cow disease. A couple of weeks later, a British lab confirmed the Western blot results.
The USDA's Texas two-step testing protocol certainly generated a lot of controversy. But consider this: Had the agency not instituted a temporary ban on downers entering the food supply—an emergency ban issued following the United States' first brush with mad cow disease in December 2003 (which also involved a downed cow)—officials likely would have been deciding whether the Texas cow should enter the human food supply, not just the one for pets. Then consider this: This spring, both the USDA and Congress were toying with the idea of not only refusing to make the interim ban permanent, but in fact weakening the downer policy, based on some faulty assumptions about injured versus sick animals.
Deciding that politics should have no role in this human health and humane decision, The HSUS and Farm Sanctuary filed a legal petition with the USDA on Friday, July 8, urging the agency to make permanent the ban on downed cattle in the human food supply. The petition not only argues that the USDA has the legal authority to issue a final rule, but also states that, in light of the second mad cow finding in Texas, any further holdup could constitute “unreasonably delayed” agency action under the Administrative Procedures Act. You can reinforce our petition by contacting Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and urging him to make the downer ban permanent.
"More than 18 months have passed since the USDA issued its emergency ban on downers in the human food supply. It's time for the agency to acknowledge the obvious—that downed cattle are more susceptible to mad cow disease—and to make the ban permanent," said HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle. "Anything short of a complete ban on downers in the food supply constitutes playing Russian roulette with the American food supply."
The Case for a Permanent Downer Ban
There have been six known cases of BSE in North America so far—all of them involving downer cows. Four downer cows have been diagnosed with the disease in Canada. In December 2003, the first mad cow was discovered in the United States, when a Canadian cow imported to Washington State was diagnosed with the brain-wasting disease. The animal was a downer born in 1997 just weeks before both Canada and the United States banned some, but not all, byproducts from the cattle slaughtering process in cattle feed, which is believed to be the cause of the known mad cow cases. To soothe the fears of both consumers and foreigner buyers of U.S. beef, the USDA wasted no time in issuing an emergency ban on slaughtering downers for the human food supply.
Since the USDA performs the dual—and some say contradictory—role of protecting the food supply and promoting agriculture products, the agency's swift action was understandable, even if it did little to stop dozens of countries from halting imports of U.S. beef in December 2003. BSE, after all, can be transmitted to other animals, including people, who eat the brain or nervous tissue of an infected animal. In humans, the disease is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and has been linked to consumption of infected beef. To date, about 150 people have died from vCJD, mostly in England.
"Cattle who can’t walk due to injury or illness should not be slaughtered for human consumption, which the USDA seemed to recognize with the temporary ban," said Michael Greger, M.D., HSUS director of public health and animal agriculture. "Besides BSE, studies have found that downer animals have higher risk of carrying E. coli, salmonella, or other diseases hazardous to humans, and can even be infected with anthrax. Allowing downer animals into the human food supply places the American public at risk and is utterly irresponsible."
Aside from the human health concerns, a ban on downers could also improve the lives of countless cows. Downer cattle sent to slaughterhouses suffer significant pain and distress; they can be forced to walk on broken or injured legs or, failing that, they can be pushed with bulldozers, dragged with chains or ropes, or left to languish without food, water or care. A permanent ban on processing downer cattle could be an incentive for producers to better handle and care for their animals to prevent them from becoming downers in the first place.
Despite the many reasons to make the downer ban permanent, USDA officials and members of Congress have been considering virtually the opposite action—weakening the ban. In April, just two months before the second U.S. mad cow finding, the USDA suggested that it might ease off on the ban if continued testing did not turn up any further cases of BSE. To the agency's way of thinking, the only then-known case of BSE in the United States involved a Canadian cow; domestic cattle appeared to be safe.
U.S. representatives from Montana and Minnesota even introduced a bill in the House that month to weaken the ban. The bill would have permitted downers to be killed for human consumption if they cannot stand or walk due to “fatigue, stress, obdurator nerve paralysis, obesity, or one or more broken or fractured appendages, severed tendons or ligaments, or dislocated joints.”
Their thinking, however, seemed to be more focused on economics than reality. It can be difficult to tell with certainty if a cow is unable to walk because of an injury or because of a disease, and there is no guarantee than an injured cow might not also be sick. Indeed, with at least three of the six known BSE cases in the North America, the animals were thought to be downers due to a broken leg, calving-related paralysis, and having slipped on ice—not because they were ill in any way.
Then there's the issue of testing, as the Texas case pointed out all too clearly. If there had been no downer ban, and no official to make the hard call for further testing, the BSE-infected cow in Texas could have ended up in the human food supply.
"It's alarming that the case might not have been confirmed without the third round of tests, shining a spotlight on the folly of ever lifting the ban on downers," said Miyun Park, director of The HSUS's Farm Animal Welfare section. "The USDA may have been considering a weaker ban to prevent economic losses for cattle ranchers and dairy producers, but a permanent ban on downers would be a minor inconvenience compared to the inhumane treatment of downed animals at the slaughter plant and the damage that could be done by a BSE-infected animal ending up in the food supply."
Added Jonathan Lovvorn, HSUS vice president of Animal Protection Litigation, which filed the petition: "Federal law requires the USDA to take prompt action to protect human health and safety. It's already too late to call any action on the downer ban 'prompt' at this point, but the USDA can make up for lost time by immediately making the ban permanent."
While The HSUS’s petition addresses cattle specifically, it also notes that we believe the ban should be extended to cover all downer animals in processing for human consumption. The USDA has ample authority to extend the ban, and it has the public's support. Ninety-nine percent of the more than 22,000 public comments to the USDA in 2004 support the ban, with the majority urging the USDA to extend the downer cattle ban to other livestock as well.
Since the Texas case, Secretary Mike Johanns has seemed open to a permanent ban; now is the time for him to turn his openness into firm support and prompt action.
What You Can Do
Contact Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and thank him for his comments favoring the downer ban, and let him know that you support a permanent ban. Then encourage him immediately to make the downer ban permanent—for the sake of humane health and for the animals who are already suffering.
See the Video
Downed Animals
Related Links
About Cattle
Frequently Asked Questions about Mad Cow Disease in the U.S.
Get the Facts on Downers
Don't Allow Agriculture Secretary Johanns to Backpedal on the USDA Downer Ban
Industry Backpedals on Mad Cow but Public Support for Downer Ban Is Clear
USDA Bans Slaughter of Downers After Mad Cow Finding
HSUS Letter to Secretary Veneman Calling for a Ban on Processing Downed Animals
