USDA Bans Slaughter of Downers After Mad Cow Finding |
 |
December 30, 2003
 |
|
Compassion Over Killing
|
One week after the first confirmed case of mad cow disease was reported in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a ban on the slaughter and sale of nonambulatory cattle for food. The ban was announced on Tuesday, December 30, after a barrage of media coverage and an outpouring of public concern.
For The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups that have lobbied against the slaughter of "downers"—animals too sick or injured to move—for over a decade, the ban represents a major triumph. "This is a great victory in the fight to implement more humane treatment for millions of farmed animals," said Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of The HSUS.
The ban followed Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman's announcement on December 23 that an immobile Holstein in Washington state tested positive for mad cow disease.
According to USDA estimates, between 130,000 and 190,000 downed animals are sent to processing plants annually—about three quarters of whom are processed for human food. Veneman noted that about 20,000 downers were tested this year, approximately 10%–15% of the total sent to processing plants.
Despite Veneman's assurance that downers would be tested, The HSUS called for an immediate ban on the slaughter or marketing of meat from downed animals.
In a December 24 letter to the agriculture secretary, Pacelle argued for an immediate ban on the processing of downers, calling the connection between downed animals and mad cow disease "undeniable." He urged that to allow the continued processing of such diseased animals for human consumption would be "reckless and irresponsible."
After a week of breaking news stories and an outpouring of e-mail, letters, and phone calls to the agriculture secretary, the USDA took decisive action with Veneman's announcement that "USDA will ban all downer cattle from the human food chain." While a number of states already restrict the movement of downers at state-licensed facilities, the newly-announced federal ban will apply in all states and at all federally-inspected slaughterhouses. These facilities handle the vast majority of animals slaughtered in the United States.
At least 200,000 farm animals become downers every year. The ban on the slaughter and sale of downed animals may force livestock owners to treat their animals more humanely, so that they do not become nonambulatory to begin with. Those animals who do become too sick or injured to walk on their own will no longer have to suffer the cruelty of being hauled, beaten, or pushed with bulldozers to the killing floor.
"We are delighted with Secretary Veneman's emphatic declaration that downed cattle are unfit for human consumption and will not be channeled into the human food supply," Pacelle said. "This decision also means that these animals will no longer be inhumanely treated by being dragged by chains or bulldozers to get them to slaughter."
Veneman's December 23 announcement marked the first time the brain-wasting disease, known officially as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), has ever appeared in the United States. The news raised the question of whether the United States has adequate safeguards to insure that the meat from potentially diseased downers does not enter the food supply.
Congress grappled with the downer issue earlier this year. In November, the Senate passed an amendment, advanced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), to the Agriculture Appropriations bill, which would have prevented meat from slaughtered downers from entering the food supply. When the House narrowly rejected a similar amendment by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), it set up a battle in conference committee, which ultimately jettisoned the provision.
The discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, however, may have a devastating economic impact. By December 30, dozens of countries—Japan, Russia, Australia, and Mexico among them—had already halted imports of U.S. beef. Earlier this year, when a downed animal in Canada was discovered to have BSE, the news caused a large number of countries, including the United States, to ban Canadian beef imports. Canada reportedly lost $1 million a day following the bans.
The Holstein in question was located on a farm in Mabton, Washington, about 40 miles southeast of Yakima. The downed animal tested positive for BSE on December 22—13 days after the animal had been sent to slaughter.
When mad cow disease first appeared in Britain in the mid-1980s, dozens of humans contracted a form of the disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), after eating tainted meat. More than 140 people have died in Britain from the disease.
See the Video
Downed Animals
Related Links
Get the Facts on Downers
Frequently Asked Questions about Mad Cow Disease in the U.S.
HSUS Letter to Secretary Veneman Calling for a Ban on Processing Downed Animals
