pb...
01-27-2004, 03:16 AM
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/26/mad.cow/index.html
FDA: No more chicken waste for cows
New measures to guard against mad cow disease announced
WASHINGTON (CNN)--Chicken waste, restaurant scraps and blood products
are to be banned from cattle feed as part of new measures to protect
Americans from mad cow disease, the Food and Drug Administration
announced Monday.
The measures are being taken in response to the discovery of the
nation's first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE). No humans have been infected, and government
officials said the rules are meant to further protect consumers of U.S.
beef.
"Today's actions will make strong public health protections against
BSE even stronger," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson. "Small as the risk may already be, this is the time to make
sure the public is protected to the greatest extent possible."
Mad cow disease first appeared in Britain in the mid-1980s, and
millions of cattle were slaughtered as a result. The disease is linked
to a similar form of the incurable and fatal brain-wasting disease in
humans, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or vCJD.
Mad cow is believed to be spread when cows eat the brain and spinal cord
tissues of infected cows. It is thought that humans who eat BSE-infected
nervous system tissue can contract vCJD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 153 cases
of vCJD had been reported in the world: 143 in Britain, six in France,
and one each in Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States. The
Canadian, Irish and U.S. cases were reported in people who had lived
in Britain.
FDA commissioner Mark McClellan added, "With today's actions, FDA will
be doing more than ever before to protect the public against BSE by
eliminating additional potential sources of BSE exposure."
U.S. and Canadian authorities banned the use of brain and spinal cord
tissue in cattle feed in August 1997. That ban has been one of the main
defenses in preventing mad cow disease from entering the human food
chain.
But after a dairy cow in Washington state tested positive for mad cow
disease late last year, the government has implemented even more
measures, including banning cow brains and other tissue from entering
the human food chain.
Monday's measures go even further and include the following:
• Banning chicken waste, known in the industry as "poultry litter,"
from livestock feed. Poultry litter consists of bedding, spilled
feed, feathers and fecal matter collected from where chickens live.
• Banning meat scraps from restaurants, known as "plate waste," from
livestock feed.
• Banning mammalian blood and blood products from being used in
livestock feed or dietary supplements.
• Requiring plants that make both livestock feed and feed for other
animals to have separate production lines to lessen the possibility
of cross-contamination.
Mad cow search to end soon
Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinary officer with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, said Monday that the search for cows that entered
the United States from Canada with the infected dairy cow last month
will likely end soon without having achieved a full accounting of the
other animals' whereabouts.
"We're talking in terms of days or weeks rather than months," he said.
"We have to draw a reasonable line in the sand, if you will, in terms
of -- at some point we reach a line of diminishing returns."
Of the 81 head of dairy cattle that entered the country in September
2001, including the animal that went on to develop mad cow disease,
28 have been identified, DeHaven said in a conference call with
reporters.
The animals have been found in "multiple herds," which likely contain
others of the 81, he said. So far, 131 animals that cannot be ruled
out as having been from the original herd -- through birth records
or age -- have been euthanized and tested, and none has tested positive,
he said.
Tests on another 35 animals are pending, he said.
_____________________________________________
This truly gives a whole new meaning to the saying,
"...you are what you eat."
pb...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/26/mad.cow/index.html
FDA: No more chicken waste for cows
New measures to guard against mad cow disease announced
WASHINGTON (CNN)--Chicken waste, restaurant scraps and blood products
are to be banned from cattle feed as part of new measures to protect
Americans from mad cow disease, the Food and Drug Administration
announced Monday.
The measures are being taken in response to the discovery of the
nation's first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE). No humans have been infected, and government
officials said the rules are meant to further protect consumers of U.S.
beef.
"Today's actions will make strong public health protections against
BSE even stronger," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson. "Small as the risk may already be, this is the time to make
sure the public is protected to the greatest extent possible."
Mad cow disease first appeared in Britain in the mid-1980s, and
millions of cattle were slaughtered as a result. The disease is linked
to a similar form of the incurable and fatal brain-wasting disease in
humans, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or vCJD.
Mad cow is believed to be spread when cows eat the brain and spinal cord
tissues of infected cows. It is thought that humans who eat BSE-infected
nervous system tissue can contract vCJD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 153 cases
of vCJD had been reported in the world: 143 in Britain, six in France,
and one each in Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States. The
Canadian, Irish and U.S. cases were reported in people who had lived
in Britain.
FDA commissioner Mark McClellan added, "With today's actions, FDA will
be doing more than ever before to protect the public against BSE by
eliminating additional potential sources of BSE exposure."
U.S. and Canadian authorities banned the use of brain and spinal cord
tissue in cattle feed in August 1997. That ban has been one of the main
defenses in preventing mad cow disease from entering the human food
chain.
But after a dairy cow in Washington state tested positive for mad cow
disease late last year, the government has implemented even more
measures, including banning cow brains and other tissue from entering
the human food chain.
Monday's measures go even further and include the following:
• Banning chicken waste, known in the industry as "poultry litter,"
from livestock feed. Poultry litter consists of bedding, spilled
feed, feathers and fecal matter collected from where chickens live.
• Banning meat scraps from restaurants, known as "plate waste," from
livestock feed.
• Banning mammalian blood and blood products from being used in
livestock feed or dietary supplements.
• Requiring plants that make both livestock feed and feed for other
animals to have separate production lines to lessen the possibility
of cross-contamination.
Mad cow search to end soon
Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinary officer with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, said Monday that the search for cows that entered
the United States from Canada with the infected dairy cow last month
will likely end soon without having achieved a full accounting of the
other animals' whereabouts.
"We're talking in terms of days or weeks rather than months," he said.
"We have to draw a reasonable line in the sand, if you will, in terms
of -- at some point we reach a line of diminishing returns."
Of the 81 head of dairy cattle that entered the country in September
2001, including the animal that went on to develop mad cow disease,
28 have been identified, DeHaven said in a conference call with
reporters.
The animals have been found in "multiple herds," which likely contain
others of the 81, he said. So far, 131 animals that cannot be ruled
out as having been from the original herd -- through birth records
or age -- have been euthanized and tested, and none has tested positive,
he said.
Tests on another 35 animals are pending, he said.
_____________________________________________
This truly gives a whole new meaning to the saying,
"...you are what you eat."
pb...
