Mad cow disease surfaces in U.S.

A single instance at a farm in Yakima, Wash., has not threatened the nation's food supply, government inspectors insist.

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WASHINGTON - A single Holstein on a Washington state farm has tested positive for mad cow disease, marking the disease's first suspected appearance in the United States, the Bush administration said Tuesday as it assured Americans their food is safe.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the slaughtered cow was screened this month and any diseased parts were removed before they could enter the food supply and infect humans. Fear of the disease has brought economic ruin on beef industries in Europe and Canada.

"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," Veneman said. "We see no reason for people to alter their eating habits. I plan to serve beef for my Christmas dinner."

Still, some allies like Japan and South Korea temporarily banned imports of U.S. beef, providing an early indication of the potential economic damage the discovery could cause.

A lone case of mad cow disease was discovered in Canada in May, which prompted countries worldwide immediately to block imports of Canadian beef. The result was devastating. Canadian officials estimate their country lost $1-million a day after the bans went into effect.

The farm near Yakima, Wash., where the cow originated has been quarantined as officials trace how the animal contracted the disease and where its meat went.

"Even though the risk to human health is minimal, we will take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," Veneman said.

Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry.

A form of mad cow disease can be contracted by humans if they eat infected beef or nerve tissue, and possibly through blood transfusions.

Wary of the potential economic effect on their American market, beef producers quickly sought Tuesday to reassure consumers that infected meat wouldn't reach their tables. "There is no risk to consumers based upon the product that came from this animal," said Terry Stokes, chief executive of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Demand for beef is high, and the supply is small, because droughts in the West forced some ranchers to reduce their herds to survive the tough conditions.

Together, the factors have driven retail prices to record high levels. USDA Choice sirloin steak sells for more than $6 per pound, far more than last year's price of about $4 per pound. Ground beef sells for $2.04 per pound, compared with $1.84 last year.

Veneman assured Americans the screening system worked, and no foul play was suspected. "This incident is not terrorist-related," she said. "I cannot stress this point strongly enough."

Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., a member of the House Agriculture Committee, said he expected lawmakers to hold hearings when they return to Washington in late January.

"We're going to look into this and see the possibility of how this happened," Holden said.

Veneman said the Holstein, which could not move on its own, was found at a farm in Mabton, Wash., about 40 miles southeast of Yakima, and tested preliminarily positive for the brain-wasting illness on Dec. 9. Parts of the cow that would be infected - the brain, the spinal cord and the lower part of the small intestine - were removed before the animal went to a meat processing plant.

Samples from the cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the preliminary mad cow finding, Veneman said. The results will be known in three to five days.

She said tests are made of all "downer" cows - old cows that are not mobile - that are sent to slaughterhouses.

But Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said such cows shouldn't be in the food supply. The Senate passed such a ban this year, but it failed to make it through the House.

"I blame it on greed, greed, greed," Ackerman said. "The greed of the industry, the greed of the lobbyists and the greed of the members of Congress."

Veneman said that the Agriculture Department has had safeguards in place since 1990 and that 20,526 cows had been tested in 2003 in the United States.

"This is a clear indication that our surveillance and detection program is working," Veneman said.

The government is depending on a mix of quarantine and detective work to figure out how disease apparently infected the cow.

The nation's mad cow emergency plan - never before used - is to cordon off any cattle that could have come into contact with the infection.

The Washington farm has been quarantined, and if mad cow disease is confirmed, all the animals in that herd probably will be slaughtered so their brains, too, can be tested, said Food and Drug Administration Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford, a veterinarian who oversees the agency's BSE work. The key is tracing the source of the first infection.

Beef and cattle imported from countries known to have BSE have long been banned. But the nation's main defense is a 1997 ban on giving cattle feed made from the protein or bone meal of mammals - because that feed is thought to be the way mad cow disease originally spread.

So the first question is whether the cow was illegally imported or ate feed that illegally contained BSE-bearing protein.

Another possibility depends on the cow's age, which wasn't immediately known. If the cow was more than 6 years old, she could have received tainted feed before the FDA's ban began, Crawford noted. The disease's incubation period can be as long as eight years.

A second part of the probe is to trace every cow the ill one, and any others found to be ill, came into contact with, so they can be quarantined and tested to see if the infection spread.

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