By Melvin N. Kramer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Source: National Meat Association (NMA)
Over the past two weeks there has been increased media attention on BSE in meat. With this
cascade of news, pundits have taken to the airwaves questioning the safety of U.S. beef in
terms of BSE and once again raise the question: Should all animals be tested? The answer to
that question is short and simple…No!
The only ones who would gain from testing every animal would be the test kit manufacturers.
There is no gain for the consuming public in terms of identification of BSE for prevention of
vCJD. The U.S. surveillance protocol is epidemiologically sound.
The United States has examined 605,252 high-risk animals. Originally, this study was going to
last 18 months, but it has been extended and is ongoing. Furthermore, in a separate study,
21,216 healthy, older animals were also tested. In fact, a far greater number of U.S. cattle have
been tested than was originally thought to be necessary by the USDA. The program exceeds
10 times the number the OIE suggested be tested based on our cattle population. To date, with
this enhanced study, the U.S. has reported 1 positive case of BSE in a native-born animal. That
animal was a downer that—when it was presented at a plant producing food for dogs—was
actually rejected. It was never destined for the human food chain and, clearly, it did not get
into the human food chain, nor, for that matter, did it get into dog food.
In 1989 the U.S. initially banned the importation of live ruminants and most ruminant
products from the UK and other countries where BSE is diagnosed. In 1997, the USDA
extended the ban to product coming from anywhere in Europe, and the FDA meanwhile
prohibited the feeding of most mammalian protein to cattle and other ruminants. Then, in
2000, the USDA prohibited all imports of rendered animal protein products, regardless of
species, from 30 countries in Europe—originating, rendered, processed or otherwise associated
with European animal protein products. Most recently, in 2004, downers and specified risk
materials (SRMs), including the small intestines and tonsils in all age animals and the skull,
eyes, brain, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, vertebral column and dorsal root ganglia in all
cattle over 30 months of age, were added to the preexisting bans.
This is the current food-safety paradigm. It has worked and, over time, the probability of
finding a BSE positive animal—which could exist like the proverbial "needle in a haystack,"
but is already nearly nonexistent—will significantly decrease.
This chart illustrates what surveillance programs around the world have found:
COW TOTAL BSE BSE POSITIVES /
POPULATION TESTS POSITIVES 1000 TESTED
USA 42,000,000 620,000 1 0.0016
Canada 4,255,326 87,000 4 0.0460
Japan 1,810,050 3,500,000 22 0.0063
U.K. /
TESTED 7,350,000 183,946,185 184,500 1.0030
U.S. and Canada test highest risk cattle or deads and downs over 30 months of age. In the
U.K. experience deads and downs are 29 times more likely to have BSE than normal healthy
cattle. All but one of the 22 BSE positives in Japan were the result of widespread testing of
slaughtered animals before product was to be placed into commerce with the recently
confirmed 22nd case in an older animal that died after exhibiting neurological symptoms.
Consequently, they would have many fewer positive/thousand tested, as they are not testing
the high-risk cattle.
Testing is costly and, because of what's noted above, ineffective as a preventive measure. The
U.S. firewalls—based on our surveillance and data from the UK, which has done extensive
testing and research—have proven to protect both our animals' health and, ultimately, human
health. The industry has cooperated and has partnered with the USDA with the firewalls,
with testing, and with trade negotiations.
Lastly, and perhaps least known and understood, the U.S. monitors both retrospectively and
prospectively for the human form of BSE, which is termed vCJD or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease. Our surveillance has not detected any cases of Americans who have become infected
with vCJD. The only positive finding was a tragic case of a young woman who was born and
lived through her early teenage years in the U.K., came to the U.S., was diagnosed and
subsequently died. Internationally, this case is without question accepted and attributable to
the acquisition of the disease in the United Kingdom.
The bottom line: U.S. beef is safe to eat. Our firewalls are in place. They are working, and there
is no scientific justification for mandatory or voluntary testing above and beyond what the
USDA is conducting through the APHIS program.
Melvin N. Kramer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
President, EHA Consulting Group, Inc.
Source: National Meat Association
nmaonline.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to USDA and the Bush Administration America now has the lowest import standards on the face of the globe.
Dr. Kramer should discuss the need for testing all U.S. cattle with Dr. Stanley Prusiner, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who discovered the source of prion diseases. Prusiner, the world's foremost expert in prion diseases, in the most recent edition of Science said, "why anyone would eat meat from an untested animal is beyond comprehension...and that includes cows."
Prusiner's comments came in an article reporting the findings of a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky who have proven that prions exist in the haunch and leg meat of deer infected with the cervid form of BSE.
Had the U.S. implemented blanket testing of cattle destined for slaughter and consumption in December 2003, Asian markets would not have been closed to U.S. beef and the industry would not have been drained of billions in equity. Instead, Kramer uses his educational status to promote and advocate the bottom line of the packing industry that wants nothing more than to outsource cheap foreign beef while hanging American producers and consumers out to dry.
As Clay Daulton said so aptly - people like Kramer should be forced to look directly into the eyes of those families who have lost loved ones to this horrible disease and defend their position. No risk of human life is acceptable. Period.
NMA's hiring of people like Kramer to advocate their position reminds me of when the Beef Board used checkoff dollars to hire a vegetarian to promote beef.
Source: National Meat Association (NMA)
Over the past two weeks there has been increased media attention on BSE in meat. With this
cascade of news, pundits have taken to the airwaves questioning the safety of U.S. beef in
terms of BSE and once again raise the question: Should all animals be tested? The answer to
that question is short and simple…No!
The only ones who would gain from testing every animal would be the test kit manufacturers.
There is no gain for the consuming public in terms of identification of BSE for prevention of
vCJD. The U.S. surveillance protocol is epidemiologically sound.
The United States has examined 605,252 high-risk animals. Originally, this study was going to
last 18 months, but it has been extended and is ongoing. Furthermore, in a separate study,
21,216 healthy, older animals were also tested. In fact, a far greater number of U.S. cattle have
been tested than was originally thought to be necessary by the USDA. The program exceeds
10 times the number the OIE suggested be tested based on our cattle population. To date, with
this enhanced study, the U.S. has reported 1 positive case of BSE in a native-born animal. That
animal was a downer that—when it was presented at a plant producing food for dogs—was
actually rejected. It was never destined for the human food chain and, clearly, it did not get
into the human food chain, nor, for that matter, did it get into dog food.
In 1989 the U.S. initially banned the importation of live ruminants and most ruminant
products from the UK and other countries where BSE is diagnosed. In 1997, the USDA
extended the ban to product coming from anywhere in Europe, and the FDA meanwhile
prohibited the feeding of most mammalian protein to cattle and other ruminants. Then, in
2000, the USDA prohibited all imports of rendered animal protein products, regardless of
species, from 30 countries in Europe—originating, rendered, processed or otherwise associated
with European animal protein products. Most recently, in 2004, downers and specified risk
materials (SRMs), including the small intestines and tonsils in all age animals and the skull,
eyes, brain, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, vertebral column and dorsal root ganglia in all
cattle over 30 months of age, were added to the preexisting bans.
This is the current food-safety paradigm. It has worked and, over time, the probability of
finding a BSE positive animal—which could exist like the proverbial "needle in a haystack,"
but is already nearly nonexistent—will significantly decrease.
This chart illustrates what surveillance programs around the world have found:
COW TOTAL BSE BSE POSITIVES /
POPULATION TESTS POSITIVES 1000 TESTED
USA 42,000,000 620,000 1 0.0016
Canada 4,255,326 87,000 4 0.0460
Japan 1,810,050 3,500,000 22 0.0063
U.K. /
TESTED 7,350,000 183,946,185 184,500 1.0030
U.S. and Canada test highest risk cattle or deads and downs over 30 months of age. In the
U.K. experience deads and downs are 29 times more likely to have BSE than normal healthy
cattle. All but one of the 22 BSE positives in Japan were the result of widespread testing of
slaughtered animals before product was to be placed into commerce with the recently
confirmed 22nd case in an older animal that died after exhibiting neurological symptoms.
Consequently, they would have many fewer positive/thousand tested, as they are not testing
the high-risk cattle.
Testing is costly and, because of what's noted above, ineffective as a preventive measure. The
U.S. firewalls—based on our surveillance and data from the UK, which has done extensive
testing and research—have proven to protect both our animals' health and, ultimately, human
health. The industry has cooperated and has partnered with the USDA with the firewalls,
with testing, and with trade negotiations.
Lastly, and perhaps least known and understood, the U.S. monitors both retrospectively and
prospectively for the human form of BSE, which is termed vCJD or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease. Our surveillance has not detected any cases of Americans who have become infected
with vCJD. The only positive finding was a tragic case of a young woman who was born and
lived through her early teenage years in the U.K., came to the U.S., was diagnosed and
subsequently died. Internationally, this case is without question accepted and attributable to
the acquisition of the disease in the United Kingdom.
The bottom line: U.S. beef is safe to eat. Our firewalls are in place. They are working, and there
is no scientific justification for mandatory or voluntary testing above and beyond what the
USDA is conducting through the APHIS program.
Melvin N. Kramer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
President, EHA Consulting Group, Inc.
Source: National Meat Association
nmaonline.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to USDA and the Bush Administration America now has the lowest import standards on the face of the globe.
Dr. Kramer should discuss the need for testing all U.S. cattle with Dr. Stanley Prusiner, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who discovered the source of prion diseases. Prusiner, the world's foremost expert in prion diseases, in the most recent edition of Science said, "why anyone would eat meat from an untested animal is beyond comprehension...and that includes cows."
Prusiner's comments came in an article reporting the findings of a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky who have proven that prions exist in the haunch and leg meat of deer infected with the cervid form of BSE.
Had the U.S. implemented blanket testing of cattle destined for slaughter and consumption in December 2003, Asian markets would not have been closed to U.S. beef and the industry would not have been drained of billions in equity. Instead, Kramer uses his educational status to promote and advocate the bottom line of the packing industry that wants nothing more than to outsource cheap foreign beef while hanging American producers and consumers out to dry.
As Clay Daulton said so aptly - people like Kramer should be forced to look directly into the eyes of those families who have lost loved ones to this horrible disease and defend their position. No risk of human life is acceptable. Period.
NMA's hiring of people like Kramer to advocate their position reminds me of when the Beef Board used checkoff dollars to hire a vegetarian to promote beef.