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U.S. to Reduce Mad-Cow Testing After Few Cases Found (Update4)
July 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will slash its mad-cow testing program by almost 90 percent after data collected over two years showed a ``very low level'' of the disease in the domestic herd, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said.

The decision to reduce testing to about 40,000 animals a year was made after experts reviewed an analysis of data on about 700,000 screenings since June 2004, when an enhanced testing program was implemented, Johanns said today at a news conference in Washington. The new program may begin as early as next month after a mandatory 30-day notice period.

Johanns said he has talked with Japan and other nations about the changes and doesn't expect they'll affect efforts to reopen markets to U.S. beef. Japan, once the biggest buyer of the meat, last month promised to resume imports after reaching an agreement on beef inspections. The decision came six months after Japan re-imposed a ban implemented when the U.S. found its first case of mad-cow disease in December 2003.

``We are committed to working with our trading partners to make sure they understand the scientific basis for our decisions,'' Johanns said. In Japan, which bought about $1.4 billion of U.S. beef in 2003, ``there really shouldn't be any reaction,'' Johanns said.

The enhanced screening program was designed to determine the extent of mad-cow disease in U.S. herds after the nation's first case was discovered in Washington state, in an animal born in Canada. The program found two more cases of the brain-wasting livestock illness, known clinically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, in native-born animals.

`Not Surprising'

Dan Vaught, a cattle analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis, said the USDA's decision ``is not too surprising since they've found so few cases.''

The USDA said in April that it was considering a reduction in testing based on preliminary data from the enhanced screening program.

``It would be enormously disingenuous if not downright dishonest'' for the U.S. to wait until trading partners opened their markets to make changes to the nation's testing program, Johanns said today.

Congressional Critic

Representative Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, said mad-cow disease remains a concern and the USDA's decision to scale back testing ``defies logic'' and puts consumers at risk.

``We are all relieved that the enhanced surveillance program found few incidents of domestic cases of BSE, but these findings have not diminished the threat of this deadly disease,'' the Connecticut Democrat said today in a statement.

The USDA said the new program calls for testing at a level 10-times as high as guidelines set by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. Johanns said the nation's adult cattle population of 42 million probably includes only four to seven animals with BSE, based on data from tests of animals with the highest risk of contracting the disease.

Reducing screening will also save the government millions of dollars, Johannes said. The USDA spent $1 million a week to test about 1,000 animals per day during the enhanced screening period, he said. The total cost of the program since June 2004 was $157.8 million, while the new screening regimen will cost about $17 million annually, the USDA said.

The U.S. moved to prevent the spread of mad-cow disease in U.S. herds in 1997 when it banned the use of ground-up cattle bones and blood in cattle feed. Scientists say cattle contract the disease by eating parts of infected animals.

Rare Human Form

BSE also has a rare and fatal human form that has been blamed for more than 150 deaths, mostly in the U.K., where mad- cow disease first surfaced in the 1980s. Scientists say humans also can become infected by eating meat from a sick animal.

Johanns stressed that ``the surveillance program serves as a monitor, but it is not a food-safety program.''

Consumers are protected against the disease by regulations requiring meatpackers to remove tissues believed to harbor the agents that cause BSE from cattle when they are slaughtered, he said. These so-called specified risk materials include a cow's brains, eyes, spinal and parts of the small intestine.

``When the parts that harbor the disease are removed, it takes care of the problem,'' said Steve Kay, publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly, an industry newsletter based in Petaluma, California. ``Reducing the level of testing doesn't change the level of protection in the food chain, because testing is not a food-safety issue.''

Tyson Support

Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., the world's biggest meat producer and the biggest U.S. beef exporter, supports the USDA decision, ``especially since the new level of testing will still significantly exceed international standards,'' spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

Mickelson said Tyson's beef is safe because the company removes specified risk material, and also because it usually buys animals less than 30 months old, which are not in the BSE risk category.

Live cattle futures for October delivery fell 0.425 cent, or 0.5 percent, to 87.925 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Prices have risen 21 percent since reaching a two-year low of 72.75 cents on April 4. Futures had dropped when chicken prices fell as avian flu spread into Europe and poultry exports declined.
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