First U.S. Case of Mad Cow Disease Diagnosed

WASHINGTON, DC, December 23, 2003 (ENS) - The first U.S. case of mad cow disease has been found in one cow in Washington state, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman confirmed late today. Emphasizing that the incident is not related to terrorism, Veneman told reporters she is confident the U.S. food supply is safe.

A Holstein cow, described as a downed animal too sick to walk, was diagnosed with mad cow disease on a farm in Mabton, a farming town of about 2,000 people in the Yakima Valley, south-central Washington. The farm has been quarantined.

Veneman said tissue samples from the Washington cow were taken on December 9, after its death, as part of the Agriculture Department's targeted mad cow surveillance system. The samples were sent to agency's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

Positive results were obtained by both histology, a visual examination of brain tissue through a microscope, and through a staining technique. Test results were returned on Monday and retested today.

"Despite this finding, we remain confident in the safety of our beef supply," Veneman said. "The risk to human health from BSE is extremely low."

Veneman said that since 1990 the Agriculture Department has been testing for mad cow disease. This year 20,526 U.S. cows have been tested, she said.

Holstein cows of the same breed as the Washington cow with BSE (Photo by Scott Bauer courtesy USDA)

First diagnosed in 1986 in Great Britain, it exists in other European countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.

The disease has been the nightmare of U.S. cattle ranchers. After a single case of mad cow disease was found in Alberta, Canada last May, Veneman closed the U.S. border to Canadian beef for six months.

Veneman said samples from the Washington cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the diagnosis of BSE.

BSE is a disease that affects cattle, and a similar disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) is found in humans. There have been a small number of cases of vCJD reported, most in the United Kingdom, occurring in people who consumed beef that may have been contaminated.

As of December 1, 2003, there have been a total of 143 cases of vCJD in the UK.

"There is strong scientific evidence - epidemiological and laboratory - that the agent that causes BSE in cattle is the agent that causes vCJD in people," according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman (Photo courtesy U.S. State Department)

Last week, a federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit brought by the Farm Sanctuary against the USDA aimed at stopping the sale of downed animals, livestock too sick to stand, for human food because of the fear of mad cow disease.

The Farm Sanctuary, which started the legal action in 1998, argues that the brief inspection of downed cattle before slaughter increases the likelihood that the U.S. food supply would be exposed to mad cow disease, as BSE is one of the illnesses that causes animals to collapse.

Gene Bauston, president of Farm Sanctuary, said, "There is no excuse for marketing and slaughtering diseased animals for food, and the practice should be stopped immediately."

Several Congressional attempts to ban the slaughter of downed animals have been thwarted in recent years, largely because of the USDA's opposition.

The nature of the BSE agent is still being debated, according to the World Health Organization, which says, "Strong evidence currently available supports the theory that the agent is composed largely, if not entirely, of a self-replicating protein, referred to as a prion."

The disease is transmitted through the consumption of BSE contaminated meat and bone meal supplements in cattle feed. Normally vegetarians, cattle would not eat meat and bone meal without human intervention.

To prevent BSE from entering the United States, restrictions were placed on the importation of live cattle and cattle products including meat, meat and bone meal, offals, and glands from countries where BSE was known to exist and also countries thought to be at high risk for BSE, even if the disease had not been identified in those countries.

In addition, the FDA prohibits the use of most mammalian protein in the manufacture of animal feeds given to cattle because this kind of feeding practice is believed to have started and amplified the outbreak of BSE in the United Kingdom.