REPORT RELEASED ON BSE

Industry says not enough science

A blue-ribbon USDA international science review committee has released its recommendations on further U.S. steps which can be taken to further prevent BSE in North America, but the report drew mixed reviews from industry, which denounced some steps as lacking a scientific basis and others as going too far.

The panel, a subcommittee of the Secretary's Foreign Animal & Poultry Disease Committee, was comprised of scientists from Europe, Canada, the U.S. and New Zealand, and was charged with reviewing U.S. steps taken thus far to control the Washington State BSE incident. The panel's membership includes the same scientists who performed a similar review of the Canadian government's action following last spring's discovery of a BSE cow in that country. None of its recommendations is binding on the government.

While there was near unanimous support for the panel's commendation of USDA's overall performance and recommendations regarding holding all nation's to consistent, science-based standards on international trade, and similar support for a workable national animal ID program, where industry split was on recommendations to modify the FDA restricted use protein product (RUPP) rule that currently prohibits mammalian-to-ruminant feeding, with some exemptions.

The panel effectively recommended not surprisingly that specified risk materials (SRMs) be removed from both human and feed and pet food systems, including brain and spinal cords from all cattle over 30 months of age, along with removal of skulls and vertebral columns from those same animals and the intestines of all cattle.

Further, the panel recommended taking all meat and bone meal including poultry protein out of ruminant feeds. The scientists said the current feed ban which it described as ruminant-to-ruminant, when it is, in fact, a mammalian-to-ruminant ban, with some exemptions was insufficient to prevent exposure, and cited cross-contamination problems in Europe during the early days of the BSE outbreak there. It also said that dedicated production lines from ingredient receipt through transportation of finished product was prudent, and that the U.S. government should "enforce (the ban) through an inspection program including sampling and testing of feed.

The American Feed Industry Assn. (AFIA) expressed "disappointment" with the recommendations, saying the panel ignored "aggressive measures in place (in the U.S.), which have effectively prevented the spread (of BSE) in this country." AFIA President David Bossman said the panel discounted the findings of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, which supported the current U.S. system, adding, "Perhaps the most glaring error was to focus on the BSE scenario in the United Kingdom in arriving at some highly questionable and unscientific conclusions." AFIA has lobbied hard to keep as much material from otherwise healthy animals in the feed chain, including SRMs and material from non-ambulatory livestock.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Assn.(NCBA) said the panel's report "misses the mark, with Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs Dr. Gary Weber saying, "Clearly, some members of the panel do not have a full understanding of the systems we have in place in the U.S. Many recommendations are based on the European model and overlook scientific evidence that clearly demonstrates the long-standing firewalls in place in our country have been effective."

The National Renderers Assn. (NRA) and the American Meat Institute (AMI) echoed the sentiments of the feed and cattle industries, while calling for risk/benefit and economic impact analyses prior to any significant changes being made in the FDA feed rule. This is the current situation in Canada, where changes to that nation's feed rule are on hold until an economic analysis has been completed.