04.01.05

Cantwell Calls for Tougher Animal Feed Regulations

Senator urges hearings on legislation to help prevent spread of Mad Cow disease

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today called on the Senate Agriculture Committee to begin consideration of legislation that would help prevent the spread of Mad Cow disease, by banning the riskiest material from the nation's supply of animal feed. In a letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee's chairman, Cantwell requested hearings on her Animal Feed Protection Act of 2005, which would strengthen current Food and Drug Administration rules by putting in place a comprehensive ban on the use of "specific risk materials" (SRM) in all U.S. animal feed, and banning the import of feed that may contain SRM.

SRM is already outlawed in cattle feed. However, federal regulators have not yet taken the same step to eliminate SRM from all animal feed—despite the February 2004 recommendations of an international review team commissioned by U.S. Department of Agriculture, after the discovery of a Mad Cow case in Mabton, Washington . Since that discovery, many foreign markets, including Japan, have been closed to American beef.

"The Animal Feed Protection Act provides a simple but critically important step that can be taken to better ensure that our domestic cattle are not fed materials that pose a threat of spreading Mad Cow disease," Cantwell wrote in a letter to the chairman of the committee.

"My legislation provides a prudent step to further insure the safety of our cattle and beef," Cantwell added.

Cantwell's legislation contains a comprehensive ban and definition of SRM, including the skull, brain, trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia (nerve tissue), eyes, tonsils, spinal cord and the vertebral column of cattle and bison 30 months of age and older; and sheep, goats, deer and elk 12 months of age or older.

In light of recent cases of Mad Cow in Canadian cattle, Cantwell last month joined a majority of other senators in voting to prevent the reopening the border to imports of live Canadian cattle and processed beef. After extensive consultations with Washington cattlemen, many of whom also oppose hasty action to re-open the border, Cantwell expressed concern that re-opening the border at this time would both pose a threat to American consumers and undermine the confidence of Japan and other foreign markets that buy American beef.

Cantwell's letter to Agriculture Committee follows below:

April 1, 2005

The Honorable Saxby Chambliss Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry 328A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Chambliss:

I write to request that the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry conduct a hearing on legislation I have introduced to strengthen domestic feed regulations and mitigate the risk of spreading bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). My bill, the Animal Feed Protection Act (S.73), bans the inclusion of Specified Risk Materials (SRM) in all animal feed. This legislation would reduce the chance that prohibited ruminant materials are included in feed destined to be consumed by cattle.

A recent study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that such a hearing is warranted. In February 2005, at the request of Senator Harkin and Senator Durbin, GAO published a report reviewing the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) efforts to improve enforcement and oversight of feed regulations. This 2005 study specifically examined FDA's compliance with feed recommendations made by the GAO in an earlier 2002 report.

GAO's 2005 report states that the FDA has improved its management of feed regulations. The FDA has implemented uniform inspection standards and created a new system to record and maintain inspection data. However, GAO's report also documents serious loopholes in FDA's program. These loopholes continue to diminish the agency's ability to enforce and provide consistent oversight of the 1997 feed ban. They include FDA's failure to: identify and conduct testing of all entities that manufacture, transport or mix feed; provide instructions to "routinely sample cattle feed to test for potentially prohibited materials as part of the compliance inspection;" inspect and enforce procedures to make certain that vehicles used in the transport of non-ruminant feed are cleaned and rid of potentially infectious ruminant materials before transporting feed destined for consumption by ruminants; and a failure to "require the cautionary statement – "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants" – on feed or feed ingredients that contain prohibited material if they are intended for export." These on-going regulatory lapses are particularly concerning as feed initially intended for export could be used domestically and countries importing feed containing SRM could subsequently export meat back to the U.S. for consumption.

GAO also found that FDA does not consistently alert the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state agriculture departments when it learns that cattle are consuming feed containing prohibited ruminant material. FDA's inconsistency in providing this critically important information significantly hinders our nation's ability to respond and track animals potentially infected with BSE.

The 1997 feed ban will only be effective in preventing the spread of BSE if FDA conducts strict enforcement. GAO's report clearly states that FDA is in material non-compliance and is not enforcing feed regulations. GAO also faults FDA for failing to perform the number of inspections needed to accurately assess feed ban compliance.

At the same time it is not in compliance, the FDA continues to delay closing existing feed ban loopholes, such as allowing cows to be fed plate waste and poultry litter. Canada banned feeding poultry litter and plate waste to ruminants as part of its 1997 ruminant feed ban. Further, Canada has acknowledged the risk of cross contamination posed by allowing SRM in some animal feed. Canada is currently in the midst of a rulemaking process to eliminate SRM from all animal feed.

On July 9, 2004, FDA stated that it would close these feed ban loopholes and "tentatively concluded that it should propose to remove SRMs from all animal feed and is currently working on a proposal to achieve this goal." However, nearly nine months later, the agency has failed to act. Clearly, GAO's report shows that FDA needs to enforce the 1997 feed ban and Congress has an obligation to address these risks if FDA will not. My legislation seeks to strengthen the 1997 feed ban by prohibiting the inclusion of SRM in any and all animal feed.

My legislation would eradicate the risk of cross contamination within the farm gate and in vehicles used to transport feed. A 2003 Harvard risk assessment showed that eliminating SRM from being rendered and incorporated into animal feed would significantly reduce the amount of infectivity in the feed chain. USDA's International Review Team issued a report in February 2004 recommending the exclusion of SRM from both the human food and animal feed supplies, including pet food. The Animal Feed Protection Act provides a simple but critically important step that can be taken to better ensure that our domestic cattle are not fed materials that pose a threat of spreading Mad Cow disease.

I believe that bringing this legislation before the Committee for consideration and debate would be beneficial to the overall national discourse on addressing BSE and implementing additional measures to prevent its spread. As we continue to work towards reestablishing the prominence of U.S. beef within the Asian market, I believe that my legislation provides a prudent step to further insure the safety of our cattle and beef. I appreciate your consideration of my request and look forward to the opportunity to participate in a discussion on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell United States Senator

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