Keep Science in BSE Prevention, Committee Urged

April 5, 2001

The United States is free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and science-based research should be followed in continued efforts to prevent the animal disease in this country, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) CEO Chuck Schroeder told a Senate subcommittee. American Meat Institute President James Hodges told the panel that the United States is well positioned to continue preventing BSE in U.S. cattle and urged policymakers to recognize this fact in setting policy and reject the hysteria that has swept Europe.

"The absence of BSE in this country is due to cooperation between the public and private sectors," Schroeder said. "Through import bans, active surveillance and monitoring and a 1997 FDA ban of feeding ruminant protein to cattle, we have multiple firewalls for prevention."

Testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce, and Tourism, Schroeder outlined several considerations for Congress including science-based decision making, strict regulatory enforcement and increased funding for federal animal health and research agencies. He called on Congress to support efforts by the federal government, state departments of agriculture, and private industry to ensure full compliance with the 1997 feed ban and urged Congress to double funding for agriculture research to $2.4 billion annually over the next five years.

Hodges underscored the fact that the U.S. is in the advantageous position of preventing a disease that has not occurred here, while Europe must seek to control a disease that has already swept its cattle population. He outlined for the subcommittee the U.S. triple firewall BSE prevention strategy of import bans, surveillance and feed bans.