GAO Believes More Needs to Be Done to Prevent BSE

February 27, 2002

A new report from the General Accounting Office charges that federal actions do not sufficiently ensure that all animals infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) remain outside the United States. The report also says that current safeguards may not detect and prevent the spread of the disease should it occur in this country.

USDA was quick to respond. To the GAO recommendation that USDA and other agencies consider whether some interim action, such as public announcements or caution labels or signs, might be appropriate to advise consumers that certain beef cuts and beef products may contain central nervous system (CNS) tissue the department shot back, "The presence of CNS tissue does not mean that the product is infectious for BSE. Labeling and warning statements should be reserved for known hazards. The Harvard Risk Assessment indicates that the United States is highly resistant to the introduction and spread of the BSE agent in U. S. cattle herds due to existing federal regulatory programs. Additional measures will be used to further minimize human exposure to the BSE agent in the unlikely event that it is introduced in the United States."

GAO's noted that 125 million pounds (.35 percent of total imports) and about 1,000 cattle (.003 percent of total imports) came into the United States from countries that later discovered BSE in their herds.

"The weaknesses, errors and omissions of the GAO report are highlighted in nearly 25 pages of response from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration," said AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle. "While the GAO report may receive a lot of attention, this report simply misinterprets, or simply ignores the effectiveness of measures already taken." GAO also recommended that enforcement of the feed ban be strengthened and resources identified to increase needed import inspections.

"Government agencies have a solid history of coordinating strategy on BSE," USDA said. The government coordinates and plans ongoing activities and policies regarding BSE through technical working groups and an inter-agency policy planning committee. And "a great deal of coordination and planning also takes place at the technical level among scientists working on BSE issues."

A high priority for the Bush administration has been to increase the number of inspectors at ports of entry to ensure banned products do not enter the United States. Through the Defense Appropriations Act approved by the President in January, funding was provided to allow for integrating computer technologies among federal agencies that will strengthen coordination and documentation among those agencies involved with inspecting products entering ports of entry.

USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services also announced they planned to double the number of BSE tests conducted this fiscal year compared to the previous year. In a separate statement , Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman said USDA and HHS "have been aggressive and proactive for well over a decade to prevent BSE from entering the United States. No cases of BSE have been found in U.S. cattle nor have any cases of the human form, variant CJD, been detected. While we support the GAO's efforts to examine ways to strengthen the government's ongoing efforts to prevent BSE, the report fails to appropriately recognize the conclusions and recommendations made last year by Harvard University in it's comprehensive, three-year study on BSE."