USDA quietly declares emergency in Washington state
By LES BLUMENTHAL, McClatchy Washington Bureau
Last Updated: January 15, 2004, 09:07:31 PM PST
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WASHINGTON (McCLATCHY) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quietly declared an "extraordinary emergency" because of the discovery of a Holstein infected with mad cow disease in Washington state - a move that will give federal officials additional authority to quarantine herds and destroy cattle.
Agriculture Department officials said the declaration will also make additional funding available for their ongoing investigation and to reimburse farmers for animals that have been destroyed.
The declaration was published Monday in the Federal Register, a daily publication of all rules, regulations and notices issued by the federal government.
Other than the Federal Register notice, the department made no public announcement an emergency had been declared.
"It's not a big deal," Jim Rogers, a spokesman for the department, said Thursday.
In the last several years, similar emergencies have been declared for outbreaks of such things as plum pox, exotic Newscastle disease and avian virus.
But others said it appeared the emergency declaration was handled quietly so as not to alarm the public or raise further concerns with the dozens of nations that have banned U.S. beef imports since the first-ever case of mad cow disease in the United States was confirmed two days before Christmas.
"It does make it look serious," said Carol Tucker Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America.
Foreman, who used to oversee the department's food safety program, was to meet along with representatives of seven other consumer groups late Thursday with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to discuss additional steps that could be taken to protect the nation's food chain.
Since the diseased Holstein was discovered, herds in Mabton, Mattawa, Sunnyside and Quincy have been quarantined. The infected animal was imported from Canada in 2001 with 80 other animals from the same Alberta herd. Fourteen of those animals have now been accounted for and a special team of more than 100 investigators and other personnel are in the Yakima Valley searching for the others.
Roughly 600 animals already have been destroyed as a precaution, including 450 cattle at a Sunnyside calf feeding operation. A bull calf from the infected Holstein had been shipped to that operation.
On Thursday, department officials said they had euthanized 89 animals from the Mabton dairy farms where the diseased Holstein was found. All of the destroyed animals were tested for the disease. Forty-one additional animals from the Mabton herd will also be destroyed and tested. Tests results can take up to a week.
The Federal Register notice said the presence of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), presented a "threat to livestock. It constitutes a significant danger to the national economy and a potential serious burden to interstate and foreign commerce."
The notice said officials had reviewed the measures being taken by Washington state and tribal officials to quarantine and regulate herds where animals linked to the disease have been tracked.
"Based on that review and consultation, and the scope of the impact of this event on the national economy, the department has determined that the state may be unable to adequately take the measures necessary to quarantine and dispose of animals that may be infected with or exposed to BSE," the notice said.
Rogers said the notice was in no way intended to be a slap at Washington state officials.
"We are very pleased with their cooperation," he said.
Under the declaration, the federal government will have authority to hold, seize, treat, destroy - including "preventative" slaughter - and dispose of any animal or facility necessary to prevent the spread of BSE. The Agriculture Department also will have enhanced quarantine powers, powers that normally reside with the state.
The emergency, which applies only in Washington state, became effective retroactively on Jan. 6.
Despite the increased federal powers, Rogers said that most importantly, the declaration will allow the department to pay farmers for any losses associated with the disease.
"It's just a funding mechanism," he said. "We've done it before. Sometimes we announce it publicly. Sometimes we don't."
Foreman said that, so far, Veneman and the Agriculture Department have been moving in the right direction.
"She been very open with us," Foreman said. "We praise them for acting quickly."
But the food-safety groups would like the department to take further steps, including a national identification system to track cattle from birth to slaughter and more testing for BSE using so-called rapid tests that can deliver results in a matter of hours, not days.
The groups also would like to see the current system of voluntary recalls of possibly contaminated food replaced with a system of mandatory recalls that also would include the naming of any retail outlets where the products may have been shipped. The department now considers such information proprietary.
"It's a modest list of things," Foreman said.
In addition, the groups would like Veneman to hold a series of public meetings with consumers to discuss the new rules the department has implemented. Foreman said Veneman has spent too much time talking with industry representatives and not enough with the public.
Shhh - don't tell: "USDA quietly declares emergency in Washington state"
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