USDA vets question agency's mad cow lab
By Steve Mitchell
United Press International
2-16-4

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The federal laboratory in Ames,
Iowa, that conducts all of the nation's tests for mad cow disease has
a history of producing ambiguous and conflicting results -- to the
point where many federal meat inspectors have lost confidence in it,
Department of Agriculture veterinarians and a deer rancher told
United Press International.

The veterinarians also claim the facility -- part of the USDA and
known as the National Veterinary Services Laboratories -- has
refused to release testing results to them and has been so secretive
some suspect it is covering up additional mad cow cases.

Distrust of the NVSL is so widespread among USDA veterinarians
and meat inspectors it limits mad cow disease surveillance "tremendously,"
said a veterinarian with more than 25 years of experience with the agency.

The veterinarian, who requested anonymity because he feared
repercussions, said many agency inspectors do not consider it worth
the trouble to inspect cows closely for signs of mad cow disease or
to send brain samples to the NVSL because there is little chance the
lab will issue a positive result, even if the cow is infected.

In some instances, when USDA veterinarian inspectors have sent
brains from cows they suspected of having mad cow disease, NVSL
staff members have said they did not receive enough brain tissue or
that they received the wrong part of the brain, the veterinarian explained.

The inspectors insisted they sent in the entire brain, "but that is the end
of the story," he added.

The USDA's official stance is that the U.S. beef supply is free of mad
cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephlopathy, but the veterinarian
said, "Most agency veterinarians know mad cow is prevalent and
epidemic (in U.S. herds). We're not talking about one or two cases."

An international panel of mad cow experts, commissioned by the
USDA to review the agency's response to the animal that tested
positive for mad cow in Washington state in December, reached a
similar conclusion in a report they issued last week.

The panel said it was "probable" additional infected cows had been
imported from Canada and Europe, some of which had been turned
into cow feed and indigenously infected U.S. herds.

The concern is humans can contract a fatal brain disease known
as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating meat contaminated
with the agent that causes mad cow disease.

"The USDA has such a cohesive relationship with industry" that it
wants to protect the $70 billion beef industry more than consumers,
the veterinarian said, and noted colleagues with whom he is in close
contact think the agency's mad cow surveillance program "is a
laughing matter."

When asked to comment for this story, USDA spokesman Jim Rogers
requested UPI forward its questions about NVSL via e-mail. Although
UPI complied with this request, the agency did not respond.

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