Report raises questions about U.S. cattle feed ban

The effectiveness of the most important U.S. safeguard against mad cow disease was questioned on Monday when a government report accused the Food and Drug Administration of "overstating" feed mill compliance with a ban on cattle remains in animal feed.

The Government Accountability Office report was released as many U.S. lawmakers seek to prevent Canadian cattle from entering the United States because of concerns that its neighbor is not effectively enforcing its own animal feed ban.

In 1997, the United States and Canada both outlawed the use of cattle remains as a protein supplement for cattle, goats and sheep to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Canada found two more cases of mad cow disease as 2005 began and both cases are believed due to infected feed. So far, the United States has found only one case of mad cow disease, in a Washington state cow imported from Canada.

The GAO said the FDA, which regulates livestock feed, cannot pinpoint how many plants comply with the 1997 feed ban.

"We believe FDA is overstating industry's compliance with the animal feed ban and understating the potential risk of BSE for U.S. cattle in its reports to Congress and the American people," the GAO report said.

The FDA has repeatedly claimed that the industry has a 99-percent compliance rate with the 1997 ban.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee who requested the GAO report, criticized the FDA for not testing livestock feed. "Common sense tells us the best way to measure compliance is to sample feed to make sure it does not contain ruminant byproducts," Harkin said.

An FDA spokeswoman was not available for comment.

However, the GAO report said the FDA was provided a draft of its report and responded that its enforcement of the feed ban did not "place U.S. cattle at risk of spreading BSE."

The FDA said in a letter it agreed with GAO's call for uniform procedures to identify businesses subject to the feed ban. The agency also said it concurred with GAO recommendations to collect test results from states that sample feed and to tighten controls on feed destined for export.

CANADA BEEF TRADE UNCERTAIN

Although the GAO report examined only U.S. enforcement of livestock feed regulations, it was made public at a time when some American lawmakers and farm groups have raised questions about Canada's enforcement of a virtually identical ban.

Earlier this month, Harkin and a majority of U.S. senators voted to keep Canadian cattle out of the United States, saying they were concerned Canada may not be adequately enforcing its feed ban. The United States halted trade in May 2003 after Canada found its first native case of mad cow disease.