smugllama's news review
Saturday, January 17, 2004
No 'Mad Cow' testing in Washington state(Unknown News)
"Federal agriculture officials did not test any commercial cattle for mad cow disease through the first seven months of 2003 in Washington state according to records obtained by United Press International.... no animals were tested for the past two years at Vern's Moses Lake Meats, the Washington slaughterhouse where the mad cow case was first detected. No mad cow tests were conducted during the two-year period (2001-2003) at any of the six federally registered slaughterhouses in Washington state. The testing records, obtained by UPI under the Freedom of Information Act, which the USDA delayed releasing for six months, also show a number of other gaps in the agency's national surveillance strategy for mad cow disease, including: Tests were conducted at fewer than 100 of the 700 plants known to slaughter cattle. Some of the biggest slaughterhouses were not tested at all."
"Federal agriculture officials did not test any commercial cattle for mad cow disease through the first seven months of 2003 in Washington state according to records obtained by United Press International.... no animals were tested for the past two years at Vern's Moses Lake Meats, the Washington slaughterhouse where the mad cow case was first detected. No mad cow tests were conducted during the two-year period (2001-2003) at any of the six federally registered slaughterhouses in Washington state. The testing records, obtained by UPI under the Freedom of Information Act, which the USDA delayed releasing for six months, also show a number of other gaps in the agency's national surveillance strategy for mad cow disease, including: Tests were conducted at fewer than 100 of the 700 plants known to slaughter cattle. Some of the biggest slaughterhouses were not tested at all."
