[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E95]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         VIGILANCE IS NEEDED TO PROTECT AGAINST MAD COW DISEASE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 31, 2001

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from the January 23, 2001, Lincoln Journal Star. 
The editorial emphasizes the need to maintain strict standards and take 
aggressive actions in the United States so that our country does not 
have to confront the serious effects associated with mad cow disease.

             [From the Lincoln Journal Star, Jan. 23, 2001]

                  Get Tougher on Mad Cow Disease Rules

       Much has been done in the United States to protect against 
     bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
       But not enough.
       More needs to be done. One major need is for a strict 
     prohibition against production of animal feed made from the 
     parts of dead animals.
       More than 80 people in Britain have already died from mad 
     cow disease. The degenerative brain disease has been detected 
     in one European country after another. France, Germany and 
     Spain have all reported mad cow disease. Earlier this month 
     Italy was added to the list.
       Needless to say, the effects have been drastic. More than 2 
     million British cattle were killed in order to stop the 
     spread of the disease. In Germany beef sales have dropped by 
     more than 40 percent. The European Commission estimates that 
     beef consumption among its members dropped by 27 percent 
     between October and December, before the revelation the 
     disease had been detected in Italy.
       The costs of coping with the new disease are immense. The 
     European Union has set aside almost $1 billion to help its 
     member nations establish new measures to prevent the disease 
     from spreading.
       Experts believe that bovine spongiform encephalopathy is 
     caused by a twisted protein. The disease destroys brain 
     cells, eventually leaving the brain riddled with spongy 
     holes.
       The disease is spread when cattle consume feed that 
     includes protein rendered from slaughtered cattle. Since 1997 
     it has been illegal under Food and Drug Administration 
     regulations to feed mammal proteins to cattle.
       It is still legal, however, to feed mammal proteins to pigs 
     and poultry. The FDA announced earlier this month that some 
     feed producers frequently fail to use proper warning labels 
     and that some producers have no system to avoid commingling 
     protein from rendered cattle with other products. In other 
     words, the system is flawed.
       A total ban against using rendered cattle for animal feed 
     admittedly would hurt the rendering industry and perhaps 
     contribute to a rise in the price of feed.
       But those negative effects should be measured against the 
     need to protect consumers from the human variant to mad cow 
     disease and the economic devastation that would quickly 
     follow discovery of the disease in the United States.
       In Nebraska, the cattle industry contributes more than $4 
     billion a year to the state's economy.
       With mad cow disease continuing to spread in Europe, 
     aggressive measures should be used to keep the disease 
     outside U.S. borders. Legislative has been introduced in 
     North Dakota to prohibit production and use of feed 
     containing animal parts. Nebraska should consider the same 
     approach. Even better would be a ban that is nationwide.

     

                          ____________________