[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2316-S2318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CAMPBELL:
  S. 534. A bill to establish a Federal interagency task force for the 
purpose of coordinating actions to prevent the outbreak of bovine 
spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known as ``mad cow disease'') and 
foot-and-mouth disease in the United States; to the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today I introduce the Mad Cow Prevention 
Act of 2001 which would help ease the American consumer's growing 
concern about our food supply. We can no longer take for granted that 
our food supply will not be tainted by bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy, BSE, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, which has 
infected over 175,000 cattle in Great Britain and Europe. We also 
should be concerned about the growing threat of foot-and-mouth disease 
and other associated diseases to America's meat supply.
  The bill I introduce today establishes a Federal Interagency Task 
Force, to be chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture, for the purpose 
of coordinating actions to prevent the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease. The 
agencies will include the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of 
Commerce, the Secretary of Health and Human Service, the Secretary of 
Treasury, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the 
Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control, the Commissioner of Customs, and any other 
agencies the President deems appropriate.
  No later than 60 days after the enactment of this legislation the 
task force will submit to Congress a report which will describe the 
actions the agencies are taking and plan to take to prevent the spread 
of BSE and make recommendations for the future prevention of the spread 
of this disease to the United Sates. The Task Force should also 
consider and report on foot-and-mouth disease, chronic wasting disease 
and other diseases associated with our meat industries.
  Recently, a situation developed in Texas prompting the quarantine of 
over a 1000 head of cattle. The animals were quickly purchased and 
taken out of the food chain by Purina. But, this incident shows how 
easily a contamination may start. It also has raised questions on how 
this disease can be controlled.
  In order to address this problem, on February 9, 2001, I wrote to 
Secretary Veneman and requested a report from the USDA regarding our 
government's response to mad cow disease specifically addressing: what 
USDA is doing to address this problem; what other federal agencies are 
doing; what any future plans are; and how USDA proposes to prevent the 
introduction and spread of mad cow disease in the United States.
  However, since I sent my letter to the USDA Secretary, the situation 
in Europe has gone from bad to worse. Therefore, I believe a 
government-wide approach is now necessary and that is why I am 
introducing this bill today. We simply must act quickly.
  Currently, our nation's farmers and ranchers are benefitting from 
profitable good cattle prices, and our meat supply is safe. But, as a 
Western Senator from a state with a significant cattle industry that 
trades in the international market, I share the growing fears of 
constituents about the potential devastating impact mad cow disease 
would have if it spreads to and within the United States. The emerging 
potential for mad cow disease in the United States would also raise 
devastating health implications for humans. We cannot, in good 
conscience, take a chance that would allow an outbreak to occur in the 
U.S. which would destroy America's cattle industry and devastate 
consumers' confidence in our food supply.

  In my home state of Colorado alone there are more than 3.15 million 
head of cattle and more than 12,000 beef producers. Nationwide, 
Colorado ranks 4th in cattle on feed and 10th in overall cattle 
numbers. Nearly one-third of Colorado counties are classified as either 
economically dependent on the cattle industry or a vital role in their 
economies. It is critical that we in Congress do everything we can to 
protect this industry in Colorado and across the country.
  Over the past two months, there has been a series of news reports 
which highlight the spread of Mad Cow in Europe. Newsweek ran a cover 
story, ABC aired a provocative story and countless other reports have 
shown the potential situation we could face. And, today, the crisis 
surrounding foot-and-mouth disease is on the front page of our major 
newspapers. With the focus shifting to the United States, consumers are 
becoming wary and growing more concerned about the potential of the 
spread of the disease to our shores.
  The Mad Cow Prevention Act of 2001 I introduce today is a necessary 
step towards addressing the potential disaster of this disease in our 
country. I urge my colleagues to support its speedy passage.
  I ask unanimous consent that recent news clips, and the text of the 
bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the additional material was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 534

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Mad Cow Prevention Act of 
     2001''.

     SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

       (a) In General.--There is established a Federal interagency 
     task force, to be chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture, 
     for the purpose of coordinating actions to prevent the 
     outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known 
     as ``mad cow disease''), foot-and-mouth disease and related 
     diseases in the United States.
       (b) Membership.--The membership of the task force shall be 
     composed of--
       (1) the Secretary of Agriculture;
       (2) the Secretary of Commerce;
       (3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services;
       (4) the Secretary of the Treasury;
       (5) the Commissioner of Food and Drug;
       (6) the Director of the National Institutes of Health;
       (7) the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention;
       (8) the Commissioner of Customs; and
       (9) the heads of such other Federal departments and 
     agencies as the President considers appropriate.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the task force shall submit to 
     Congress a report that--
       (1) describes actions that are being taken, and will be 
     taken, to prevent the outbreak of bovine spongiform 
     encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease and related diseases 
     in the United States; and
       (2) contains any recommendations for legislative and 
     regulatory actions that should be taken to prevent the 
     outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth 
     disease and related diseases in the United States.
                                  ____


           [From ABCNEW.com: ``20.20'' Feature, Mar. 3, 2001]

                      Could Mad Cow Reach America?


    some scientists worry the u.s. is not taking protective measures

       Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of cows and bulls 
     suspected of having mad cow disease have been ground up and 
     stored in huge mounds in airplane hangars--still infected and 
     dangerous to humans. Others are being incinerated but the 
     ashes themselves are contaminated.
       Michael Hansen, of the consumer advocacy group the 
     Consumers Union, says the infectious strain is ``virtually 
     indestructible . . . it defies all of our thinking about what 
     living things are and how they should act.''
       No cases of mad cow disease have been found yet in the 
     United States, but some say America is not in the clear.


                    possible threat in united states

       Professor Richard Lacey is one of the leading experts on 
     mad cow disease and was one of the first to sound the alarm 
     in Britain. He says America needs to be very much on the 
     alert. ``It is just possible that there is no mad cow disease 
     in the U.S.A., but I believe it's more likely there is, but 
     not detected yet,'' he says.
       Lacey, a microbiologist at Leeds University in England, was 
     perhaps the most outspoken scientist to warn British 
     authorities that human could contract bovine spongiform 
     encephalopathy by eating infected beef. The warning was 
     largely ignored and dismissed as scientifically impossible 
     until five years ago when people began to die.
       Victims of the degenerative brain disease lose their motor 
     skills and slowly waste away. There is no vaccine and no 
     treatment, which is why Lacey is concerned that the United 
     States isn't doing all it could to protect itself.
       The U.S. banned British beef and cattle products in 1989 
     and the American beef industry has taken additional 
     precautions. The head of the National Cattleman's Beef 
     Association, Chuck Shroeder, says that along

[[Page S2317]]

     with federal regulators, his group has actually gone through 
     mock drills to prepare for the discovery of mad cow disease. 
     Containment procedures have been planned and a full-scale 
     public relations campaign is ready to go. ``We're not just 
     whistling on our way past the graveyard on this,'' he 
     says.
       Shroeder is confident that necessary measures have been 
     taken and protections in place. ``If the disease were ever 
     discovered here, we could number one, identify it, number two 
     contain it, and number three, eliminate it as quickly as 
     possible.'' The government reports that its inspectors have 
     yet to find a single cow with mad cow disease in the U.S.


                        Feeding Cattle to Cattle

       How was mad cow disease able to spread from cow to cow in 
     England and elsewhere in Europe?
       A key reason, Lacey says, was the practice of including 
     group-up remnants of cattle in cattle feed. This practice was 
     widespread in Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United 
     States.
       Lacey refers to this as a kind of forced animal 
     cannibalism.
       When mad cow disease broke out, the practice of feeding 
     cattle back to cattle was stopped in England, but it 
     continued in the United States until four years ago. And 
     Hansen says other potentially dangerous feeding practices now 
     banned in the U.K. continue in the United States today.
       It remains legal in the United States, for example, to 
     ``grind up cattle, feed them to pigs, and then grind up the 
     pigs and feed them to the cows,'' says Hansen. Lacey calls 
     this a ``real danger,'' that ``must be stopped immediately.''
       But government and industry officials say there's no reason 
     to follow Europe in banning the practice, because there's no 
     evidence to date that the disease can spread between pigs and 
     cattle.
       Lacey says nevertheless the United States should adopt the 
     same ban as a precaution: ``My advice to the U.S. authorities 
     is to simply ban the incorporation of animal remains in 
     animal feed.''
       But Shroeder defends U.S. practices. ``We have been driven 
     here by the best science that we can access, we have 
     protected the U.S. beef supply very, very carefully,'' he 
     says.


              Chronic Wasting Disease: A Different Strain?

       There's another concern no so easily answered. There is 
     growing concern about a possible American version of mad cow 
     disease showing up in deer and elk in the West. It is called 
     chronic wasting disease and some suspect it has already 
     claimed human lives.
       Hansen says this chronic wasting disease is dangerously 
     similar to mad cow disease. ``It's a different strain of the 
     disease and it appears to be spreading in the wild,'' he 
     says.
       Tracie McEwen believes her 30-year-old husband Doug, who 
     ate elk all his life, may have been a victim. He died of a 
     rare brain disorder normally only seen in people older than 
     55, with symptoms remarkably similar to those who died the 
     slow, agonizing death of mad cow disease in England.
       The death of Tracie McEwen's husband and that of two others 
     under the age of 30 have raised questions for health 
     officials concerned about the similarity to mad cow disease.
       Lacey thinks the ``link between eating deer and getting a 
     type of mad cow disease is very plausible,'' and it's one 
     more reason that American authorities shouldn't think they 
     have all the answers about the disease. He says, ``you have 
     to act on the assumption that the disease may well be there, 
     because if you wait until you know it's there, then it's too 
     late.''
       Meanwhile, some members of Congress have asked for an 
     investigation into whether the government should be taking 
     additional steps to protect against the spread of mad cow 
     disease should it arrive in this country.
                                  ____


                     [From Newsweek, Mar. 12, 2001]

            Cannibals to Cows: The Path of a Deadly Disease

                          (By Geoffrey Cowley)

       Health officials say they've got Mad Cow under control, but 
     millions of unaware people may be infected. Why it could 
     still turn into an epidemic.
       Peter Stent was a seasoned dairyman, but he had never seen 
     anything like this. Just before Christmas, in 1984, one of 
     his cows at Pitsham Farm in South Downs, England, started 
     shedding weight, losing its balance and acting as skittish as 
     a cat.
       When the vet came to investigate, the animal was acting 
     completely crazy--drooling, arching its back, waving its 
     head, threatening its peers. And by the time it died six 
     weeks later, Stent was seeing the same symptoms in other 
     cows. Nine were soon dead, and no one could explain why. The 
     vet dubbed the strange malady Pitsham Farm syndrome, since it 
     didn't seem to exist anywhere else. Little did he know.
       Alison Williams was 20 years old at the time, and living in 
     the coastal village of Caernarfon, in north Wales. She was 
     bright and outgoing, a business student who loved to sail and 
     swim in the nearby mountain lakes. but her personality 
     changed suddenly when she was 22. She lost interest in other 
     people, her father recalls, and quit school to live at home 
     with her parents and her brother. She still enjoyed the 
     outdoors, but she took to sitting alone on her bed, staring 
     out the window for hours at a time. By 1992, Alison was 
     having what her doctors diagnosed as nervous breakdowns, and 
     by 1995 she had grown paranoid and incontinent. ``A month 
     before she died, she went blind and lost use of her tongue,'' 
     her dad recalls. ``She spent her last five days in a coma.''


                           something bigger?

       Anyone with a television has heard such stories, maybe even 
     sussed out the connection between them. Mad-cow disease, or 
     bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), has killed nearly 
     200,000 British and European cattle since it cropped up on 
     Pitsham Farm. The human variant that Alison Williams 
     contracted has claimed 94 lives as well. What few of us 
     realize is that these tolls could mark the beginning of 
     something vastly bigger. No one knows just how BSE first 
     emerged. But once a few cattle contracted it, 20th-century 
     farming practices guaranteed that millions more would follow. 
     For 11 years following the Pitsham Farm episode, British 
     exporters shipped the remains of BSE-infected cows all over 
     the world, as cattle feed. The potentially tainted gruel 
     reached more than 80 countries. And millions of people--not 
     only in Europe but throughout Russia and Southeast Asia--have 
     eaten cattle that were raised on it.
       It's possible, of course, that the worst is already behind 
     us. After dithering for a decade, governments in the United 
     Kingdom and Europe have lately taken bold steps to control 
     BSE. The number of bovine cases is now falling in Britain--
     and the United States has yet to even report one. American 
     officials banned British cattle feed in 1988, as soon as 
     scientists implicated it in BSE, and later barred the 
     recycling of domestic cows as well. The U.S. government, the 
     cattle industry and many experts now voice confidence in the 
     nation's fire wall and say the risk to consumers is slight. 
     In truth, however, America's safeguards and surveillance 
     efforts are far weaker than most people realize. And in many 
     of the developing countries that now face the greatest risk, 
     such efforts are nonexistent. How many of the world's cattle 
     are now silently incubating BSE? How many people are 
     contracting it? The truth is, we don't know. ``We have no 
     idea how many deaths we're going to seek in the coming 
     years,'' says Dr. Frederic Saldmann, a French physician who 
     has recently seen both cows and people stricken in his 
     country. ``We've been checkmated.''
       Mad cow is the creepiest in a family of disorders that can 
     make Ebola look like chickenpox. Scientists are only 
     beginning to understand these afflictions. Known as 
     transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, they 
     arise spontaneously in species as varied as sheep, cattle, 
     mink, deer and people. And once they take hold they can 
     spread. Some TSEs stick to a single species, while others 
     ignore such boundaries. But each of them is fatal and 
     untreatable, and they all ravage the brain--usually after 
     long latency periods--causing symptoms that can range from 
     dementia to psychosis and paralysis. If the prevailing theory 
     is right, they're caused not by germs but by ``prions''--
     normal protein molecules that become infectious when folded 
     into abnormal shapes. Prions are invisible to the immune 
     system, yet tough enough to survive harsh solvents and 
     extreme temperatures. You can freeze them, boil them, soak 
     them in formaldehyde or carbolic acid or chloroform, and most 
     will emerge no less deadly than they were.
                                  ____


               [From the Washington Post, Mar. 14, 2001]

  U.S. Adds To Ban on European Meats--Foot-and-Mouth Epidemic Is Cited

                            (By David Brown)

       The Agriculture Department yesterday banned importation of 
     most pork and goat products from the 15 European Union 
     countries to protect American livestock from an epidemic of 
     foot-and-mouth disease causing panic overseas.
       Canada instituted a similar ban yesterday in an effort to 
     keep the highly contagious animal disease out of North 
     America. Foot-and-mouth does not spread to human beings, but 
     can kill or severely sicken animals. The disease was last 
     seen in the United States in 1929, and in Canada in 1952.
       An epidemic of the disease broke out in England last month 
     and French officials confirmed yesterday that it had found 
     foot-and-mouth in a herd of cattle in the nation's northwest 
     region. It was the first detection of the viral infection in 
     the country since 1981 and the first case on the continent 
     since the British outbreak began.
       While the economic impact of the U.S. ban is relatively 
     small, the move illustrates the level of concern about this 
     pathogen in particular, and the ease of spread of infectious 
     diseases across national boundaries in general.
       The ban will cover about $294 million worth of meat 
     products and about $1 million in live animals. The vast 
     majority of the meat is pork from Denmark and other 
     Scandinavian countries.
       Certain dairy products, such as hard cheeses and yogurt, 
     will not be covered by the ban. Canned hams also will not be 
     affected by the ban. Importation of horses will be permitted.
       ``This temporary ban is in place for USDA to take time to 
     assess our exclusion efforts as a precaution to ensure that 
     we do not get'' foot-and-mouth disease in the United States, 
     said department spokeswoman Meghan Thomas.
       A spokeswoman for the European Commission expressed 
     surprise at yesterday's announcement, saying the organization 
     learned

[[Page S2318]]

     of it from reporters. ``We've had no formal prior 
     notification,'' said Maeve O'Beirne. ``We don't know what the 
     definitive list [of banned products] O'Beirne. ``We don't 
     know what the definitive list [of banned products] will 
     be. This is, hopefully, a temporary measure.''
       The value of the products is small compared to total meat 
     imports to the United States, although not trivial. Total 
     pork imports from all countries last year totaled slightly 
     more than $1 billion in value. Beef and veal imports from all 
     sources in 1999 were worth $2.1 billion.
       This latest move almost eliminates non-fish meat imports 
     from Europe. Beef imports from Britain were banned in 1989 as 
     protection against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also 
     known as ``mad cow disease.'' Beef and sheep products have 
     also been banned from other European countries.
       Nicholas D. Giordano, international trade specialist with 
     the National Pork Producers Council, said the pork imported 
     from Europe consists mostly of ribs produced in Denmark. The 
     United States is a net exporter of pork, and European imports 
     equal about 1 percent of U.S. pork production, he said.
       Non-meat products covered by the new ban consist mostly of 
     purebred pigs and pig seman, an Agriculture Department 
     official said.
       The ban was also praised by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a 
     member of the Senate Agriculture Committee from a large pork-
     producing state.
       ``If [the disease] were to return to America, the results 
     would be absolutely devastating,'' he said in a statement. 
     ``USDA is taking the right step in temporarily banning 
     imports . . . Right now we just don't know how far this 
     disease has spread. It is common sense to take protective 
     measures.''
       Although horses can still be brought from Europe to the 
     United States, they must be cleaned and disinfected, along 
     with any equipment that accompanies them, said Thomas, the 
     USDA spokeswoman. Straw and manure are burned.
       Agriculture officials have alerted airports and ports of 
     entry to more closely inspect travelers from Europe for 
     products that might possibly carry the foot-and-mouth virus. 
     Food-sniffing dogs are being used in some places. The virus 
     can persist in feed and environmental surfaces for weeks, and 
     people reporting visits to farms or contact with livestock 
     must have any footwear disinfected.
       French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany yesterday 
     announced that the disease had been found among cattle on a 
     farm in Mayenne, between Paris and the Atlantic coast. The 
     disease was evidently carried by sheep imported from Britain 
     to a nearby farm, and then spread to the Mayenne cows.
       In Britain, more than 120,000 carcasses have been burned 
     because of the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said, with 
     another 50,000 due for destruction. Separate cases have 
     broken out at more than 200 farms and sluaghterhouses.
       France has burned some 20,000 sheep that were imported from 
     Britain before the outbreak was known, and another 30,000 
     home-grown animals that might have been exposed. Most other 
     European countries have also burned animals imported from 
     Britain. Now, they will presumably burn any recent imports 
     from France as well--as some parts of Germany started doing 
     yesterday.
       The basic approach is to kill and burn any animal that may 
     have been exposed to the disease. The animals are lined up, 
     shot, and then piled around gasoline-stacked timbers for 
     burning. Farms where even a single case was suspected now 
     have no animals left--and thus no source of income. 
     Governments are now gearing up large-scale compensation 
     programs.
                                  ____


                [From the New York Times, Mar. 14, 2001]

         Meat From Europe Is Banned by U.S. as Illness Spreads

           (By Christopher Marquis and Donald G. McNeil Jr.)

       Washington, March 13.--The United States banned imports of 
     animals and animal products from the European Union today 
     after learning that foot-and-mouth disease had spread to 
     France from Britain.
       The Agriculture Department said it was taking the 
     precaution to protect the domestic industry from a possible 
     outbreak of the virus, which could cost the American industry 
     billions of dollars in just one year.
       The virus poses little danger to people, even if they eat 
     the meat of infected animals. But it is virulently contagious 
     and is devastating for cattle, swine, sheep, deer and other 
     cloven-hoofed animals, which it generally debilitates and 
     often leaves unable to grow or produce milk.
       The ban, which applies to exports from all 15 countries of 
     the European Union, prompted some European officials to 
     complain that the Bush administration was overreacting.
       But three members of the European Union--Belgium, Portugal 
     and Spain--are closing their borders to French meat, as is 
     Switzerland. Norway banned imports of French farm products, 
     and Germany and Italy took protective measures. Canada also 
     banned meat imports from the European Union, as well as from 
     Argentina, which has found foot-and-mouth disease in the 
     northwest. Argentina said it would voluntarily restrict beef 
     exports.
       Kimberley Smith, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture 
     Department, said many items including most cheeses and cured 
     or cooked meats, are not affected because they are heated in 
     a way that kills the virus.
       The ban is expected to hit pork producers the most. 
     European beef is already banned by the United States because 
     of mad cow disease, which can cause fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob 
     disease in humans.
       The Agriculture Department is ``taking this time to assess 
     our exclusion activities as a precaution to ensure that we 
     don't get foot-and-mouth disease in the United States,'' Ms. 
     Smith said. She said the department could not say how long 
     the ban would last.
       Department officials did not detail which European products 
     would be subject to the ban. But they said it would prohibit 
     the importation of live swine, pork and meat from sheep and 
     goats, regardless of whether it is fresh or frozen. Yogurt 
     and most cheeses would be permitted, they said, because those 
     sold in the United States are made from pasteurized milk.
       Canned ham or any other food products that have been heated 
     above 175 degrees Fahrenheit are permitted because such 
     processing inactivates the virus, the officials said.
       The production of such favored items as French brie and 
     Italian prosciutto is closely monitored to meet stringent 
     export standards, she said, so they are not affected by 
     today's ban. Brie entering the United States is made from 
     pasteurized milk and is considered safe.
       A spokesman for the European Commission in Washington, 
     Gerry Kiely, said the ban would cost European exporters as 
     much as $458 million a year in sales. The agriculture 
     department put the cost at $400 million at most.
       Earlier today French officials confirmed that foot-and-
     mouth disease was found among cattle at a dairy farm in 
     Laval, in northwestern France. Officials said farmers in the 
     area had imported sheep from Britain, which is at the center 
     of the current outbreak and has already slaughtered about 
     170,000 animals to contain the disease.
       The disease, which is so infectious that it can be spread 
     by footwear and cars, appeared in France despite tight 
     precautions. The infected dairy farm, near La Baroche-
     Gondouin in the Mayenne district, was inside an isolation 
     zone.
                                 ______