[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S54-S55]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Akaka):
  S. 2007. A bill to provide better protection against bovine 
spongiform encephalopathy and other prion diseases; to the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation that 
would strengthen consumer confidence in the safety of our nation's beef 
supply while expanding our understanding of the many prion diseases 
that affect both humans and animals. This bill, known as the BSE and 
Other Prion Disease Prevention and Public Health Protection Act 
codifies some of USDA's recent steps, requires more aggressive testing 
of older cattle and expands surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease 
(CWD) in deer and elk and Creutzfedt-Jacob disease (CJD) in people.
  Our country has been blessed with the safest and most abundant food 
supply in the world, but we can do better. The events surrounding the 
diagnosis of the first Mad Cow case in Washington State demonstrate 
that improvements are possible. Had the provisions of my bill been in 
place in early December, the animal would never have been allowed to 
enter both the human food supply and the consumer product system and 
contaminate 2.8 million pounds of products.
  Currently, only 20,000 out of 35 million cattle presented for 
processing are tested for BSE. How many cattle in America have BSE? We 
are hopeful that there was only this one isolated case but the truth is 
that we don't know because we test so few animals. Answering that 
question today is similar to trying to estimate the prevalence of HIV 
infection in people by only testing individuals who have symptoms of 
AIDS. At the current level of testing, we have no real estimate of the 
true prevalence rate of BSE in our country.
  A similar situation exists with respect to CWD, in deer and elk, or 
CJD in humans. The bill that I am introducing provides for more testing 
of all ruminants intended for human consumption as well as expanded 
surveillance for the human prion diseases.
  Better surveillance: The bill requires the use of rapid BSE tests for 
all cattle and bison over 30 months of age and for all sheep, goats, 
deer and elk over 12 months of age. Rapid tests can provide results the 
same day that they are taken instead of the current five to seven days. 
Although most sampling and testing for BSE will occur through USDA 
inspectors at slaughterhouses, the bill also provides for on-farm 
sampling of non-ambulatory animals. In addition, all ruminants of any 
age exhibiting neurological symptoms would be tested.
  All tested animals would be held until the results of the test are 
known rather than being released into the food supply and consumer 
product system, as was the case in Washington. An expensive and time-
consuming recall of products would be avoided.
  The bill also requires the development of a mandatory ruminant 
identification program to allow for trace back of diseased animals to 
their farm of origin within 48 hrs after diagnosis. This is significant 
not only for BSE but for other reportable illnesses such as 
brucellosis, tuberculosis and foot and mouth disease.
  There are also provisions that require expanded coordination of 
testing for CWD in farm-raised and wild deer and elk. To support 
expanded ruminant testing for prion diseases, the bill calls for the 
expansion of the national animal health laboratory network to include 
state and university veterinary diagnostic laboratories.
  Similarly, the bill expands the sampling of suspected cases of human 
CJD through the National Prion Disease Pathology Research Center at 
Case Western Reserve University.
  Targeting Risk Materials: The bill updates and expands the definition 
of BSE specified risk materials and bans the use of such materials from 
cattle over 30 months of age for any use.
  Importation of ruminant-based products: The bill expands the list of 
ruminant derived products that must be labeled for contents and country 
of origin and bans imported products containing ruminant-derived 
materials from countries identified as at-risk for BSE transmission.

[[Page S55]]

  Feed Ban: The bill closes loopholes in the USDA rules on recycling 
pet food and poultry litter back into ruminant feed. The legislation 
requires FDA to develop a database for handlers of livestock, renderers 
and feed mills and feed blenders.
  We currently have only a limited understanding of prions and the 
diseases that they cause. To understand how these significant and 
challenging misfolded bits of protein can affect us, we need better 
data. We need data on which to base sound policy for our public health, 
for our animal health and for the safety of our food supply.
  While we are accumulating that data, we need to take every reasonable 
step to ensure that we do not introduce infective material through 
importation or through feeding our ruminant animals contaminated feed. 
An expanded testing program will demonstrate to our trading partners 
that they have nothing to fear in buying our meat products.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort to strengthen consumer 
confidence in the safety of our food supply. The BSE and Other Prion 
Disease Prevention and Public Health Protection Act can provide the 
public with the confidence that our beef and venison is safe to eat and 
can assure our trading partners that we are aggressively addressing BSE 
surveillance in the United States.
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