[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 17, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ACTION NEEDED ON ANIMAL ID SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 17, 2004

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from the March 3, 2004, Lincoln Journal Star. The 
editorial emphasizes the need to develop an animal identification 
system in an expeditious manner. Clearly, an effective system to track 
livestock would benefit producers as well as consumers. It is time for 
action.

             [From the Lincoln Journal Star, Mar. 3, 2004]

                  Quick Action Needed on Livestock IDs

       A continued sense of urgency is needed in the effort to 
     establish an animal identification system to improve food 
     safety.
       The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working to 
     develop a program for several years, but it's still far from 
     implementation.
       Meanwhile, the ability of the livestock industry to track 
     sick animals is in woeful condition.
       The USDA never did track down all the cattle in the herd in 
     Washington state where a cow with mad cow disease was 
     detected. Officials finally gave up and admitted they could 
     not find 11 cows.
       With technology that's available today, that's inexcusable.
       A good starting place would be the bill introduced by Sen. 
     Chuck Hagel, which would give U.S. Secretary of Agriculture 
     Ann Veneman authority to implement the system the department 
     has been working on for the past several years.
       The program was designed to give inspectors the ability to 
     identify all the farms and other animals that had contact 
     with a diseased animal within 48 hours.
       Compare that with the frustrating weeks that inspectors 
     spent on the recent case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. 
     Tests confirmed the result on Dec. 23 last year. The 
     investigation was not closed until Feb. 9.
       The USDA is recommending the use of radio frequency 
     identification devices, but other approaches, such as 
     implantable microchips and retinal scanning, are also 
     possible.
       The device is a tag that is stapled to the base of the 
     animal's ear. Each tag has a unique numerical code. The tag 
     would be scanned at each stage of the production chain for 
     tracking purposes. Information on the devices would be stored 
     in a national database.
       The program deserves industry support for reasons that 
     should be obvious. The discovery of single case of mad cow 
     cost the industry an estimated $4 billion in lost sales, 
     according to agricultural economists.
       It won't be cheap to establish the program. Officials 
     estimate the costs could run around $100 million a year. 
     Although a portion of the cost ultimately will be borne by 
     the industry and passed along to consumers, tax support would 
     be appropriate during the transition phase to the new system.
       The good news is that some producers are already using the 
     radio frequency identification tags.
       The USDA currently plans to phase in the program this 
     summer and begin issuing animal identification tags next 
     year. First priority would be given to tracking beef and 
     dairy cattle.
       Progress on that timetable should not be allowed to slip. 
     The livestock industry needs prompt action to protect 
     consumer safety.




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