July 20, 2006

Mad Cow-Testing

The U.S. Agriculture Department is, according to this story, scaling back its testing program for mad cow disease to one-tenth of what it has been since the discovery of an infected cow in the U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as saying there is little justification for the current level, which rose to about 1,000 tests a day after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in December 2003. SignonSanDiego.com

July 21, 2006

USDA announces new BSE surveillance program

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin transitioning to an ongoing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program that corresponds to the extremely low prevalence of the disease in the U.S.
"It's time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of BSE in the United States," said Johanns. "This ongoing surveillance program will maintain our ability to detect BSE, provide assurance that our interlocking safeguards are successfully preventing BSE, while continuing to exceed science-based international guidelines." USDA Media Release