Hunt on to Trace Diseased Animal

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials acknowledged Friday that it could be weeks or months before they trace a diseased Holstein that tested positive for “mad cow” disease to its home herd.

“There is a tangled web of different possibilities,” said W. Ron DeHaven, the USDA’s chief veterinarian. Agricultural detectives say a dairy farm near Mabton, Wash., purchased the cow from either a livestock market or another dairy farm in October 2001. But where the animal came from before that is still under investigation.

“If we’re lucky, we could know something in a matter of a day or two,” DeHaven said. Asked about speculation that the cow might have been born in Canada, which reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in May, he added that it would be “premature” to reach any conclusions.

Authorities also said Friday that they had quarantined the bull-calf feeding operation in Sunnyside, Wash., where one of the diseased cow’s offspring lives. Officials earlier had quarantined the farm near Mabton where the Holstein and another of her calves were kept.

DeHaven said that a third calf had died shortly after birth in 2001.

“The reason for concern,” he said, “is that even though it is an unlikely means of spreading the disease, there is the potential that the infected cow could pass the disease onto its calves.”

Scientists said the bulk of their investigative task, however, is to pinpoint the source of feed -- thought to have been contaminated by animal body parts -- that the sick cow likely ingested. The incubation period for BSE, a degenerative brain illness, is four to five years.

A U.S. trade delegation is set to depart this weekend for Japan, the largest overseas market for U.S. beef and one of the first nations to ban American beef products after the USDA’s announcement of the diseased cow Tuesday. Foreign countries representing 90% of the United States’ beef exports have instituted bans so far.

USDA officials emphasized again Friday that the food supply is safe, saying all the beef and beef products from the cow’s Dec. 9 slaughter site have been recalled -- although they could not say how much of the material had been recovered. And a USDA economist said that cattle prices had been at record highs prior to the “mad cow” discovery, cushioning the expected fall in consumer confidence.

But critics faulted the USDA for failing to act more aggressively after the “mad cow” crisis in Europe nearly a decade ago, saying that the current problem should have been averted altogether.

“It makes me wince a little bit when people are trying to trumpet that we found this one animal,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). “We don’t have a system like Western Europe where they test every animal. Other countries test. We sample.”

President Bush, who left Washington for his Texas ranch Friday, is continuing to receive “regular briefings and updates” on the situation, said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan; he added that the president is focused on “the public health aspect of this.” Bush, the White House said, has “continued to eat beef.”

Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the USDA and Congress to increase inspections -- USDA officials said they already were considering doubling the number of inspections in 2004 from this year’s total -- and to ban the use of so-called downed animals in the food supply. Downed animals are brought to slaughter unable to walk and may already be suffering from degenerative diseases like BSE.

“It’s stunning that 100 years after Upton Sinclair’s ‘Jungle,’ we still permit downed animals in our food,” Blumenauer said. Sinclair’s muckraking “The Jungle,” published in 1905, prompted a government investigation into Chicago meat-packing plants and a rewriting of federal food laws. “It’s so shortsighted. American consumers will pay a little bit more to be assured of quality,” Blumenauer said.

The larger beef-buying companies, such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s, said they had already eliminated downed-animal meat from their product lines. And Congress repeatedly has crafted bans on downed-animal slaughter, only to see them stripped from legislation at the last minute or in conference committee.

“We have bipartisan legislation on downed animals that can be on the president’s desk by Presidents Day without breaking a sweat,” Blumenauer said.

Neuman reported from Washington and Chen from Crawford, Texas.