Ban on Cattle Feed Additive Studied

The Food and Drug Administration will decide within two weeks whether to ban the use of sheep tissue in cattle feed because of its links to “mad cow disease.”

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, caused public panic when the British government last week said a few cases of a fatal human brain illness might have been caused by eating infected beef.

Britain’s cattle are thought to have caught the disease a decade ago by eating feed made from sheep, which can carry a similar brain disease. Britain in 1989 banned feed made from sheep.

The U.S. government insists it has found no sign of mad cow disease in American cattle, but is increasing cattle testing as a precaution.

And the livestock industry says it voluntarily stopped using cattle feed made from sheep several years ago, although sheep protein still is used in such items as pet food.

In 1994, the FDA proposed making sheep-derived cattle feed illegal, but it never formally took that step. After the British announcement last week, the FDA renewed consideration of the ban.