Panel: Mad Cow Likely Has Spread

There is a “high probability” that more American cattle are infected with mad cow disease than the one found in Washington state late last year, an international panel of experts convened by the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.

The panel concluded that the mad cow agent has probably spread within the American beef industry. The advisory group also said the American government and the beef industry must do more to keep it contained.

The head of the panel, Swiss professor Ulrich Kihm, said that based on his experience in Europe, the United States may see as many as one new mad cow case per month in the future.

The panel report was immediately criticized by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn., which called it “misguided” and “nonscientific” and based on European circumstances very different from those in the U.S. USDA officials stressed that even if more infected cattle were found, procedures in place would keep the contaminated beef out of the food supply.

The panel’s report, however, could have significant implications for beef exports, because Japan, South Korea, Mexico and other governments have said they would look to the expert findings for guidance on whether to resume importing U.S. beef.

The Agriculture Department asked the panel to analyze the response to the first known American case of mad cow disease. The report now goes to a standing advisory panel before being presented to Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman for possible action.

Mad cow disease is spread through livestock feed contaminated with tissue from infected animals.