First Mad Cow Case in U.S.
nynewsday.com
Staff Reports
December 23, 2003, 6:04 PM EST
The first-ever U.S. case of mad cow disease is suspected in a single cow in Washington state, but the American food supply is safe, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday.
The USDA secretary said that the testing was presumed to be positive, but emphasized that the chance of humans contracting the disease was extremely rare.
"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," said Veneman.
She said that additional testing was being done by a laboratory in England on samples being flown there by a military transport, and that in the meantime, and farm in Washington state had been quarantined.
She told a news conference that a single Holstein cow that was either sick or injured -- thus never destined for the U.S. food supply -- tested presumptively positive for the brain-wasting illness.
She added that the case was detected as a result of a longstanding monitoring program, and that now that an infected animal had been found, the USDA's emergency plan to deal with Mad Cow disease had been implemented.
The government spokeswoman said that the disease is not easily spreadable among livestock.
Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a disease that eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry.
Veneman said Tuesday: "This incident is not terrorist related. ... I cannot stress this point strongly enough."
Veneman said the apparently diseased cow was found at a farm in Mapleton, Wash., about 40 miles southeast of Yakima. She said the farm has been quarantined.
"Even though the risk to human health is minimal, we will take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," she said.
Samples from the cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the preliminary mad cow finding, she said.
Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States before this incident despite intensive testing for it.
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