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Monday, January 17, 2005
Set the bar higher
If the Bush administration were serious about eliminating the threat of mad cow disease, it would postpone new imports of live Canadian cattle.
But even with two recent cases of diseased cattle in Canada, the administration has stuck to its plans for a March 7 reopening of the borders. As Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., suggested last week, U.S. ranchers and consumers ought to be able to count on the administration to at least first check on the safety of Canadian cattle feed.
But the administration isn't even as vigilant about the safety of cattle feed in this country as it promised to be a year ago in the wake of an infected Holstein near Mabton. The Food and Drug Administration has never developed a number of promised rules to improve feeding practices, such as banning cattle blood as a protein supplement for calves and ending the use of chicken litter as cattle feed.
Canadian and U.S. ranchers appear to do a good job of raising cattle according to their governments' rules. But the goal, at least in this country, is now to keep infections minimal, not necessarily eliminate them altogether.
That's a remarkably weak way to handle such a devastating and unnecessary disease. Until the U.S. government sets higher standards, many consumers will look for producers who aim to do better.
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