Wampum

Creekstone Farms Update

I recently wrote about Creekstone Farm’s efforts to privately test all of its cattle for mad cow disease so as to be able to meet the demands of it’s Japanese customers. The United States Department of Agriculture refused to allow Creekstone to test its cattle despite the fact that Creekstone would completely fund such testing. If the USDA position stands, Creekstone will likely go out of business and about 800 workers will lose their jobs,

The always excellent Charles Dodgson of Through the Looking Glass has an interesting take on the subject as well.

As I previously noted, the USDA’s reason for denying Creekstone the right to meet it’s customer’s demands was that:

USDA officials say that they sympathize with Creekstone and similar operations hurt by the bans imposed by Japan and other nations, but that agreeing to the company's request could imply there is a safety issue with American beef and usher in an era of expensive testing that has no scientific justification.

In particular, the USDA objects to testing cows younger than thirty months. Julia was kind enough to send me a link to this UPI story by email. The story quotes a USDA official as saying:

In announcing the decision to reject Creekstone's proposal, Bill Hawks, USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, said, "There is no scientific justification for 100 percent testing because the disease does not appear in younger animals" under the age of 30 months.

The USDA position, apparently, is that mad cow disease does not appear in younger cattle and that any testing regimen, private or otherwise, that tested younger cows is not justified by the science and would imply that there is a safety issue where none actually exists. In effect, the USDA position is that the testing of younger cows, as Creekstone proposes, would "usher in an era of expensive testing that has no scientific justification" by implying a concern about the safety of American beef.

Given that American beef producers can not now sell beef in parts of Asia, it is apparent that the current testing regimen has not prevented such safety concerns.

Even more to the point, the UPI article reports that the USDA has itself tested cattle younger than 30 months of age:

A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture decision to block a private company from testing all its cattle under 30 months of age for mad cow disease runs contrary to its own records that show it has tested more than 2,000 animals in that age range, United Press International has learned…

The department's mad cow testing records, however, which were obtained by UPI via the Freedom of Information Act, show over the past two years the agency tested 2,051 animals -- and possibly more -- that were under the age of 30 months.

"That's so hypocritical," said Michael Hansen, senior research associate with Consumers Union, the advocacy group in Yonkers, N.Y. "It makes it difficult for the USDA to argue to Creekstone, 'We only test animals above 30 months,' when USDA itself tests animals as young as 3 months old."

In 2002, the agency tested 999 animals under 30 months old, including one as young as 3 months. The bulk, 841, were 24 months old, but 40 were 20 months, 31 were 18 months, 52 were 12 months and there were single cases of cows as young as 9, 8, 6 and 3 months old.

The fact that the USDA has tested younger cows while arguing that Creekstone should not be allowed to do so because it might set off a panic unjustified by science raises a number of interesting questions.

If the science does not justify testing younger cows because the disease does not appear in cows under 30 months of age, why is the USDA wasting taxpayer money by testing such animals?

Will the revelation that the USDA had a regimen of testing younger cows "usher in an era of expensive testing that has no scientific justification" as the USDA contended private testing would? If so, there is no harm in allowing Creekstone to go ahead and test privately.

UPI reports that a Consumer Union research associate claims that two cows under 20 months of age have tested positive in Japan and two cows under 30 months have tested positive in Europe. How does that information square with the USDA position that “the disease does not appear in younger animals?”

It just gets harder and harder to understand the USDA position. Testing does not show mad cow disease in younger cows but the USDA has tested younger cows anyway. The USDA claims that testing younger cows will set off an unjustified safety concern so the USDA tests such cows. It is okay for the government to test younger cows but a private company must be prevented from doing so even if it means bankruptcy for the company and the loss of jobs for 800 employees.

The solution is simple. Let the USDA require testing that is justified by the science while allowing private companies, at their own expense, to do whatever additional testing they choose based on preferences revealed by the market. It is really not that difficult.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at April 26, 2004 05:12 PM | TrackBack