Testing Program Isn’t Over

During the annual Summer Conference in Denver, USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. John Clifford told cattlemen BSE is on its way to eradication. It is about time the world treated BSE rationally by re-opening borders to trade, said Clifford.

“The disease is dying internationally,” he said. “It’s dying because of the feed bans throughout the world.”

Dr. Gary Weber, NCBA executive director of Regulatory Affairs, showed a graph that demonstrated that the number of BSE cases in the United Kingdom peaked in 1988, a year before a feed ban was put in place.  Since then, the number of reported cases there has dropped almost to the point of eradication, a goal that he said should be achievable in the United States given the low level of prevalence.

And while the USDA expanded surveillance program has tested 418,000 cases and counting, Clifford reminded cattlemen that the original plan called to test as many of the most suspect population within 12 to 18 months.  The testing program is now 14 months along and the original suspect population was estimated at 475,000.