Thomas Daschle: “yesterday the Bush administration called to end the short-term investigation into the recent mad cow scare. While many…”

“yesterday the Bush administration called to end the short-term investigation into the recent mad cow scare. While many of us believe Secretary Veneman and her staff have done a good job on many fronts, the decision to suspend the investigation is extremely premature. Despite the high safety standards met by cattle producers, consumers still have questions about the safety of America's meat supply. By curtailing its investigation, the Bush administration has chosen not to do all it can to settle the questions raised by the discovery of a single Canadian-born cow infected with BSE. In 2001, a herd of 81 cattle came into the United States from Canada. One of those animals turned out to have BSE. USDA, through its investigation, has managed to locate 28 of the remaining 80 Canadian-born animals. We are grateful for these efforts, but there is a lot more work to do. Twenty-eight is not 80. Last year, USDA Chief Veterinarian Ron DeHaven said: We feel confident that we are going to be able to determine the whereabouts of most if not all of these animals within the next several days. Six weeks later, those early hopes have been disappointed. Consumers have a right to know why those other cattle were not found and what more, if anything, can be done. If we assume the Canadian index herd were all fed the same bovine byproduct known to cause BSE, it is possible the other animals currently in the United States may also have the disease.”