Charles W. Stenholm: “And that sick animal will never find its way into the food chain under the current law that we are enforcing today. BSE…”

“And that sick animal will never find its way into the food chain under the current law that we are enforcing today. BSE was talked about. It is extremely critical that we do not create a situation in which downed animals which have very good food value, simply because they may have had a dislocated hip or a broken leg still have food value, not be discouraged from coming to the marketplace, which is exactly what the gentleman intends to do; and I respect his desire for doing that. But in the handling of livestock, it is extremely important that livestock continue to be handled as we are doing it under FSIS, particularly with the BSE question. It is extremely important that BSE-suspect animals are tested; and, accordingly, right now USDA's aggressive BSE surveillance system targets these animals, the ones we are talking about for testing. During fiscal year 2001, USDA tested 5,272 head. In fiscal year 2002, 19,990 head, more than 40 times the internationally recognized standard for appropriate surveillance for a country that has never detected BSE within its borders. It is extremely important that the suspect animals get into the inspection system. But I fear because of those who believe that any animal that cannot walk should be immediately destroyed wherever it is, this will do some real harm potentially to the future of the very food safety issues that the gentleman is trying to correct.”