Mad cow scare in state

MABTON — A dairy farm near this south central Washington town was under quarantine Tuesday after federal officials received preliminary test results indicating one animal had mad cow disease.

"We are taking all necessary steps to assure the protection of the health and safety of our citizens and our state’s livestock industry," Gov. Gary Locke said.

Still, some allies including Japan and South Korea temporarily banned imports of U.S. beef, providing an early indication of the potential economic damage the discovery could cause.

USDA officials said the affected Holstein was a "downer," meaning it couldn’t walk. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the slaughtered cow was screened earlier this month and any diseased parts were removed before they could enter the food supply and infect humans.

If follow-up tests in Britain confirm the initial results, it would be the first case of mad cow disease in U.S. history. Also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the disease eats holes in the brains of cattle. Outbreaks decimated the European beef industry in the 1980s and killed more than 100 people.

About 150 miles west of Mabton, the Midway Meats plant — where authorities believe the cow was deboned — appeared to be operating at full blast Tuesday afternoon, with workers loading meat into trucks.

A man who refused to give his name escorted a reporter off the property, located at the south end of Centralia.

"I wish somebody had let me know something about this," Midway Meats owner William Sexsmith told The Chronicle of Centralia.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association urged consumers not to panic.

"All scientific studies show that the BSE infectious agent has never been found in beef muscle meat or milk, and U.S. beef remains safe to eat."

"While this one case is unfortunate," the association said, "systems have been built over the past 15 years to prevent this disease from spreading and affecting either animal health or public health."

Federal authorities believe the cow was deboned at Midway Meats before its flesh was sent to two other facilities: Interstate Meat in Federal Way and Willamette Valley Meats in Portland, Ore. It was not immediately clear where the animal was slaughtered.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., sits on the House Agriculture Committee and said be believes the USDA is taking the right steps to keep the public informed about what’s going on.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture is confident in the safety of the U.S. beef supply and believes that the U.S. consumer should have no concerns about it," Larsen said.

Larsen said he also feels confident, but noted, "I certainly have some questions to ask of the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

April Gentry, spokeswoman for Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., said: "Congressman Nethercutt feels that the USDA has the tools in place to address this situation. And he is confident that the USDA will isolate and ID where this meat went very quickly."

Dr. Jan Busboom, a professor of meat science at Washington State University, predicted that the beef industry would not be hit too hard.

"I really don’t think the American consumers will react that negatively," he said. "They’ll listen to what’s going on, and they’ll make sound judgments."

Busboom noted that Canadian consumption of beef hasn’t fallen since the discovery of a mad cow case in Alberta was announced in May, though trade bans by the United States and other nations have hurt the industry.

Busboom said a single case of mad cow disease should not pose a huge health risk to humans.

BSE is caused by rogue proteins called prions that collect in the cow’s brain, spinal cord and other nervous system tissue. Processors are supposed to remove the spinal cord to minimize health risks, although a 2002 report found that rule was not always followed. The Agriculture Department last spring began more careful testing to ensure compliance.

The human form of mad cow disease so far has killed 143 people in Britain and 10 elsewhere, none in the United States. Blood donors possibly at risk for the disease are banned from donating.

Veneman said the Holstein, which could not move on its own, was from a farm in Mabton, about 40 miles southeast of Yakima, and tested preliminarily positive for the brain-wasting illness on Dec. 9.

She said tests are made of all downed cows — old cows that are not mobile — that are sent to slaughterhouses.

"We see no reason for people to alter their eating habits," she said. "I plan to serve beef for my Christmas dinner."

But Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said such cows shouldn’t be in the food supply in the first place. The Senate passed such a ban earlier this year, but it failed to make it through the House.

"I blame it on greed, greed, greed," Ackerman said. "The greed of the industry, the greed of the lobbyists and the greed of the members of Congress."