The Agriculture Department has announced that is has planned to drastically scale back its testing program for mad cow disease. A third animal stricken with the deadly disease was recently discovered in Alabama but this will not change the Bush administration's decision to curtail the program.
The Agriculture Department also announced that they would rely on 'incentives' to inspire producers to join a separate cattle tracking system to track down suspect animals in future outbreaks of livestock diseases.
The search system that is being discontinued was responsible for identifying two of the three known cases of mad cow disease in the U.S.
USDA officials defended the decision. 'By any stretch of the imagination, we have proven we have a very low incidence,' acting Undersecretary Chuck Lambert claimed. He added that the USDA would shift to a 'maintenance' program that would test a lot fewer cattle.
'What we're devising and considering now ... is consistent with international standards,' added Ron DeHaven, head of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee opposed the cutbacks. 'It just seems to me that [the reduction] doesn't make much sense,' said Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) top ranking Democrat on the committee. 'I had hoped the third case would have an effect on that.'
The increased inspection program was started in June 2004 and was originally designed to last between 12 and 18 months. It has resulted in the inspection of 650,000 cattle. In 2004 and 2005, a budget of $105.5 million per year was allotted for testing. The proposed 2007 budget is only $17 million or enough for only 40,000 tests.
While testing will be severely curtailed, DeHaven said the private sector will take over. 'It is our expectation that market forces are going to drive this to a mandatory program,' he claimed.
