Agency Fought Retesting of Infected Cow

[MountainLaurel]

No, there's no mad cow in the United States . . . because we won't test for it!

Agriculture Department officials overruled field scientists' recommendation to retest an animal that was suspected of harboring mad cow disease last year because they feared a positive finding would undermine confidence in the agency's testing procedures, the department's inspector general said yesterday.

After protests from the inspector general, the specimen was sent to England for retesting and produced the nation's second confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.

The incident was described in an audit report assessing the department's surveillance program for the disease.

The report details why scientists at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories concluded that a sample from a Texas animal should be tested with other techniques following initial inconclusive findings. It adds that top officials at the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) told them not to do the additional tests.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/02/AR2006020202240.html?nav=rss_health

[OneBlueSky]

1. there's just no end to it, is there? . . . BushCo incompetence . . .

immorality, and illegality I mean . . . just no end . . .

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Infected cows to be sent to a penal colony on some far

off planet.... this is udderly disgusting.

[MountainLaurel]

3. I shouldn't laugh

But great pun!

:applause: