The Associated Press reports that although comments sent to the U.S. Agriculture Department regarding its ban on downer cows is running 10 to 1 in favor of the regulation (in part because of active letter writing campaigns by animal rights groups), meat and industry groups along with some states continue to oppose the ban.
The ban, instituted in December 2003 after the discovery of a calf with Mad Cow Disease, forbids cows that are too stick to stand or walk under their own power from entering the food chain. But a number of groups and states consider the ban overly broad.
The Associated Press quotes the National Milk Producers Federation’s comments submitted to the USDA saying,
If these animals are condemned rather than slaughtered, then producers will suffer an unnecessary economic loss. Condemning animals suffering from a physical injury such as a broken leg does not seem to be supported by science with respect to BSE risk.
Similarly, Wisconsin’s state director of meat safety and inspection told the USDA that prohibiting the use of downer cows in the food supply was, “a waste of wholesome food and an economic burden” on small farmers.
Minnesota apparently considered defying the ban and allowing the slaughter of downer cows for personal consumption, but according to the Associated Press backed down under pressure from the USDA.
Some farmers and industry groups argue that the law doesn’t discriminate between animals that cannot get up and walk because they are ill and those that cannot get up and walk because of some other condition, such as a broken bone sustained in a fall.
In its comments on the regulation, the Humane Society of the United States wrote that,
It would be impossible for them to determine whether a physical injury is derivative of a neurological disorder or other illness. It is well established that illness and injury are often interrelated.
Source:
Downer cow ban questioned. Associated Press, May 15, 2004.