December 24, 2003 Excerpts from USDA Briefing. Commentary: Michael Greger, M.D.

USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. Ron DeHaven: "There is no scientific evidence to suggest that the disease is transmitted from mother to offspring."

On the USDA's own website they list the European Commission's report on maternal transmission which concludes, "The results of all epidemiological studies undertaken to date have been consistent with a rate of direct maternal transmission of approximately 10%..."

QUESTION: So a follow-up if I may. The animal was considered a downer cow because of the birthing injury and all of those animals like that are tested for mad cow just as standard operating procedures?

USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. Ron DeHaven: "That would be--that is a correct statement."

By their own admission, we have an estimated 195,000 downers every year in the U.S.[1] and this last year we tested only about 20,000.[2] The World Health Organization recommends that all downers be tested,[3] but over the last ten years we've tested less that 2%.[4]

USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. Ron DeHaven: "any of the tissues that would have gone for human consumption would be safe tissues even if they came from an infected animal."

This echoes Secretary Veneman's insistence the night before that she personally doesn't hesitate to "recommend to anyone that beef is absolutely safe to eat." Please see my article USDA Misleading American Public about Beef Safety on why this statement is untenable.

[1] Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance. .
[2] http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/12/0435.htm
[3] World Health Organization Consultation on Public Health Issues Related to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and the Emergence of a New Variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. MMWR 45(14);295-6, 303. 12 April 1996.
[4] Even assuming 195,000 downers a year and that every single of the tests in the surveillance program's history was performed on downer cattle, (48,000 in 13 years)/(195,000 x 13 years) is less than 2%. And 195,000 may very well be an underestimate. Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner estimates a million cows go down every year in the U.S. Prusiner's estimate of one million [5] may be closer to the truth based on comprehensive European records showing a downer rate of 1.92%,[6] which would translate to about 864,000 downers in U.S. every year.
[5] Mad Cow Disease in Canada. May 23, 2003 9:00am KQED Forum hosted by Angie Coiro.
[6] Report on the monitoring and testing of bovine animals for the presence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in 2001. June 2002.