December 31, 2003 TODAY Show

One week after the first confirmed case of mad cow disease in the United States, the Department of Agriculture is announcing new measures to guard against it. Ann Veneman is the Secretary of Agriculture. Secretary Veneman, good morning to you.

SEC. VENEMAN: Good morning.

LAUER: People supporting these measures say they are aggressive, they are tough, they are much needed. The critics are going to say: too little, too late. How do you respond?

SEC. VENEMAN: Well, we--as you said, it was one week after the initial finding of BSE in this country. We felt it was necessary to act quickly, to act aggressively, and to maintain a very strong system that we have in this country. Many of the actions that we announced yesterday were things that we had in the works, particularly since the finding of BSE in Canada only a few months ago. We thought it was appropriate now to make those decisions quickly, after circumstances had changed, because we had one case found in this country.

LAUER: One of the things announced is: effective immediately, the USDA will ban all downer cattle. These are cattle, and we are going to see some pictures in a second, that are basically too sick to walk, and that fall down a lot. They are going to ban the meat from this cattle from the human food chain.

I have to say, Secretary Veneman, as I look at the footage of these cows, I think: my goodness, who would want to eat the meat from this cattle? Why wasn't this done earlier?

SEC. VENEMAN: Well, again, no cattle that are sick could enter the human food chain. Many of these downer cattle-- and I know the pictures don't accurately depict the kind that go--had gone into the food chain before yesterday's announcement. Many of them had a broken leg and the cattle themselves were not at risk. Diseased animals were prohibited from the food chain even before this announcement.

LAUER: Actually, the USDA had banned the use of downer beef in public schools. In other words, we were saying, before these new measures, that these cattle weren't suitable to feed to children--but for some reason they were suitable to feed to the general population. I don't quite understand that.

SEC. VENEMAN: Again, I think it is important to look at the actions we have taken yesterday. The product was tested, but we have taken actions that not only include this ban, but also include other very aggressive matters, including certain parts of the head and the spinal column--the most at-risk materials--that were taken out of the food chain. We're completing the work on a national ID system for animals so we can more easily trace back animals. We are taking other very aggressive steps.

LAUER: What about aggressive steps in terms of additional testing? I understand that about 25,000 cows tested this past year, maybe 35 to 38 thousand will be tested in the coming year. You know full well that a lot of countries, or other countries around the world, have much more aggressive testing standards. Will we move in that direction?

SEC. VENEMAN: We are increasing the testing. Again, what we do is, we test the highest risk animals. We test from high risk populations. I mean, you have to remember that most of the cattle that are slaughtered and put into this country come from animals that are less than two years old and are virtually no-risk animals for this disease.

So, it is important that we target our surveillance systems to the highest risk populations: older cattle that may have been dairy cattle, or breeding cattle that get into the system later. That is exactly what we will do. We will continue to have a very aggressive surveillance program, we will test and hold any test--any meat from the cattle that are tested until the results come back. That is a new aggressive step as well.

LAUER: All right. Secretary Veneman, we appreciate your time.

SEC. VENEMAN: Thank you very much. Happy holidays to you.

LAUER: And to you as well.