January 15, 2004  Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, WY) Allison 
Fashekrep8@wyomingnews.com

"It's up to the board to bring instruction back to me and my staff on the things they want us to pursue," said John Etchepare, director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. "This also is a way for them to let their constituents know the position they're taking."

He added, "We'll go as far as the board pushes us on this."

In a conference call, the board voted to accept a policy encouraging the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to enact a ban on feeding ruminant protein to other ruminants, make sure ruminant byproducts aren't allowed in poultry feed and use enforcement to ensure prohibited material bears a warning statement.

The group agreed that Advanced Meat Recovery systems should be improved, and products derived from the system should be tested to make sure they don't contain nervous tissue. The group also called for expanded and improved inspection of imports.

According to the USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service, cattle can become infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, by eating feed contaminated with the infectious BSE agent. Scientists believe that humans contract the fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by eating brain and spinal cord tissue from infected cattle.

In its second policy, the group wanted to address concerns regarding the ability of individual states and the federal government to trace back the origin of agriculture products in the face of disease or contamination.

The board decided it's important that all agriculture products can be traced to the location where the production occurred and said premise identification and individual animal identification programs should be implemented as soon as possible. The group also believes consumers are willing to pay for precautionary safety practices, and supports the immediate implementation of a country of origin labeling at the federal level.

Perhaps just as important, the board chose to leave out a passage of policy that would have required the testing of more samples taken from cattle that die on farms and ranches.

"That could be a real regulatory nightmare for a rancher," said board member Helen Jones. "I think you'll run into a real privacy issue if you're letting officials come on and test cattle."