by Doug Snodgrass, originally published on June 1, 2007 on Ecotality

Plaintiff Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, LLC wants to test every one of the approximately 300,000 head of cattle it slaughters each year to determine whether it was infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as “mad cow disease.” The United States Department of Agriculture USDA), however, has denied plaintiff’s request to purchase BSE test kits, asserting its authority under the Virus-Serum-Toxin ct, 21 U.S.C. §§ 151-159, (VSTA). The parties have cross-moved for summary judgment on the first two counts of plaintiff’s complaint, which assert that the agency has exceeded its authority under the VSTA, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(C), by (1) promulgating regulations that are inconsistent with the VSTA, and (2) denying Creekstone’s request to perform BSE testing on its own cattle.

So begins the March 29th decision by Judge James Robertson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, LLC v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, et al., Civil Action No. 06-0544 (PDF).

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef would like to test 100% of its cattle for mad cow disease. This week, the Bush administration appealed the court’s decision. The White House wants to force Creekstone to test less than 1%. Who would prefer less testing?

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn’t have the authority to restrict it…The ruling was scheduled to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal, effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge has played out. - International Herald Tribune

Why would the White House be interested in regulating a small business? An answer may lie in Vince Beiser’s LA Weekly article from January of 2004 which underscores the influence and connections of the meat industry.

Beef producers can be notoriously intolerant of “activists with agendas” — as Howard Lyman learned. Lyman, a 65-year-old former rancher turned vegan activist, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996 and predicted that mad cow disease would eventually break out in the U.S., thanks to the cattle industry’s practice of feeding potentially infected rendered cow parts back to other cows. An appalled Oprah promised she would never eat another hamburger. That prompted a group of Texas cattlemen to sue her and Lyman under a state law making it illegal to criticize food products without a basis in “reliable scientific inquiry.” Texas is one of 13 states that has passed similar “food libel” laws since the early 1990s — constitutionally questionable statutes that meat interests helped push.

“These laws are meant to stifle dissent,” says Lyman, who won his case after years of litigation. “These people have a lot of money invested in controlling the media.” - LA Weekly

And big beef has friends - and money - in high places.

The meat business spends lavishly to support its political agenda. Since 1990, livestock and meat-processing interests have doled out almost $28 million to federal candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions. The industry spends about another $2 million every year on lobbyists. “They understand we have the best laws money can buy,” says Lyman. “It’s much easier to buy a politician than to comply with regulations.” - LA Weekly

Actually, very high places.

Big beef has a special friend in President George W. Bush. After all, Bush is the former governor of Texas, the nation’s top cattle-producing state, and owns a ranch himself there. He was the keynote speaker at the NCBA’s annual meeting in 2002. He was also the number-one recipient of the industry’s campaign contributions in this (2004) and the last (2000) election cycle, pulling in nearly $1 million from livestock and meatpacking interests. Perhaps that helps explain why Bush solemnly told a mad cow–spooked public on New Year’s Day: “I ate beef today, and will continue to eat beef.” - LA Weekly

To date, evidence of the meat industry’s preparedness to deal with mad cow disease does not inspire a great deal of confidence.

A 2005 report by the consumer group Public Citizen found more than 800 Mad Cow safety violations at U.S. meat packing plants. More than half the violations (460) occurred because slaughter plants did not have an adequate plan for dealing with BSE in their plant’s food safety plan, as required by the USDA, the analysis shows.

Of those 460 violations, 60 percent described plans that contained no mention of Mad Cow Disease at all. - Consumer Affairs

In response to a request for a statement, Creekstone’s President and CEO Dennis Buhlke replied, “Although we are disappointed, we are not surprised by USDA’s decision to appeal. Beginning in February 2004, Creekstone has tried to work with USDA to find a way to voluntarily test its cattle for BSE. For more than two years prior to filing our lawsuit, we attempted to work cooperatively with USDA. We still hope to convince USDA to work with Creekstone on a voluntary BSE testing program. However, Creekstone Farms will continue to pursue our right to test even in the wake of this latest action by the USDA.”

A fact sheet on mad cow disease can be found at the Department of Health and Human Services website. This from the overview:

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a fatal disease that causes progressive neurological degeneration in cattle. Similar to BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare disease that occurs in humans. In 1996, following outbreaks of BSE among British cattle, scientists found a possible link between BSE and a new variant of CJD (vCJD). While it is not certain how BSE may be spread to humans, evidence indicates that humans may acquire vCJD after consuming BSE-contaminated cattle products. - Dept. of Health & Human Services

And this from the summary:

BSE (sometimes referred to as “mad cow disease”) and variant and classic CJD belong to the unusual group of progressive, degenerative neurological diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These diseases are characterized by a long incubation period of up to several years, during which there is no visible indication of the disease. The incubation period for BSE among cattle ranges from three to eight years; for vCJD among humans, the incubation period is unknown, but is at least five years and could extend up to 20 years or longer. The diseases are invariably fatal; there is no known treatment or cure. - Dept. of Health & Human Services