US 'Mad Cow' Legal Action (Please Post)

Ronnie Cummins (alliance@mr.net)
Wed, 6 Jan 1999 21:40:26 -0600 (CST)

>EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE THURSDAY, JAN. 7, 1999
>
>MEDIA CONTACT:
>ANDREW KIMBRELL, D'ARCY KEMNITZ, ATTORNEYS AT CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY
>202-547-9359
>
>LEGAL ACTIONS FILED TO FORCE FDA, CDC, TO COMBAT 'MAD COW' TYPE DISEASES IN
>PEOPLE, WILDLIFE AND LIVESTOCK IN THE UNITED STATES.
>
>TERMINALLY ILL UTAH HUNTER, AGE 30, COULD BE THE FIRST VICTIM OF U.S. 'MAD
>DEER' DISEASE.
>
>'MAD COW' TYPE DISEASES ARE ALREADY KILLING PEOPLE, DEER, ELK AND SHEEP IN
>THE U.S.
>
>Washington, DC -- Today, Thursday, January 7, 1999, two formal legal
>petitions were filed demanding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
>and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) act immediately to monitor,
>regulate and prevent 'mad cow' type diseases in the United States. These
>diseases, known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, or TSEs, are
>killing people, deer, elk and sheep in the United States. Petitioners
>include the Humane Farming Association, the Center for Food Safety, a group
>of United States CJD victims and their families and consumer, farm and
>animal protectionists.
>
>The demand for immediate government action is given added urgency by the
>extremely unusual case of a thirty-year old Utah man, R. Douglas McEwen,
>who is now terminally ill with CJD, a 'mad cow' type disease in humans.
>Mr. McEwen hunted deer and elk; it is feared he may have contracted CJD by
>eating or handling deer or elk infected with 'mad deer' disease.
>Additionally, there is industry and governmental concern that as a frequent
>donor Mr. McEwen may have contaminated blood products internationally.
>
>Mr. McEwen and his wife Tracie are petitioners in today's legal actions.
>His fatal disease underscores concerns that current federal regulations are
>grossly inadequate to prevent and monitor potential animal and human
>epidemics in the United States.
>
>The family of 'mad cow' type disease, TSEs, include numerous strains and
>have different names in different species. The best known strain is
>British Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), dubbed 'mad cow disease,'
>which has now spread into the British human population as 'new variant
>Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' or nvCJD. So far 33 teenagers or young adults
>are confirmed dead or dying of nvCJD. Since the disease has a virtually
>invisible incubation period that might last decades, it won't be known for
>many years whether the final toll will be in the dozens, hundreds or
>thousands of human lives.
>
>In the United States efforts to identify, monitor and prevent human and
>animal deaths from TSE diseases have been grossly inadequate, despite the
>fact that people, deer, elk and sheep in the U.S. are dying from these
>diseases, known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in people, Chronic
>Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep.
>
>CJD in humans in the U.S. appears to be often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's
>or other types of fatal dementia, and seems much more prevalent than
>admitted by government agencies. Given the very long invisible incubation
>period of this 100% fatal disease, and that fact that it can be spread by
>infected medical instruments and is almost impossible to kill by heat and
>disinfection, and the consequences of failing to identify the disease are
>extremely serious.
>
>The first legal petition demands that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
>(CDC) aggressively look for CJD in humans and make CJD a reportable and
>monitored disease. This petition is also being filed in all fifty states
>with the appropriate state health officials.
>
>The second legal petition demands that the Food and Drug Administration
>(FDA) close serious loopholes in U.S. animal feed regulations which
>currently allow types of cannibalistic feeding practices known to cause and
>spread 'mad cow' type diseases in animals and humans. For instance,
>current U.S. regulations allow calves to be fed milk replacer containing
>cattle blood protein, and pigs to be fed back to pigs and cattle. U.S.
>sheep infected with scrapie, a 'mad cow' type disease, can be used for pet
>and pig feed in the U.S.
>
>Commenting on today's legal actions Bradley Miller, National Director of
>the Humane Farming Association stated, "TSEs represent a potentially
>devastating threat to both human and animal health. Our government's
>response to date has been shamefully inadequate. These legal actions
>provide a blueprint by which federal and state agencies can act decisively
>to prevent a TSE epidemic in this country."
>
>Dr. Michael Hansen, Research Associate of Consumer's Union commented, "The
>current increase of TSEs in wildlife and humans shows that the time for
>effective prevention may be running out. The federal agencies must
>immediately take action to avert what could become a very significant
>public health problem."
>
>Andrew Kimbrell, public interest attorney and Director of the Center for
>Food Safety stated, "Given what we know now, it is unconscionable that the
>CDC is not strictly monitoring this disease, and that the FDA is still
>allowing the feeding of blood and other animal by-products to animals. The
>federal agencies are obviously putting the interests of agribusiness
>companies ahead of their duty to protect the public from this terrible and
>fatal group of diseases. We will go to court if necessary to ensure that
>the agencies do their job in protecting human health and animal welfare."
> END
>Center for Food Safety is a project of the
>International Center for Technology Assessment
>310 D Street, NorthEast
>Washington, D.C. 20002
>(202) 547-9359 telephone
>(202) 547-9429 facsimile
><www.icta.org>
>

Ronnie Cummins
Campaign for Food Safety/Organic Consumers Action
860 Hwy 61
Little Marais, Mn. 55614
Tel. 218-226-4164
Fax 218-226-4157
email alliance@mr.net
http://www.purefood.org
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