Senior Democrats in Congress asked Monday why the US Agriculture Department suddenly ordered new tests on tissue from a cow declared free of mad cow disease seven months ago.
Now, a brain sample from the cow is being sent to England for further study because a third round of tests came back positive Friday. The Agriculture Department's inspector-general suddenly ordered the tests last week.
The department has not explained why the new tests were ordered. The inspector-general's office, an independent arm of the agency, would not comment Monday and said a brief statement would be issued yesterday.
"That's absurd," said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the opposition Democrats' senior member for farm issues on the House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee. "What we're doing by delaying this information is that you put the public health at risk, and you put the industry at risk. Who's going to feel comfortable with our products?"
DeLauro and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said they will ask the department to explain why new tests were ordered and why it took months to do it.
The Agriculture Department has said the animal presented no threat to human or animal health because it was a "downer" cow, and was unable to walk. Such animals are banned from the food chain.
A consumer group that had asked for the new round of testing praised the decision but said the delay was unfortunate.
"We just hope they will proceed extremely rapidly to track down the herd mates and not prolong this assessment any longer than it needs to be," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union.
"There may well be cows that ate the same feed this one did that have already been slaughtered and eaten by people," she said. "It's a crucial seven months that we've lost, but better that they've caught it now than not to have caught it at all."
Agriculture Department investigators are tracking the movements of the cow and other animals from its herd, said Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinary officer of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The animal was incinerated last year after the first round of "rapid" tests indicated the presence of the disease, Clifford said.
Tissue from the cow's brain has been kept frozen at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Scientists there will decide this week which portions to send to an internationally recognized laboratory in Weybridge, England, and which portions to keep in Ames for further testing, Clifford said.
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