Federal officials scrambled to trace the life of the first US cow believed infected with mad cow disease while trying to contain the growing economic damage from a now-suspect food supply.
"The risk to human life is extremely low," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Wednesday, even as country after country slapped import bans on American beef.
On Wall Street, stocks in meatpacking companies and restaurant chains took a hit. Among the losers: McDonald's Corp, Wendy's International and Tyson Foods.
US beef exports totaled US$2.6 billion last year, with Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Hong Kong the biggest importers. They all have banned US beef, along with at least seven other countries.
Federal and state-level officials worked to trace the diseased Holstein's history until it arrived at Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton, Washington, in 2001. Agriculture Department chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven said officials have identified two livestock markets in Washington where the animal could have been purchased.
Because the brain-wasting disease is usually transmitted through contaminated feed and has an incubation period of four to five years, it is "important to focus on the feed where she was born," DeHaven said.
"Once we have the birth herd, we'll want to know what animals have come into that herd and what animals have left that herd and all the feeding practices for that herd," DeHaven said.
The human form of the disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, is thought to be contracted by eating meat from an infected animal, specifically from the brain or spinal cord. Officials stressed that these parts of the sick cow were removed before the rest of the carcass was sent to processing plants.
Agriculture Department officials told a briefing the cow was culled from its herd and slaughtered Dec. 9, after she became paralyzed, apparently as a result of calving. Preliminary tests showed the cow, believed to be about 5 years old, had mad cow disease.
Tissue samples were sent to Britain's Veterinary Laboratories Agencies, a world leader in mad cow identification, for confirmation.
"We should have a result within a few hours of the initial test," said Steven Edwards, chief executive of the lab in Weybridge, near London.
BSE was first identified in 1986 in Britain, which suffered the brunt of mad cow disease over the past decade. It still has the highest number of positive tests. Spain, France, Denmark, Ireland and Portugal have also reported significant numbers of cases.
Politically, Democrats jumped on Republicans who removed a US ban on processing meat from "downed" animals -- those that are ill when they reach the plant -- from a massive agriculture spending bill.
"This is something that's a potential disaster," said Democratic Representative Gary Ackerman, a leader in supporting the processing prohibition. "This was so predictable by anybody following the issue."
Contaminated feed has been blamed in other countries for carrying the misshapen animal proteins, called prions, that can transmit mad cow disease. The US since August 1997 has banned the use of cow and sheep byproducts for animal feed.
The animal was one of 20 slaughtered on Dec. 9 at Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co in Moses Lake, Washington.
The beef industry sought to reassure Americans.
"It's important to recognize what we learned from Canadian consumers," Terry Stokes, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told reporters. "They had confidence in Canadian beef and we feel American consumers will follow accordingly."
Canada had an isolated case of mad cow disease earlier this year. The US banned imports of Canadian beef immediately after that announcement but has gradually begun allowing them.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the case in Canada is linked, a USDA official said, but a connection is unlikely because the animals were of different breeds.
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