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For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 Contact: Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State Senator
Liz Krueger Urges Passage of
Downed Animal
Protection Legislation
New
York, NY
– State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) has renewed her call
for an outright ban on the slaughter of downed animals following the
discovery yesterday of a second mad cow disease case (also known as Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE) in Canada in the last two weeks. Senator Krueger is the lead sponsor
of the Downed Animal Protection Act, a bill which was held in the Agriculture
Committee during the 2004 session and will be re-introduced next week. The legislation is aimed at protecting the
public from ingesting tainted food and promoting the humane treatment of
downed animals. A downed animal is a
farm animal too sick to stand (often a direct result of inhumane farming
practices). These animals are
commonly slaughtered and sold for human consumption. The cows in question have been
confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to have been downed animals.
“Last year we discovered the first case of a BSE infected cow in the United States and now there are two confirmed cases in Canada in the last two weeks,” remarked Senator Krueger. “Clearly there is something wrong here. Consumers must be protected from the possible spread of disease. The fact is that downed animals should not be sent to the slaughterhouse for consumption, but rather to a veterinarian for treatment!”
"The marketing of downed animals for human food should be banned. In addition to posing a threat for mad cow disease, these animals suffer horribly on their way to slaughter," stated Gene Bauston, President of Farm Sanctuary.
Downed animals are afflicted with a myriad of ailments besides mad cow disease. USDA records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that USDA explicitly approved the consumption of meat from downed animals afflicted with hepatitis, gangrene, pneumonia, malignant lymphoma, and other ailments. Downer animals are also more likely to harbor bacterial contamination than walking animals.
According to a Zogby America poll of 1,000 adults, 4 out of 5 oppose the use of downed animals in the human food supply.
Most of Canada's cattle trading partners closed their markets to Canadian beef after a case of mad cow was discovered in 2003. The American ban on Canadian beef has caused particular bitterness among Canadian cattle ranchers, who contend that Americans use nearly identical ranching practices. Canadian ranchers indicate that mad cow disease must also be in the United States, yet all three sick cows found in Canada and the one found in the United States in December 2003 were born and raised in Canada. What is most troubling about the most recent case of mad cow is that the calf was born in March 1998, months after the United States and Canada instituted bans on feed that contained protein made from livestock and other ruminants. Mad cow disease is thought to be caused by misfolded proteins known as prions, which cause other proteins to misfold, leading to brain damage and other problems. The brain-wasting disease is believed to spread through once common feeding practices, such as producing feed from certain animal byproducts and conserving the milk of dairy cattle for sale by feeding their calves cattle blood.
The new case of mad cow disease discovered in the western province of Alberta, is likely to strengthen a legal challenge to the Bush administration's recent decision to allow the import of cattle under the age of 30 months, as well as of an expanded variety of beef. The challenge, filed by a group of Montana ranchers, said the import of Canadian livestock would endanger public health and American cattle. The USDA said it would not immediately change its decision, but it said it was sending a technical team to Canada to investigate and left open the possibility that it could change course depending on the findings. Similar legislation was introduced in July 2003 at the federal level (S.1298 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 2519 in the U.S. House of Representatives known as the “Downed Animal Protection Act”) and was voted down by a narrow margin of 202 to 199. Several states and cities have been successful in passing downed animal legislation, including California, Colorado, Illinois and Cincinnati. “Creating a more humane and healthier New York is not an issue of partisanship,” stated Senator Krueger. “I am hoping that we can come together in the 2005 legislative session and commit to passing more humane legislation. The Downed Animal Protection Act is a perfect example of legislation that we should work together to pass. It is a common sense bill that addresses the humane treatment of farm animals and the all important issue of public health.” -30- |
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