FDA still allows feeding of cow blood and chicken excrement to cows [View All]

[Sliverofhope]

Federal health officials said yesterday that in an effort to eradicate mad cow disease, they were moving toward a policy, based on the advice of international experts, to ban the feeding of any farm animal parts to other farm animals.

Current practice allows cattle to be fed chickens, pigs and other species that had been fed rendered cattle whose tissue could theoretically be infected. Such practices are widely said to have caused the epidemic of mad cow disease in Britain 20 years ago and its spread to other countries.

<snip>

Consumer groups expressed outrage that the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for regulating animal feed, did not close another loophole, feeding cattle large amounts of cattle blood, chicken waste and other materials that might spread the disease.

''On the most important issue facing it, F.D.A. has essentially put off issuing needed regulations to protect the public until after the November election,'' said Prof. Thomas O. McGarity, president of the Center for Progressive Regulation and an expert on food safety laws at the University of Texas.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/ban71004.cfm