U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) urged the Congress to adopt his longstanding legislation to protect human health and shield the U.S. livestock industry from economic distress, in response to an announcement that Hawaii, seven other Western states, and Guam may have received beef from a cow in Washington state discovered to have Mad Cow Disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The Senate earlier adopted an amendment, based on legislation that Senator Akaka has introduced since 1992, that would have ensured that downed animals at slaughtering, packing, meat-canning, rendering, or similar entities are not approved for human consumption. However, conferees to H.R. 2673, the Omnibus Appropriations bill for FY 2004, rejected the amendment language in the conference report to the bill, which has been passed by the House and will be acted on by the Senate in January.
Senator Akaka based his amendment on the Downed Animal Protection Act, which he has introduced in every Congress since the 102nd Congress. His current bill, S. 1298, would eliminate inhumane and improper treatment of downed animals at stockyards, market agencies, dealers, slaughter facilities, and other processing establishments. It would set a uniform national standard that removes any unfair advantage that might result from differing standards throughout the industry. Downed animals comprise less than one-tenth of one percent of livestock in the cattle industry. The bill does not require additional bureaucracy since inspectors already regularly visit stockyards and slaughter facilities to enforce existing regulations. Therefore, the burden on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and stockyard operators would be insignificant.
"For more than a decade, I have urged that downed animals not be sent to our nation's stockyards. My bill would ensure that non-ambulatory livestock or downed animals that are too sick to stand or walk unassisted do not enter our food chain. Many of these animals are dying from infectious diseases and present a significant pathway for the spread of disease. I firmly believe that stronger legislation is needed to ensure that these animals do not enter our food chain and end up on our dinner tables," said Akaka.
"Despite a consensus within industry, the animal welfare movement, consumers, and government that downed animals should not be sent to stockyards, this sad problem continues. Because of the short-sighted opposition of a few, we are now reaping the whirlwind of our inaction and witnessing a drastic and tragic erosion of confidence in the American beef industry."
Downed animals are severely distressed recumbent animals that are so sick they cannot rise or move on their own. Once an animal becomes immobile and cannot stand, it must lie where it falls, often without receiving basic assistance. The suffering of downed animals is so severe that the only humane solution is immediate euthanasia. Downed animals that survive the stockyard are slaughtered for human consumption.
"The best way to prevent the inadvertent transmittal of diseases such as BSE from downed livestock is to completely remove them from our food supply, " Akaka said.
S. 1298, the Downed Animal Protection Act, introduced by Senator Akaka on June 19, 2003, amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to ensure the humane slaughter of non-ambulatory (downed) livestock.
It directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate regulations to provide for the humane treatment, handling, and disposition of nonambulatory livestock by a covered entity, including a requirement that nonambulatory livestock be humanely euthanized.
S. 1298 prohibits an establishment covered by the Federal Meat Inspection Act to pass nonambulatory livestock through inspection. This provision provides protection for human health from diseases such as BSE and the livestock industry from economic distress.
The bill removes the incentive for sending non-ambulatory livestock to stockyards, thereby reducing the risk that these animals will be processed for human consumption and discouraging their inhumane treatment at farms and ranches.
S. 1298 will stop the inhumane and improper treatment of downed animals while also helping to ensure that our food supply remains safe.
