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CNN Live Today
Mad Cow Debate
Aired December 24, 2003 - 11:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The first apparent case of mad cow disease in the U.S. is raising questions about prevention efforts and the safety of the beef supply. Joining us to debate those issues, Chandler Keys of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. He's in Washington. And in Madison, Wisconsin, John Stauber, the author of "Mad Cow USA."
Good to see both of you, gentlemen. John, let me begin with you. You have reportedly said this is just the tip of the iceberg. What do you mean?
JOHN STAUBER, AUTHOR, "MAD COW USA": Well, what I mean is that here in the United States, we have not taken the steps that we need to take to prevent the spread of this disease. This is a disease is spread through feeding cattle live stock slaughterhouse waste as a feed supplement...
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: ... farmers have been negligent and have provoked this problem here in the U.S.?
STAUBER: Yes, I'm saying that this much touted feed ban that the government and the live stock industry has been talking about that supposedly went in place in 1997 to protect us was really a farce and totally inadequate. And the best evidence of that is that here we are with mad cow disease in the United States.
WHITFIELD: Chandler, is that fair?
CHANDLER KEYS, NATL. CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOC.: I don't think it's fair at all. I think if you go and look at the Harvard risk analysis that NCBA our government asked to be put together about all our fire walls, they came out and gave us an A. I'll put my industry up against -- with Harvard any day compared to John, who doesn't have any scientific background and doesn't really know how the industry works.
We've asked Harvard to grade us. Harvard has come back and said, This is OK. The other thing to remember is, we do not have an epidemic like they did in Europe. Unfortunately Europe will have this issue get away from them because they never did anything about it. Now they have to come in and do drastic things.
So I would say to people that want us to follow European model to understand that that was a wreck from the beginning. Why would we want to follow them? WHITFIELD: Well, Chandler, now the big problem is trying to deflect the kind of international attention now the U.S. is receiving even though this is the first apparent case and still many more tests need to be conducted to actually confirm it. Already the top three U.S. importers are saying no thanks to the beef. How damaging is that to the industry right now?
KEYS: Well, we knew this. If we ever got a case in this country, we knew all this would happen. None of this comes as a surprise that this would happen. We'll have to go to our trading partners and say, Let's do this based on risk and science and not on hysteria and scare tactics, and sit down and figure out how we can work risk basis system out, just like we have done with Canada.
Now we're accepting their beef back since September on boneless beef. So it's a way around this but we have to be diligent and work with our trading partners make sure they feel comfortable.
WHITFIELD: John, the agriculture secretary says don't panic. Still, the damage has been done. How and -- in what way can the U.S. undo the damage that's been done just by this one reported apparent case?
STAUBER: Well, the sort of public relations assurances that Chandler is providing are not going to work. The fact is that Britain and the European countries and Japan have dealt with this problem and they've dealt with it by banning the practice that continues here of feeding slaughterhouse waste to livestock.
The science is on the side of the Europeans. They've been through this. The sad situation here in the U.S. is that rather from -- rather than learning from the mistakes in Britain and Europe, we have repeated the mistakes in Britain and Europe.
And what we need to do is we need to completely ban the feeding of slaughterhouse waste as feed supplement and we have to test millions of animals. That's the solution. It's worked in Europe. It's the scientific way. The cattle industry will not accept it because it will cost them money.
WHITFIELD: Chandler, how do you reassure the American people that if this is indeed a confirmed case of infected beef that it is not in the food supply? Why should Americans at this point believe exactly what the agricultural secretary is saying which is all the food is safe even though we're trying to figure out all the places where some of this meat may have been distributed?
KEYS: First of all the infected material is not in the beef. So Americans do not eat spinal chord and brains. That's where the infected material is. The beef -- whole muscle cuts does not have this in it.
But I have to disagree with John. America is taking steps. It is against the law to feed (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And if anyone's doing it the full front of the government ought to be coming down on them. And we have to rely on USDA and FDA and their (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the Harvard risk analysis for ascertaining what the truth is.
We cannot rely on laymen to come in, or even Europeans to come in and dictate how we do it. Again, the Europeans got themselves in a big jam. They're trying to get out of it by doing these drastic measures.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Let me get John in here. If we don't need to be concerned about beef, if that is not the issue with what is believed to be a dairy cow, and how about the dairy? Why -- what needs to be said to reassure American people that the dairy is OK to consume?
STAUBER: Well, here's the problem. In the United States, we are literally weaning calves on milk formula containing raw cattle blood plasma. We are continuing to feed (UNINTELLIGIBLE) plasma, even in laboratory test blood plasma can transmit this type of disease.
We need to stop this dangerous feeding practices or all these assurances are a bunch of P.R. spin and smoke and mirrors.
WHITFIELD: All right, John Stauber, Chandler Keys, thank you very much for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 24, 2003 - 11:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The first apparent case of mad cow disease in the U.S. is raising questions about prevention efforts and the safety of the beef supply. Joining us to debate those issues, Chandler Keys of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. He's in Washington. And in Madison, Wisconsin, John Stauber, the author of "Mad Cow USA."
Good to see both of you, gentlemen. John, let me begin with you. You have reportedly said this is just the tip of the iceberg. What do you mean?
JOHN STAUBER, AUTHOR, "MAD COW USA": Well, what I mean is that here in the United States, we have not taken the steps that we need to take to prevent the spread of this disease. This is a disease is spread through feeding cattle live stock slaughterhouse waste as a feed supplement...
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: ... farmers have been negligent and have provoked this problem here in the U.S.?
STAUBER: Yes, I'm saying that this much touted feed ban that the government and the live stock industry has been talking about that supposedly went in place in 1997 to protect us was really a farce and totally inadequate. And the best evidence of that is that here we are with mad cow disease in the United States.
WHITFIELD: Chandler, is that fair?
CHANDLER KEYS, NATL. CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOC.: I don't think it's fair at all. I think if you go and look at the Harvard risk analysis that NCBA our government asked to be put together about all our fire walls, they came out and gave us an A. I'll put my industry up against -- with Harvard any day compared to John, who doesn't have any scientific background and doesn't really know how the industry works.
We've asked Harvard to grade us. Harvard has come back and said, This is OK. The other thing to remember is, we do not have an epidemic like they did in Europe. Unfortunately Europe will have this issue get away from them because they never did anything about it. Now they have to come in and do drastic things.
So I would say to people that want us to follow European model to understand that that was a wreck from the beginning. Why would we want to follow them? WHITFIELD: Well, Chandler, now the big problem is trying to deflect the kind of international attention now the U.S. is receiving even though this is the first apparent case and still many more tests need to be conducted to actually confirm it. Already the top three U.S. importers are saying no thanks to the beef. How damaging is that to the industry right now?
KEYS: Well, we knew this. If we ever got a case in this country, we knew all this would happen. None of this comes as a surprise that this would happen. We'll have to go to our trading partners and say, Let's do this based on risk and science and not on hysteria and scare tactics, and sit down and figure out how we can work risk basis system out, just like we have done with Canada.
Now we're accepting their beef back since September on boneless beef. So it's a way around this but we have to be diligent and work with our trading partners make sure they feel comfortable.
WHITFIELD: John, the agriculture secretary says don't panic. Still, the damage has been done. How and -- in what way can the U.S. undo the damage that's been done just by this one reported apparent case?
STAUBER: Well, the sort of public relations assurances that Chandler is providing are not going to work. The fact is that Britain and the European countries and Japan have dealt with this problem and they've dealt with it by banning the practice that continues here of feeding slaughterhouse waste to livestock.
The science is on the side of the Europeans. They've been through this. The sad situation here in the U.S. is that rather from -- rather than learning from the mistakes in Britain and Europe, we have repeated the mistakes in Britain and Europe.
And what we need to do is we need to completely ban the feeding of slaughterhouse waste as feed supplement and we have to test millions of animals. That's the solution. It's worked in Europe. It's the scientific way. The cattle industry will not accept it because it will cost them money.
WHITFIELD: Chandler, how do you reassure the American people that if this is indeed a confirmed case of infected beef that it is not in the food supply? Why should Americans at this point believe exactly what the agricultural secretary is saying which is all the food is safe even though we're trying to figure out all the places where some of this meat may have been distributed?
KEYS: First of all the infected material is not in the beef. So Americans do not eat spinal chord and brains. That's where the infected material is. The beef -- whole muscle cuts does not have this in it.
But I have to disagree with John. America is taking steps. It is against the law to feed (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And if anyone's doing it the full front of the government ought to be coming down on them. And we have to rely on USDA and FDA and their (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the Harvard risk analysis for ascertaining what the truth is.
We cannot rely on laymen to come in, or even Europeans to come in and dictate how we do it. Again, the Europeans got themselves in a big jam. They're trying to get out of it by doing these drastic measures.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Let me get John in here. If we don't need to be concerned about beef, if that is not the issue with what is believed to be a dairy cow, and how about the dairy? Why -- what needs to be said to reassure American people that the dairy is OK to consume?
STAUBER: Well, here's the problem. In the United States, we are literally weaning calves on milk formula containing raw cattle blood plasma. We are continuing to feed (UNINTELLIGIBLE) plasma, even in laboratory test blood plasma can transmit this type of disease.
We need to stop this dangerous feeding practices or all these assurances are a bunch of P.R. spin and smoke and mirrors.
WHITFIELD: All right, John Stauber, Chandler Keys, thank you very much for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
