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American Morning

Interview With Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman

Aired December 24, 2003 - 07:04   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Few terms can send a tremor through the beef industry like mad cow disease. The government insists that the nation's food supply is safe, despite the first case of mad cow disease ever reported in the U.S. It's still not known if any infected meat has reached store shelves.
Earlier this morning, I spoke with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and asked her whether we know if cuts from the diseased animal have been sold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We do know that the product has gone into further processing plants from the initial slaughter plant, and we are now tracing that product. We've issued a recall for about 10,000 pounds of meat, which is a relatively small recall. And we'll be tracing that forward to see where the product went and to remove it from the food supply.

Now, I remind you that we're taking this recall action in an abundance of caution, because from this animal was removed the highest risk materials -- that is the brain and the spinal column. Those are the kinds of materials that would cause infectivity in humans.

And so, we're taking this action in the recall of the animal and where it may have gone in an abundance of caution. We remain convinced that the risk to human health of this incident is extremely low.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, it was certainly surprising to me to learn that a downed cow or an animal that's so sick it can't even make its way on its own steam to the slaughter would be killed, and then the parts could actually make its way to store shelves. That was sort of surprising to me. Why do you think -- or I guess I would say, are you convinced that there is no risk for a problem with the meat cuts that end up on store shelves from sick animals like this?

VENEMAN: Well, the scientific evidence has indicated to us that the meat from such an animal should be entirely safe to eat, and particularly when you remove the high-risk materials from it. I mean, these are animals that obviously we test. We removed the high-risk materials. That's the brain and the spinal column that would cause the infectivity in humans. But there is no scientific evidence that the meat causes any risk to human health.

O'BRIEN: I know at this time you test all of those downed cows, or the ones that are so sick they can't walk to the slaughter. But my understanding is that mad cow disease can incubate for up to six years. So, theoretically, couldn't a perfectly healthy cow have mad cow disease and be off to the slaughter, and the parts you are concerned about -- the brain and the spinal cord -- could make their way into human consumption?

VENEMAN: Well, it's, again, unlikely. Most cows in this country are slaughtered at less than 30 months of age. And we know that those cattle are at very low risk of BSE, because it usually doesn't develop in a cow that's younger than 30 months of age.

And so, again, I think it's important that in this country we take every precaution. We have had a response plan in place since the early '90s and since 1990 looking at all of the high-risk areas for BSE. We've banned ruminant-to-ruminant feeding. We've had a testing program. We've had Harvard do two analyses of where the risk is.

And, again, we've taken every imaginable step that we can to prevent BSE and to -- if BSE were found in this country, which we've just found the first case, to make sure that it does not spread in this country.

Again, we're looking at -- to forward trace back -- the trace- back to the farm, and we're going to do a full and complete investigation of this case and continue to do everything we can to protect the food supply.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned that the farm in Washington is now under quarantine. What specifically does that mean?

VENEMAN: Well, it means that none of the cattle on that farm will move off that farm. The owners of the farm have been very cooperative in working with us. They will be keeping all of their cattle on that farm, and no cattle will move off that farm during the quarantine. And then we will be looking at the herd, tracing the specific animal, any offspring of that animal on the farm and so forth.

O'BRIEN: Why don't we do what they do in Great Britain and across Europe, which is to test every single animal that's slaughtered, as opposed to just the ones that are downed or the ones that are clearly showing evidence of sickness?

VENEMAN: Again, we tested last year about 20,000 animals. As you know, in Europe, they had a very serious outbreak of mad cow disease. That was an outbreak that occurred before they knew much about this disease, which was really only discovered in the late '80s. And we've learned a lot scientifically about this disease. And, again, we've had two reviews of our risk of BSE from the Harvard Risk Center, and we are confident that the steps that we have taken in the past have done everything we can to lower to the greatest degree possible our risk of BSE, in particular our risk of BSE in the food supply.

Now, given the fact that we have now a single case here in the United States, we will be reviewing all of our procedures to make sure, from a scientific standpoint, we are doing everything we can to further protect the food supply. But, again, I want to make sure that everyone understands that we have a safe beef supply and no one should hesitate.

If there are questions that people have, I would encourage them to contact our meat and poultry hotline at 1-888-mp-hotline. And that any questions can get answered there.

O'BRIEN: One final question about economic impact. It looks like Japan and South Korea have said that they're going to ban all imports of U.S. beef. That's 46 percent of the beef imports. What kind of an impact do you think this is going to have economically for this industry?

VENEMAN: Well, I think it's too early to tell what the overall economic impact will be on the markets. The markets have been strong for cattle in the last few months. There has been a strong demand for beef in the United States. And we export about 10 percent of our beef that we produce in this country.

So, obviously, we're probably looking at some economic impact at this point. It's difficult to tell what the impact may be on prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And that's Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman joining us a little bit earlier this morning.

Let's talk a little about what she said, which is there's a lot more medical information now, and that the meat that's actually cut, the stuff that you would take home, chop, fry up or whatever, is safe.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that those are probably both true. I think in terms of public health, maybe even health of the cows, this is probably going to be a relatively small issue.

What's sort of interesting, though, I think -- and you pointed this out -- was that they had mandatory testing of all cows that are acting funny -- or downed cows as they call them. But they don't automatically quarantine that meat. So, within two weeks or whatever this process took in terms of testing, that meat actually got out to a few different processing plants.

And, you know, in other countries that have sort of dealt with mad cow, they've sort of got this down to a science. If a cow is acting funny, you test it and you quarantine that meat. Those things probably will start happening in this country as well, I imagine.

O'BRIEN: Talk about mad cow disease as it manifests itself in a person. What does it look like? How do the people act? What are the symptoms?

GUPTA: Yes, that's a good question, because a lot of people are talking about it. But in terms of humans, it's actually called something else, which is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The name is not that important, but CJD is sort of the abbreviation. Typically what we're talking about here is not a virus or a bacteria, but a prion -- an infectious agent that actually infects the brain and the spinal cord. And when that happens, typically people get psychotic. They start getting demented. They have difficulty with walking. They may die from it. Only about 129 cases in the world really, though, ever existed, so very, very rare.

O'BRIEN: But she talked about how you can get -- the infected part, I guess, is the brain and the spinal cord. Have they been able to trace in those 129 patients the fact that they were ingesting the brain and the spinal cord of the cows?

GUPTA: Very, very hard to sort of figure that out. This is really a real medical quandary, because, again, it takes several years before anybody ever develops any sort of symptoms from this sort of thing. So, how do you remember what you were eating six to eight years ago? You'd probably remember if you were eating brain or spinal cord, but if it was mixed in with some other meat or something like that, that could be more difficult.

O'BRIEN: And it's really scary to hear this. I know the secretary obviously is trying to allay any fears...

GUPTA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and say that everything is under control, but still a lot of questions remain, it's fair to say.

GUPTA: Absolutely. Right.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks a lot.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

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 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Few terms can send a tremor through the beef industry like mad cow disease. The government insists that the nation's food supply is safe, despite the first case of mad cow disease ever reported in the U.S. It's still not known if any infected meat has reached store shelves.
Earlier this morning, I spoke with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and asked her whether we know if cuts from the diseased animal have been sold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN VENEMAN, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We do know that the product has gone into further processing plants from the initial slaughter plant, and we are now tracing that product. We've issued a recall for about 10,000 pounds of meat, which is a relatively small recall. And we'll be tracing that forward to see where the product went and to remove it from the food supply.

Now, I remind you that we're taking this recall action in an abundance of caution, because from this animal was removed the highest risk materials -- that is the brain and the spinal column. Those are the kinds of materials that would cause infectivity in humans.

And so, we're taking this action in the recall of the animal and where it may have gone in an abundance of caution. We remain convinced that the risk to human health of this incident is extremely low.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, it was certainly surprising to me to learn that a downed cow or an animal that's so sick it can't even make its way on its own steam to the slaughter would be killed, and then the parts could actually make its way to store shelves. That was sort of surprising to me. Why do you think -- or I guess I would say, are you convinced that there is no risk for a problem with the meat cuts that end up on store shelves from sick animals like this?

VENEMAN: Well, the scientific evidence has indicated to us that the meat from such an animal should be entirely safe to eat, and particularly when you remove the high-risk materials from it. I mean, these are animals that obviously we test. We removed the high-risk materials. That's the brain and the spinal column that would cause the infectivity in humans. But there is no scientific evidence that the meat causes any risk to human health.

O'BRIEN: I know at this time you test all of those downed cows, or the ones that are so sick they can't walk to the slaughter. But my understanding is that mad cow disease can incubate for up to six years. So, theoretically, couldn't a perfectly healthy cow have mad cow disease and be off to the slaughter, and the parts you are concerned about -- the brain and the spinal cord -- could make their way into human consumption?

VENEMAN: Well, it's, again, unlikely. Most cows in this country are slaughtered at less than 30 months of age. And we know that those cattle are at very low risk of BSE, because it usually doesn't develop in a cow that's younger than 30 months of age.

And so, again, I think it's important that in this country we take every precaution. We have had a response plan in place since the early '90s and since 1990 looking at all of the high-risk areas for BSE. We've banned ruminant-to-ruminant feeding. We've had a testing program. We've had Harvard do two analyses of where the risk is.

And, again, we've taken every imaginable step that we can to prevent BSE and to -- if BSE were found in this country, which we've just found the first case, to make sure that it does not spread in this country.

Again, we're looking at -- to forward trace back -- the trace- back to the farm, and we're going to do a full and complete investigation of this case and continue to do everything we can to protect the food supply.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned that the farm in Washington is now under quarantine. What specifically does that mean?

VENEMAN: Well, it means that none of the cattle on that farm will move off that farm. The owners of the farm have been very cooperative in working with us. They will be keeping all of their cattle on that farm, and no cattle will move off that farm during the quarantine. And then we will be looking at the herd, tracing the specific animal, any offspring of that animal on the farm and so forth.

O'BRIEN: Why don't we do what they do in Great Britain and across Europe, which is to test every single animal that's slaughtered, as opposed to just the ones that are downed or the ones that are clearly showing evidence of sickness?

VENEMAN: Again, we tested last year about 20,000 animals. As you know, in Europe, they had a very serious outbreak of mad cow disease. That was an outbreak that occurred before they knew much about this disease, which was really only discovered in the late '80s. And we've learned a lot scientifically about this disease. And, again, we've had two reviews of our risk of BSE from the Harvard Risk Center, and we are confident that the steps that we have taken in the past have done everything we can to lower to the greatest degree possible our risk of BSE, in particular our risk of BSE in the food supply.

Now, given the fact that we have now a single case here in the United States, we will be reviewing all of our procedures to make sure, from a scientific standpoint, we are doing everything we can to further protect the food supply. But, again, I want to make sure that everyone understands that we have a safe beef supply and no one should hesitate.

If there are questions that people have, I would encourage them to contact our meat and poultry hotline at 1-888-mp-hotline. And that any questions can get answered there.

O'BRIEN: One final question about economic impact. It looks like Japan and South Korea have said that they're going to ban all imports of U.S. beef. That's 46 percent of the beef imports. What kind of an impact do you think this is going to have economically for this industry?

VENEMAN: Well, I think it's too early to tell what the overall economic impact will be on the markets. The markets have been strong for cattle in the last few months. There has been a strong demand for beef in the United States. And we export about 10 percent of our beef that we produce in this country.

So, obviously, we're probably looking at some economic impact at this point. It's difficult to tell what the impact may be on prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And that's Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman joining us a little bit earlier this morning.

Let's talk a little about what she said, which is there's a lot more medical information now, and that the meat that's actually cut, the stuff that you would take home, chop, fry up or whatever, is safe.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that those are probably both true. I think in terms of public health, maybe even health of the cows, this is probably going to be a relatively small issue.

What's sort of interesting, though, I think -- and you pointed this out -- was that they had mandatory testing of all cows that are acting funny -- or downed cows as they call them. But they don't automatically quarantine that meat. So, within two weeks or whatever this process took in terms of testing, that meat actually got out to a few different processing plants.

And, you know, in other countries that have sort of dealt with mad cow, they've sort of got this down to a science. If a cow is acting funny, you test it and you quarantine that meat. Those things probably will start happening in this country as well, I imagine.

O'BRIEN: Talk about mad cow disease as it manifests itself in a person. What does it look like? How do the people act? What are the symptoms?

GUPTA: Yes, that's a good question, because a lot of people are talking about it. But in terms of humans, it's actually called something else, which is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The name is not that important, but CJD is sort of the abbreviation. Typically what we're talking about here is not a virus or a bacteria, but a prion -- an infectious agent that actually infects the brain and the spinal cord. And when that happens, typically people get psychotic. They start getting demented. They have difficulty with walking. They may die from it. Only about 129 cases in the world really, though, ever existed, so very, very rare.

O'BRIEN: But she talked about how you can get -- the infected part, I guess, is the brain and the spinal cord. Have they been able to trace in those 129 patients the fact that they were ingesting the brain and the spinal cord of the cows?

GUPTA: Very, very hard to sort of figure that out. This is really a real medical quandary, because, again, it takes several years before anybody ever develops any sort of symptoms from this sort of thing. So, how do you remember what you were eating six to eight years ago? You'd probably remember if you were eating brain or spinal cord, but if it was mixed in with some other meat or something like that, that could be more difficult.

O'BRIEN: And it's really scary to hear this. I know the secretary obviously is trying to allay any fears...

GUPTA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and say that everything is under control, but still a lot of questions remain, it's fair to say.

GUPTA: Absolutely. Right.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks a lot.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.