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American Morning

Mad Cow in the U.S.

Aired December 24, 2003 - 09:04   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.


SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Europeans have been dealing with these problem for a long time. They've had a lot of experience. Eric Schlosser, the author of "Fast Food Nation" has been tracking the disease for a long time as well, and is a little surprised it didn't show up in the U.S. a little bit sooner. Eric Schlosser is live with us now from Provo, Utah.
Thanks very much for getting up early for us this morning.

ERIC SCHLOSSER, AUTHOR, "FAST FOOD NATION": Thanks for having me.

GUPTA: This is sort of a medical quandary. When you think about mad cow disease, symptoms show up several years after someone's actually eaten some beef. That goes for humans, as well as cows. How does someone sort of put this all together? Where do you think this came from?

SCHLOSSER: Well, I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened. I think there's probably been mad cow in the United States for years now that's gone undetected. What's unnerving is how little is known about this disease. And I think we need to err on the side of caution with our government response to this problem.

GUPTA: Presumably it came from feed years ago. Do you think it was in the United States already as part of the feed? Or where do you think it came from?

SCHLOSSER: Well, it probably did come from feed. And it might have come from old feed, before the ban was enacted in 1997, on feeding cattle to cattle. Or there may be some loopholes and some problems with the current feed, but I think we need to do much more testing of the cattle in this country than we've been doing, and the industry has been very resistant to that.

GUPTA: You're a correspondent for "Atlantic Monthly." You've also written books on this. You've had several suggestions for the meat packing industry as well as the government. Let me go through some of them, your recommendations no animal protein allowed in the feed, no downer cattle allowed in the food system, no automated meat recovery systems, mandatory recall power given to the federal government. That may be tested today, a traceback provision, and creating an independent food safety agency. How do you think this is going to play out now? Is this beef going to be recalled? And if so, how big an impact will that have?

SCHLOSSER: It's going to be recalled. But the problem right now is we have beef in circulation right now that may be infected with mad cow disease. But this is a voluntary recall by the meat packing company. The government should have the power to enforce a mandatory recall of meat. The government can do it with just about every other consumer product. The meat packing industry has a very close relationship with the USDA. I think we need a much stronger food safety system.

GUPTA: Based on what you're saying, do you think that there are more cases of mad cow out there now? I mean, we've heard about the one cow, obviously. Do you think there have been cases in the past, more in the future?

SCHLOSSER: I think there are more cases out there, although I don't want to alarm people. I don't think the epidemic will reach as big a size or scale as it did in the United Kingdom. But I think we need to be much more aggressive than we have been in tracking down these sick cattle.

GUPTA: Eric Schlosser, from "The Atlantic Monthly." He's got the book, "Fast Food Nation." Thank you very much for joining us.

SCHLOSSER: Thanks for having me.

GUPTA: Yes, happy holidays to you.

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 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Europeans have been dealing with these problem for a long time. They've had a lot of experience. Eric Schlosser, the author of "Fast Food Nation" has been tracking the disease for a long time as well, and is a little surprised it didn't show up in the U.S. a little bit sooner. Eric Schlosser is live with us now from Provo, Utah.
Thanks very much for getting up early for us this morning.

ERIC SCHLOSSER, AUTHOR, "FAST FOOD NATION": Thanks for having me.

GUPTA: This is sort of a medical quandary. When you think about mad cow disease, symptoms show up several years after someone's actually eaten some beef. That goes for humans, as well as cows. How does someone sort of put this all together? Where do you think this came from?

SCHLOSSER: Well, I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened. I think there's probably been mad cow in the United States for years now that's gone undetected. What's unnerving is how little is known about this disease. And I think we need to err on the side of caution with our government response to this problem.

GUPTA: Presumably it came from feed years ago. Do you think it was in the United States already as part of the feed? Or where do you think it came from?

SCHLOSSER: Well, it probably did come from feed. And it might have come from old feed, before the ban was enacted in 1997, on feeding cattle to cattle. Or there may be some loopholes and some problems with the current feed, but I think we need to do much more testing of the cattle in this country than we've been doing, and the industry has been very resistant to that.

GUPTA: You're a correspondent for "Atlantic Monthly." You've also written books on this. You've had several suggestions for the meat packing industry as well as the government. Let me go through some of them, your recommendations no animal protein allowed in the feed, no downer cattle allowed in the food system, no automated meat recovery systems, mandatory recall power given to the federal government. That may be tested today, a traceback provision, and creating an independent food safety agency. How do you think this is going to play out now? Is this beef going to be recalled? And if so, how big an impact will that have?

SCHLOSSER: It's going to be recalled. But the problem right now is we have beef in circulation right now that may be infected with mad cow disease. But this is a voluntary recall by the meat packing company. The government should have the power to enforce a mandatory recall of meat. The government can do it with just about every other consumer product. The meat packing industry has a very close relationship with the USDA. I think we need a much stronger food safety system.

GUPTA: Based on what you're saying, do you think that there are more cases of mad cow out there now? I mean, we've heard about the one cow, obviously. Do you think there have been cases in the past, more in the future?

SCHLOSSER: I think there are more cases out there, although I don't want to alarm people. I don't think the epidemic will reach as big a size or scale as it did in the United Kingdom. But I think we need to be much more aggressive than we have been in tracking down these sick cattle.

GUPTA: Eric Schlosser, from "The Atlantic Monthly." He's got the book, "Fast Food Nation." Thank you very much for joining us.

SCHLOSSER: Thanks for having me.

GUPTA: Yes, happy holidays to you.

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