[IP] "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?
------ Forwarded Message
From: "Bosley, John - BLS" <Bosley.John@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:52:18 -0500
To: "'Dave Farber (dave@xxxxxxxxxx)'" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?
Dave-
For IP if you wish.
John
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:43:57 -0800
From: "D. Richards" <dr961@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: BSE secrecy plan
Below is an example of how our government deals with the mad cow
threat:
Utah House approves sealing records on livestock and disease
PAUL FOY
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY - With no debate, House representatives on Tuesday approved a
measure that ensures the public won't be able to see state records on
livestock populations and efforts to trace diseased animals.
The 68-0 vote came as Utah prepares to join a national identification
program for livestock that would make it possible for diseased animals to be
traced back to their farm of origin within 48 hours.
The secrecy bill now goes to the Senate for a vote.
Rep. Craig Buttars, a Republican who runs a 220-head Holstein dairy farm in
Lewiston, said farmers should be able to expect privacy for records on
livestock operations and animals.
"We don't want the public and those who want to harm us to have access to
records that could give them the opportunity to harm our operations," he
said Tuesday.
At least five other states - Kansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Nebraska and
Washington - have similar animal identification laws, though only Idaho
exempts cattle records from public disclosure, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures.
The Utah measure may be in line with "a long history of manipulating
agricultural information for protectionist reasons," said Laurie Garrett, a
national health policy expert and fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations.
There's little value in keeping the information from the public, said James
R. Greenwood, director of environmental health and safety at the University
of California at Los Angeles.
In brief floor remarks Tuesday Buttars rejected this criticism, saying other
businesses "wouldn't want people to come off the street and go through their
personal records."
The Utah Department of Agriculture is compiling records of farms, ranches
and other livestock operations in Utah. It plans to require farmers to
register all animals at birth for a state database.
The ability of government regulators to trace livestock became apparent
following the discovery of the nation's first case of mad cow disease in a
Washington state Holstein in December 2003. The cow's origins were later
traced to Canada, but not before dozens of countries closed their
borders to U.S. beef products.
Earlier this year, Washington state started assigning identification numbers
to farms and ranches - a precursor to the broader animal identification
system.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/10905863.htm
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