U.S. still unable to track diseased livestock

WASHINGTON — Investigators may never figure out where the Alabama cow with mad-cow disease was born and raised, in part because the United States lacks a livestock-tracking system the Bush administration promised two years ago.

After the first case of mad-cow disease in December 2003, the government pledged to institute a nationwide program quickly so officials could track cows, pigs and chickens from birth to the dinner table. Today, however, the system is a long way off.

Alabama officials saw the need firsthand last week as they tried to discover where the infected cow came from.

The animal had no ear tags, tattoos or brands and had spent less than a year on the farm where she died. The trail seems to have gone cold at an auction where she was sold last year.

"We need an animal-ID program in this country so it will help our industry and help our farmers when we have these kind of situations," Ron Sparks, the state's agriculture commissioner, said Friday in Montgomery, Ala.

Ideally, a cow would get the same number throughout its life. Farms, sale barns and feedlots would have unique numbers, too.

Different technologies, including radio-frequency tags, retinal scans or even DNA of a cow's eye could help with tracking.

The goal is to pinpoint a single animal's movements within 48 hours after mad cow or a different disease is discovered.

It is not an easy task in a country with 9 billion chickens, pigs and cows.

"We have a lot of protein being raised in this country," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said last week. "It's something that we want to give the industry some time to adjust to and prepare for."

Johanns promised last May that the tracking system would be in place, run by the government and with mandatory participation, by 2009.

The goal of 2009 has not changed, though details have.

Johanns said industry groups will be allowed to run the system — his department would have access to the data — and enrolling will be voluntary for producers.

The agency's Web site says, "Learn more about the voluntary program," although Johanns said it will be required someday.

Mad-cow disease is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.

The first U.S. case of mad-cow disease appeared in December 2003 and involved a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. The disease was found again in June in a cow born and raised in Texas.

In humans, eating meat products contaminated with BSE has been linked to more than 150 deaths, mostly in Britain, from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal brain disease.

While many ranchers and other producers resist the idea, industry groups are moving forward with their own programs. For example, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association helped develop a system using Microsoft technology that is being run by an independent group, the U.S. Animal ID Organization.

Some lawmakers are frustrated. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on an important farm-spending subcommittee, said the department seems to be making up the program on the go.

"When are we going to get real and put a system in place that will make a difference to the public health of this nation?" DeLauro asked a department official last week.

She and others question why producers would sign up if participation is not required.

Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.