Agriculture Dept. admits ignoring beef-import ban

By Marc Kaufman
The Washington Post

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WASHINGTON — Agriculture Department officials acknowledged yesterday that the agency quietly and improperly had allowed millions of pounds of banned Canadian processed beef into the United States, despite an often-invoked ban.

"Clearly the process and our failure to announce some of these actions was flawed," said Ron DeHaven, USDA's chief veterinary officer. He and other top officials said, however, that the decision to allow selected Canadian processed beef was "scientifically sound," and the meat was safe.

A ban on Canadian beef was put in place in May 2003 after mad-cow disease was found in a Canadian cattle herd, and it was reaffirmed for processed beef when USDA Secretary Ann Veneman relaxed restrictions on other Canadian beef products in August.

Yesterday's acknowledgement came after a private USDA briefing where lawmakers took the agency to task for allowing some firms to import processed beef — usually defined as ground beef, hamburger patties, cubed beef and sausage — while those products officially were still banned.

The agent that causes mad-cow disease can be transmitted to humans, but has done so rarely. The brain-wasting disease has killed about 150 people, mostly in Europe.

There was some dispute yesterday about how much processed beef entered. Census Bureau statistics analyzed by a cattlemen's group showed that 33 million pounds were imported between September and February. The USDA contended that only 7.3 million pounds had come improperly from Canada between September and April.

USDA officials said Veneman knew nothing about the illegal imports and that lower-level officials approved the permits.

That statement was received with skepticism by the man who first uncovered the shipments of banned Canadian beef — Bill Bullard, CEO of the Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, which represents small cattle growers.

"I can't believe the secretary didn't know what was going on," he said. "This is among the highest-profile issues in her agency."

He also took issue with the USDA that there was no additional risk to the public. "The rules were in effect because of the scientific assessment that ground and processed beef posed a greater risk of carrying the mad-cow agent," he said. "That means USDA put the American public and cattle herd at unnecessary risk."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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