Sludge Watch ==> US Federal Dept of Ag ponders and ponders expanded BSE feed ban....

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

More of the US - "Don't look - Don't Find" policy.

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FDA still pondering & pondering expanded BSE feed ban
17.jul.07
CattleNetwork.com
John Gregerson / Meatingplace.com
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=145153


It's been more than a year since FDA issued a proposal for an enhanced feed 
ban it says would reduce the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy by 90 
percent, but the beef industry is still awaiting publication of a final 
rule.

"There is no estimated time frame for when a final rule will be published," 
FDA spokesman Michael Herndon told the University of Minnesota's Center for 
Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "The agency is working to develop 
and issue a final rule as expeditiously as possible."
CIDRAP posed the question to Herndon after Canada broadened its BSE 
safeguards last week by banning the use of all specified risk materials for 
the disease from all animal feed, pet foods and fertilizer, thereby reducing 
the risk of infection by 99.8 percent.

Although FDA's proposed rule seeks to prohibit only the more highly 
infective brain and spinal cord from all animal feed, the agency is 
reportedly considering a more restrictive ban that would more closely mirror 
Canada's.