United States-New laws damaging cattle feed industry.

UNITED STATES.

Senators Urge FDA to Delay Implementation of Enhanced Feed Ban Rule

Eighteen Senators joined together this week in sending a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting that the enhanced feed ban implementation date be delayed 60-days and the comment period be re-opened. This would allow affected stakeholders an opportunity to provide more complete information and to comment on the negative impacts already being seen as a direct result of this rule.

"Many in the agriculture industry are concerned that the final rule will be implemented without regard to viable alternatives for safe, economical disposal of deceased livestock," the letter stated. "While the safety of our food supply is the top priority for all of us, we are concerned about the potential for this rule to cause unnecessary economic hardship for farmers and ranchers."

Last month, NCBA joined with 11 other national agriculture organizations in sending a similar letter to FDA. NCBA has opposed the enhanced feed ban rule since the original proposal was published in October 2005 due to its failure to pass a cost/benefit analysis and the lack of statistically valid improvements to animal health and food safety.

Over the past two decades industry and government have worked together to put in place science-based measures which have proven successful in preventing and reducing the spread of BSE in the U.S. International experts agree that a feed ban breaks the cycle of BSE and assures it will be eliminated. The U.S. began our ban of feeding cattle the type of animal-derived protein that can spread BSE in 1997 as a proactive preventative measure. Robust USDA BSE surveillance since 1990 has demonstrated that the firewalls have been successful and the U.S. cattle herd has an extremely low level of risk from BSE.

The very high level of existing U.S. Feed ban compliance combined with an extremely low incidence of BSE suggests that the risk of BSE in the United States is already negligible. This has been proven even more so in the four years since this enhanced feed ban was first proposed and failed an economic cost/benefit analysis.

The final rule on the enhanced feed ban is effective on April 27, 2009. NCBA producers are already suffering negative consequences of this rule months before it goes into effect. Beginning as early as December 2008, many renderers discontinued picking up dead livestock because of the severe economic realities of this proposal. For several months now, NCBA has received numerous reports of producers having difficulty in getting dead animals picked up, and if they are able to find pick-up services, the prices charged by the haulers and renderers is significantly higher than it ever has been.

Many renderers across the country have simply terminated their service to the livestock industry as a direct result of this rule. NCBA and other organizations are hearing from producers and veterinarians across the country that no longer have legal methods to dispose of dead livestock. This affects all species and communities across the U.S., and exacerbates already existing challenges in the proper disposal of livestock carcasses..