spectr17
09-26-2002, 08:15 PM
Wed, Sep 25, 2002
Delegation presses USDA on CWD tests
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture showed no sign Tuesday of bending from its insistence that private laboratory testing for chronic wasting disease in the state's deer population is unnecessary.
"The test is not a food safety test. There is no food safety test for chronic wasting disease," said USDA spokesman Jerry Redding in response to continued requests that the federal agency set up a procedure for deer hunters to obtain a quick verdict on whether their kill has been infected.
All 11 members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation sent a letter Tuesday to ask the Agriculture Department to allow private laboratories to supplement the testing capacity at government laboratories.
The letter also requests USDA approval of experimental test kits that some private marketers plan to sell to hunters as uncertified tests.
"What the people of Wisconsin require is a reliable and available testing protocol to determine whether their animal contains detectable amounts of protein associated with CWD," stated the letter spearheaded by Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, told reporters that USDA's intransigence defies logic because one of the private labs available for testing, the Marshfield Clinic, has a world-class reputation for quality.
"There is no threat to the public health by approving Marshfield," Obey said.
Gov. Scott McCallum met privately with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and her chief of staff in Washington last week to plead the state's request for more testing capacity and quick results.
The outbreak of the fatal deer disease in southcentral Wisconsin has put a damper on the current bow hunting season and the gun-hunting season that starts in two months. New registrations are down 30 percent.
The governor's spokesman, Tim Roby, acknowledged Tuesday that many hunters intend to use the test results for chronic wasting disease as a guide in deciding whether to eat their venison.
But the USDA test is only 70 percent accurate in determining whether a deer was infected and has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a way of proving that the meat is safe to eat.
"If you want to play it that safe," said the USDA spokesman, "don't eat any venison."
Delegation presses USDA on CWD tests
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture showed no sign Tuesday of bending from its insistence that private laboratory testing for chronic wasting disease in the state's deer population is unnecessary.
"The test is not a food safety test. There is no food safety test for chronic wasting disease," said USDA spokesman Jerry Redding in response to continued requests that the federal agency set up a procedure for deer hunters to obtain a quick verdict on whether their kill has been infected.
All 11 members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation sent a letter Tuesday to ask the Agriculture Department to allow private laboratories to supplement the testing capacity at government laboratories.
The letter also requests USDA approval of experimental test kits that some private marketers plan to sell to hunters as uncertified tests.
"What the people of Wisconsin require is a reliable and available testing protocol to determine whether their animal contains detectable amounts of protein associated with CWD," stated the letter spearheaded by Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, told reporters that USDA's intransigence defies logic because one of the private labs available for testing, the Marshfield Clinic, has a world-class reputation for quality.
"There is no threat to the public health by approving Marshfield," Obey said.
Gov. Scott McCallum met privately with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and her chief of staff in Washington last week to plead the state's request for more testing capacity and quick results.
The outbreak of the fatal deer disease in southcentral Wisconsin has put a damper on the current bow hunting season and the gun-hunting season that starts in two months. New registrations are down 30 percent.
The governor's spokesman, Tim Roby, acknowledged Tuesday that many hunters intend to use the test results for chronic wasting disease as a guide in deciding whether to eat their venison.
But the USDA test is only 70 percent accurate in determining whether a deer was infected and has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a way of proving that the meat is safe to eat.
"If you want to play it that safe," said the USDA spokesman, "don't eat any venison."