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From: TSS ()
Subject: USDA FY 2007 BSE/CWD/SCRAPIE/TSE BUDGET SUMMARY AND ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN or the lack of
Date: February 11, 2006 at 7:08 am PST

GREETINGS!

while CWD, Scrapie are spreading in the USA, and the fact that the USDA et al have flagrantly failed the BSE/TSE surveillance and eradication in the USA of BSE and or any TSE in the USA cattle herds, i find this Budget FY 2007 fails terribly the eradication of TSE in the USA. Seems with the total failure of the infamous June 2004 'ENHANCED' BSE cover-up program in the USA, seems GW et al think they have the TSE problems in the USA under control, or out-of-sight, out of mind. I thought some might find interest in the ;

FY 2007

BUDGET SUMMARY AND ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN

USDA

snip...

MARKETING AND REGULATORY PROGRAMS

ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE (APHIS)

Program Level (Dollars in Millions)

2005 2006 2007 Program Actual Estimate Budget

snip...

Plant and Animal Health Monitoring:

Animal Health Monitoring and Surveillance………………… 137 146 156

Animal and Plant Health Regulatory

Enforcement………………………………………………… 9 10 12

Emergency Management System…………………………… 11 14 23

High Pathogen Avian Influenza b/…………………………… 0 72 57

Pest Detection………………………………………………… 27 27 46

Select Agents………………………………………………… 0 3 5

Biosurveillance……………………………………………… 1 2 3

Wildlife Disease Monitoring and Surveillance……………… 0 0 2

Total, Plant and Animal Health Monitoring……………… 185 274 304

Pest and Disease Management: Boll Weevil…………………………………………………… 47 39 0

Brucellosis Eradication……………………………………… 10 10 9

Cotton Pests………………………………………………… 0 0 16

Chronic Wasting Disease…………………………………… 19 19 15

Emerging Plant Pests………………………………………… 101 99 127

Low Pathogen Avian Influenza……………………………… 23 14 17

Johne's Disease……………………………………………… 19 13 3

Scrapie……………………………………………………… 18 18 19

Tuberculosis………………………………………………… 15 15 17

Wildlife Services Operations………………………………… 72 77 75

All Other Pest and Disease Management…………………… 37 39 46

Total, Pest and Disease Management……………………… 361 343 344

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MARKETING AND REGULATORY PROGRAMS

Program Level (Dollars in Millions)

2005 2006 2007 Program Actual Estimate Budget

Animal Care……………………………………………………
17
18
20

Biotechnology Regulatory Services……………………………
9
10
13

Veterinary Biologics and Diagnostics…………………………
35
38
48

Other Scientific and Technical Services………………………
30
30
33

Physical/Operational Security…………………………………
0
1
5

All Other………………………………………………………
9
10
5

Total, APHIS Salaries and Expenses………………………
939
1,016
1,092

Emergency Funding (CCC)……………………………………
169
0
0

Trust Funds……………………………………………………
15
14
14

Buildings and Facilities………………………………………
5
5
6

Total, APHIS Program Level………………………………
1,128
1,035
1,112

Existing User Fees……………………………………………
-131
-137
-139

Emergency Funding (CCC)……………………………………
-169
0
0

Trust Funds……………………………………………………
-15
-14
-14

Total, APHIS Appropriations……………………………
$813
$884
$959 c/

a/ Total collections are $339 million in 2005, $348 million in 2006 and $353 million in 2007. Of the total, $208 million, $211 million and $214 million are transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

b/ Emergency Supplemental Appropriations pursuant to P.L. 109-148 ($72 million). c/ Includes $8 million to be derived from proposed new user fees.

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• Livestock Protection. ARS produces the knowledge and technology to reduce economic losses from infectious, genetic, and metabolic diseases of livestock and poultry and to eliminate the losses to animal production and products caused by arthropod diseases and arthropod borne trauma. This research also reduces the risk to humans of arthropod borne zoonotic diseases and enhances the safety of animal products. The 2007 budget includes a $6.1 million increase for livestock protection research on two of the most menacing animal diseases: avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease. ARS will continue to research disease epidemiology (persistence of infection, spread of virus, routes of transmission), and develop diagnostic detection tools, vaccine and antivirals. The budget also seeks an increase of $9.8 million to study BSE and chronic wasting disease. This research will study the variations associated with disease susceptibility, genetic factors that control host-pathogen interactions and disease outcome, and develop countermeasures to control and eradicate transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agents. Additionally, the budget includes $9.9 million through project redirections for controlling emerging diseases and invasive species through the development of vaccines as well as other intervention strategies. The budget includes a $2.5 million increase for research to assist APHIS in better responding to emerging livestock diseases such as classical swine fever and Rift Valley fever, as well as an increase of $1.2 million to provide the agency with the capacity to rapidly respond to emergency research needs affecting livestock.

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http://www.usda.gov/agency/obpa/Budget-Summary/2007/FY07budsum.pdf?class=

Doyle also criticized Bush plans to reduce funding for efforts to control Johne’s disease and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) as well as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQUIP). ...

http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=557AE937-E451-7C2F-50C7D1CCFF56DCE0

Bush Request Would Push War Total to $440B

By ANDREW TAYLOR
The Associated Press
Friday, February 3, 2006; 8:32 AM

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said Thursday it will ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more for hurricane relief this year.

The White House acknowledges the upcoming requests would cause total spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, to soar well past the $400 billion mark, ....

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020300409.html

comparing the money allocated for the surveillance and the eradication of TSE (all strains) in the USA to the other areas of funding, i find it appalling. then compare to the billions and billions being squandered in Iraq, it is rather disgusting. i am happy to see that the amount spent on BSE and CWD combined "The budget also seeks an increase of $9.8 million to study BSE and chronic wasting disease" is less than the money allocated for the Classical Chinese Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum of 8.4 million in 2007, boy i feel safer, dont you;-) i guess GW et al figures BSE/SCRAPIE/CWD/TSEs are still 'out of sight, out of mind' and they will go away all by themselves. HE will go away before they do, and it is his legacy that will leave the TSE here to stay, due to his greed for commodities and futures, via GWs BSE MRR policy of making legal, the global trading of all strains of TSEs, while ignoring every bit of the 'sound science' to date. IN my honest opinion, the testing of the 500,000+ cattle in the june 2004 enhanced cover-up program have been proven to be at the least a total failure, that those tests (every single one of them) are meaningless, the protocols were breached from the beginning to the end. ...TSS

Subject: `Downer Cows' Entering Meat Supply, USDA Inspector General Says
Date: February 2, 2006 at 2:12 pm PST

`Downer Cows' Entering Meat Supply, USDA Inspector General Says

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. government inspectors sometimes allow cattle that
can't walk to be slaughtered, contrary to rules aimed at preventing mad-cow
disease, the Agriculture Department's Inspector General said in a report.

The inspector general said that at two of 12 slaughter plants reviewed in an
audit, 29 non-ambulatory cattle were slaughtered over a 10-month period, and
that 20 had been identified as ``downers'' with no records of acute injury.

This violates USDA policy that excludes ``all non- ambulatory disabled
cattle from the human food supply,'' the IG said as part of a 118-page
review of how the department enforces rules meant to prevent mad-cow
disease. The report, which said the USDA must also improve record-keeping,
was released on the Inspector General's Web site.

The report was released at a delicate time in negotiations between the U.S.
and Japan over the safety of U.S. beef. Japan, normally the biggest overseas
customer for the meat, suspended imports on Jan. 20 after banned tissue was
found in a shipment of veal. The Japanese government had only allowed
imports to resume in December, following a two-year ban because of mad-cow
disease.

Japan bought $1.7 billion in U.S. beef in 2003, before banning the meat,
along with scores of other nations. Japan's purchases accounted for almost
half of total U.S. beef shipments of $3.8 billion that year.

The USDA ordered that downer cattle be excluded from the human food supply
after the first case of mad-cow disease was found in the U.S. in December
2003. The brain-wasting livestock illness has a fatal human form blamed for
more than 150 deaths in the U.K., where the disease first surfaced in the
1980s. The U.S. confirmed its second BSE case in June, in an animal born in
Texas.

The U.S. slaughters about 35 million head of cattle a year.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Daniel Goldstein in Washington at at dgoldstein1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 2, 2006 16:37 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ah00ElDBTLj4&refer=us

FEDS UNSURE IF MAD COW SAFEGUARDS FOLLOWED

FEB. 2 4:52 P.M. ET Investigators could not determine whether beef
slaughterhouses and packing plants obeyed safeguards designed to keep mad
cow disease from reaching humans, an Agriculture Department audit found.

The audit, performed throughout 2005 and released Thursday, turned up a case
of mad cow disease last year in a Texas cow.

The department's inspector general didn't find that at-risk tissues --
brains, spinal cords and other nerve parts from older animals -- had entered
the food supply.

But investigators found it impossible to say whether slaughterhouses were
following the rules, according to the report.
The rules were made in response to the first U.S. case of mad cow disease,
in 2003. They say at-risk tissues must be removed when older animals are
slaughtered. Infection levels from mad cow disease are believed to rise with
age.

The Agriculture Department cited slaughterhouses or processing plants more
than 1,000 times in 2004 and 2005 for violating the rules.

A department official pointed out that's less than 1 percent of all
inspections. Those citations have been dropping, said Kenneth Petersen,
assistant administrator for the department's Food Safety and Inspection
Service.

Officials have already taken steps to better enforce the rules, said FSIS
administrator Barbara Masters.

"FSIS is confident it is successfully carrying out its mission to protect
public health," Masters said.

----

On the Net:

Food Safety and Inspection Service: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

Copyright 2005, by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8FH7UG8J.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

Audit Report Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program – Phase II and Food Safety and
Inspection Service Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and
Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Washington, D.C. 20250 January 25, 2006 REPLY TO ATTN OF: 50601-10-KC TO: W.
Ron DeHaven Administrator Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Barbara
Masters Administrator Food Safety and Inspection Service ATTN: William J.
Hudnall Deputy Administrator Marketing Regulatory Program Business Services
William C. Smith Assistant Administrator Office of Program Evaluation,
Enforcement, and Review FROM: Robert W. Young /s/ Assistant Inspector
General for Audit SUBJECT: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service -
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program - Phase II and
Food Safety and Inspection Service - Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified
Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III This report
presents the results of our audit of the enhanced BSE surveillance program
and controls over specified risk materials and advanced meat recovery
products. Your written response to the official draft report, dated January
20, 2006, is included as exhibit G with excerpts of the response and the
Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) position incorporated into the Findings
and Recommendations section of the report, where applicable. We accept the
management decisions for all recommendations. Please follow your agency’s
internal procedures in forwarding documentation for final action to the
Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). We are providing a separate
memorandum to the agencies and OCFO that provides specific information on
the actions to be completed to achieve final action. We appreciate your
timely response and the cooperation and assistance provided to our staff
during the audit USDA/OIG-A/50601-10-KC/ Page i

Executive Summary

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program - Phase II and Food Safety and
Inspection Service - Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials,
and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III

Results in Brief This report evaluates elements of the interlocking
safeguards in place to protect United States (U.S.) beef from Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy, widely known as BSE or "mad cow disease." Since
1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS), has led a multi-agency effort to monitor and
prevent BSE from entering the food supply. After discovering a BSE-positive
cow in December 2003, APHIS expanded its BSE surveillance program. To
further protect the food supply, USDA banned materials identified as being
at risk of carrying BSE (specified risk materials (SRM)), such as central
nervous system tissue. As part of this effort, USDA’s Food Safety and
Inspection Service (FSIS) required beef slaughter and processing facilities
to incorporate controls for handling such materials into their operational
plans. Onsite FSIS inspectors also inspect cattle for clinical signs in
order to prevent diseased animals from being slaughtered for human
consumption. To evaluate the effectiveness of the safeguards, we assessed
APHIS’ implementation of the expanded surveillance program, as well as FSIS’
controls to prevent banned SRMs from entering the food supply.

In June 2004, APHIS implemented its expanded surveillance program;
participation by industry in this surveillance program is voluntary. As of
May 2005, over 350,000 animals were sampled and tested for BSE. To date, two
animals tested positive for BSE; one tested positive after implementation of
the expanded surveillance program.

USDA made significant efforts to implement the expanded BSE surveillance
program. Much needed to be done in a short period of time to establish the
necessary processes, controls, infrastructure, and networks to assist in
this effort. In addition, extensive outreach and coordination was undertaken
with other Federal, State, and local entities, private industry, and
laboratory and veterinary networks. This report provides an assessment as to
the progress USDA made in expanding its surveillance effort and the
effectiveness of its controls and processes. This report also discusses the
limitations of its program and data in assessing the prevalence of BSE in
the U.S. herd.

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40 ELISA test procedures require two additional (duplicate) tests if the
initial test is reactive, before final interpretation. If either of the
duplicate tests is reactive, the test is deemed inconclusive.

41 Protocol for BSE Contract Laboratories to Receive and Test Bovine Brain
Samples and Report Results for BSE Surveillance Standard Operating Procedure
(SOP), dated October 26, 2004.

42 The NVSL conducted an ELISA test on the original material tested at the
contract laboratory and on two new cuts from the sample tissue.

43 A visual examination of brain tissue by a microscope.

44 A localized pathological change in a bodily organ or tissue.

SNIP...

PLEASE SEE FLAMING EVIDENCE THAT THE USDA ET AL COVERED UP MAD COW DISEASE
IN TEXAS ;

PAGE 43;

Section 2. Testing Protocols and Quality Assurance Controls

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FULL TEXT 130 PAGES

http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf

TSS

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