Tulsa World: Animal-ID called inadequate

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Animal-ID called inadequate
The less-than-comprehensive system creates national security concerns.

A cow grazes near Miles City, Mont. Participation in the national animal-ID program has been "disappointing," an Agriculture Department official says. Bloomberg News file

By ALAN BJERGA Bloomberg News
Published: 5/6/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 5/6/2009 4:22 AM

A sketchy animal identification system is a threat to national security because of its likely ineffectiveness in the event of a food safety threat, according to federal officials.

"Animal identification is both an agricultural and a homeland-security concern," Tom McGinn, the chief veterinarian for the Homeland Security Department's office of health affairs, said Tuesday at a congressional hearing.

Participation in a national animal ID program has been "disappointing," John Clifford, deputy chief veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said during his testimony. Higher rates of inclusion are necessary "to ensure the benefits of the system" in tracing disease outbreaks to their sources, he said.

Some members of Congress are pressuring ranchers to drop resistance to a mandatory animal-ID system. The USDA last week released a study that said meatpackers may lose as much as $13.2 billion in exports in future years because of the lack of confidence among foreign trade partners in a less-than-comprehensive animal-ID system.

Full traceability for cattle, swine, sheep and poultry would cost $228.3 million a year, the study said.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday a series of seven meetings across the country to discuss animal-ID with ranchers and farmers from May 14 to June 1.

The USDA proposed a mandatory national animal-ID system a week after the U.S. disclosed its first case of mad cow disease on Dec. 23, 2003. That animal was born in Canada.

The agency changed to a voluntary system in April 2006 after implementation delays and complaints from some ranchers and farmers that the program would provide competitors and the government with access to privileged information. Of about 1.4 million livestock-raising sites nationwide, 512,353 were registered under the animal ID program as of April 19, according to the USDA.

In a 2007 report, the Government Accountability Office said the voluntary program has flaws that might make it difficult to trace a sick animal back to its origins. The system failed to require the listing of an animal's species, date of birth, or approximate age, the GAO said.

Tuesday's joint hearing in the House of Representatives was called by an Agriculture subcommittee overseeing livestock and a Homeland Security panel that deals with emerging threats. By ALAN BJERGA Bloomberg News

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