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"Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 14:28:04 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: "Bosley, John - BLS" <Bosley.John () bls gov> Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:52:18 -0500 To: "'Dave Farber (dave () farber net)'" <dave () farber net> Subject: "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation? Dave- For IP if you wish. John Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:43:57 -0800 From: "D. Richards" <dr961 () YAHOO COM> Subject: BSE secrecy plan Below is an example of how our government deals with the mad cow threat: Utah House approves sealing records on livestock and disease PAUL FOY Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY - With no debate, House representatives on Tuesday approved a measure that ensures the public won't be able to see state records on livestock populations and efforts to trace diseased animals. The 68-0 vote came as Utah prepares to join a national identification program for livestock that would make it possible for diseased animals to be traced back to their farm of origin within 48 hours. The secrecy bill now goes to the Senate for a vote. Rep. Craig Buttars, a Republican who runs a 220-head Holstein dairy farm in Lewiston, said farmers should be able to expect privacy for records on livestock operations and animals. "We don't want the public and those who want to harm us to have access to records that could give them the opportunity to harm our operations," he said Tuesday. At least five other states - Kansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Nebraska and Washington - have similar animal identification laws, though only Idaho exempts cattle records from public disclosure, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Utah measure may be in line with "a long history of manipulating agricultural information for protectionist reasons," said Laurie Garrett, a national health policy expert and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. There's little value in keeping the information from the public, said James R. Greenwood, director of environmental health and safety at the University of California at Los Angeles. In brief floor remarks Tuesday Buttars rejected this criticism, saying other businesses "wouldn't want people to come off the street and go through their personal records." The Utah Department of Agriculture is compiling records of farms, ranches and other livestock operations in Utah. It plans to require farmers to register all animals at birth for a state database. The ability of government regulators to trace livestock became apparent following the discovery of the nation's first case of mad cow disease in a Washington state Holstein in December 2003. The cow's origins were later traced to Canada, but not before dozens of countries closed their borders to U.S. beef products. Earlier this year, Washington state started assigning identification numbers to farms and ranches - a precursor to the broader animal identification system. http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/10905863.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ All postings from VETMED are copyright (c) to their original author. ------------------------------ End of VETMED Digest - 14 Feb 2005 to 16 Feb 2005 (#2005-53) ************************************************************ ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation? David Farber (Feb 17)