more on "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Robert Lee <robertslee () verizon net>
Reply-To: <robertslee () verizon net>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:35:21 -0500
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: RE: [IP] "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?

A similar bill is before the Legislature in Maryland, with a slight twist.
It would make it a tort to reveal the identity of a farm with a reported
outbreak of avian flu.  It has passed the house of reps, and going to the
senate.  The reason according to the association lobbyists is that it would
tend to spread the disease if reporters were to flock (pun intended) to a
farm with avian bird flu. So the bill will make it possible for the farm to
sue the publisher of such information.  This means that the CDC cannot
publish the information either, thus it is impossible to have more than one
agency work on epidemiological studies without being sued for damages.

Our local papers are full of this, only they are honest about it.  The
reason, say they, is that they are afraid they will lose business if people
find out they have avian bird flu.  Sounds reasonable to me.

I think we should make it illegal to out waitresses that have typhoid,
especially if they are named Mary.

Robert Lee


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf Of
David Farber
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:28 PM
To: Ip
Subject: [IP] "Mad cow disease" secrecy legislation?


------ 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



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