Tom Morang
04-23-2002, 11:04 PM
Feds target CWD for eradication
04-22-02
By PHILIP BRASHER of the Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration's top official called Monday for eliminating an illness spreading through deer and elk populations that's similar to mad cow disease.
"We probably should try to eradicate it. There's no reason you couldn't stop it," said Deputy FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford. "It's not something you want in the livestock herds."
Crawford, a veterinarian, is running FDA until a new commissioner is appointed.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to a human illness called new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, the first U.S. case of which was reported last week. The victim, who lives in Florida, is believed to have contracted it in Great Britain. Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States.
Chronic wasting disease was believed until a few years ago to be largely confined to wild deer and elk in a small area of Colorado. But it has now been discovered in wild deer and captive elk herds in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana and Saskatchewan.
FDA is working with the Agriculture Department to determine how extensively chronic wasting disease has spread, and is considering new regulations, Crawford said.
"There's every reason to be concerned that we control it and confine it now that we have the opportunity," said Crawford.
Experts believe the disease spread from Colorado, where it was first identified in 1967, through the shipping of captive elk to farms and ranches in other states and Canada. Wildlife then contracted the disease from the farm-raised elk.
The federal government, which leaves the regulation of wildlife to the states, needs to work with state governments to restrict the shipping of deer and elk, said William Hueston, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety. There are "a patchwork of regulations across the nation," he said.
There is no known cure or treatment for the disease.
04-22-02
By PHILIP BRASHER of the Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration's top official called Monday for eliminating an illness spreading through deer and elk populations that's similar to mad cow disease.
"We probably should try to eradicate it. There's no reason you couldn't stop it," said Deputy FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford. "It's not something you want in the livestock herds."
Crawford, a veterinarian, is running FDA until a new commissioner is appointed.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to a human illness called new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, the first U.S. case of which was reported last week. The victim, who lives in Florida, is believed to have contracted it in Great Britain. Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States.
Chronic wasting disease was believed until a few years ago to be largely confined to wild deer and elk in a small area of Colorado. But it has now been discovered in wild deer and captive elk herds in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana and Saskatchewan.
FDA is working with the Agriculture Department to determine how extensively chronic wasting disease has spread, and is considering new regulations, Crawford said.
"There's every reason to be concerned that we control it and confine it now that we have the opportunity," said Crawford.
Experts believe the disease spread from Colorado, where it was first identified in 1967, through the shipping of captive elk to farms and ranches in other states and Canada. Wildlife then contracted the disease from the farm-raised elk.
The federal government, which leaves the regulation of wildlife to the states, needs to work with state governments to restrict the shipping of deer and elk, said William Hueston, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety. There are "a patchwork of regulations across the nation," he said.
There is no known cure or treatment for the disease.