- At a Senate hearing yesterday, USDA Secretary Ann Veneman
assured senators that her department is protecting the nation's food safety
in the wake of the first case of mad cow disease here. Yet the Bush Administration
has packed the agency charged with protecting consumers from tainted meat
with officials who hold close ties to the beef industry.
-
- The USDA is heavily staffed by former employees of the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association and other farm industry groups, all
of whom have a financial stake in how the nation's food supply is regulated.
-
- Even the office that controls government communication
with the public is staffed by a former beef industry employee. USDA Press
Secretary Alisa Harrison is former director of public relations for the
cattlemen's group.
-
- Harrison's role hasn't changed much since she took her
post at USDA. Ever since a cow infected with mad cow disease was discovered
in Washington state last month, Harrison has regularly assured the public
that the situation is under control.[2]
-
- But, in fact, lax government policies and a lack of adequate
testing have allowed conditions to develop in the U.S. similar to those
that led to the emergence of the disease in Great Britain. [3] The USDA
failed to ban "downer cows," the sick and injured animals most
likely to carry mad cow disease, from Americans' food supply until after
last month's mad cow discovery.
-
- Other USDA employees with ties to the industries they
oversee:
-
- Elizabeth Johnson, Senior Advisor on Food and Nutrition;
formerly associate director for Food Policy, National Cattlemen's Beef
Association
-
- James Moseley, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture; formerly
managing partner of Infinity Pork, LLC, an Indiana hog farm
-
- Dale Moore, Chief of Staff; formerly executive director
for legislative affairs, National Cattlemen's Beef Association
-
- Dr. Eric Hentges, Director, Center for Nutrition Policy
and Promotion; formerly vice president for the National Pork Board; director
of Consumer Nutrition and Health Research, National Pork Producers Council;
director of Human Nutrition Research, National Livestock and Meat Board
-
- Dr. Charles "Chuck" Lambert, Deputy Undersecretary
for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; formerly chief economist, National
Cattlemen's Beef Association
-
- Donna Reifschneider, Administrator for Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration; formerly executive committee member,
Meat Export Federation, 1999-2002, and president, National Pork Producers
Council. With her family, owns a large hog farm in Illinois
-
- Mary Kirtley Waters, Assistant Secretary for Congressional
Relations; formerly senior director and legislative counsel, ConAgra Foods
-
- Scott Charbo, Chief Information Officer; formerly president,
mPower3, a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods
-
- SOURCES
- [1] "The Cow Jumped Over the USDA," The New
York Times, Jan. 2, 2004
- [2] Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine <http://ga3.org/ct/y7qRIeK1AQrn/>Mad
Cow Disease Fact Sheet
- [3] <http://ga3.org/ct/ydqRIeK1AQrh/>"Vote
Blocked Ban on Ill Cows," The San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 7, 2004
-
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