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House panel holding hearings on mad cow disease implications

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Senate panel opens hearings today on the U.S. government response to the threat of mad cow disease and whether enough is being done to keep the threat of the illness out of the United States.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Health (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the beef industry and consumer advocates are expected to testify at the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism hearing.

Mad cow disease has been back in the spotlight, following the USDA's seizure of a flock of sheep in Vermont last month. Some of those sheep had tested positive for scrapie, a disease similar to mad cow disease.

"The U.S. has had firewalls in place to protect the cattle population from getting infected with mad cow disease and there are some gaps in these firewalls," according to Caroline Smith DeWaal, Director of the Food Safety Program fir the Center for Science in the Public (CSPI).

She says that the U.S. government needs to do more to "make sure mad cow disease can't get into the human food supply." She plans to tell the committee that "in addition to stronger protections, the FDA also needs many more inspectors" because even though the FDA has strong rules in place, it doesn't have the manpower to actually enforce these rules.

Mad cow disease first surfaced in Great Britain in 1986. It is believed to have originated from contaminated cattle feed made from ground up infected animal carcasses. In 1996, the first cases of the human form of mad cow disease were reported in Great Britain. Since then, 98 cases have been confirmed in the European Union, according to the FDA. Scientists believe the disease is spread in humans after they consume contaminated cattle products.

There is no test for the disease and it often is fatal, since there is no known treatment or cure. The only conclusive diagnosis is made during a brain autopsy.



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