040150 All Beef Exporters to U.S. Adopt Mad Cow Rule

Washington - All countries exporting beef to the United States have banned sick or injured cattle from their beef supply, as requested by Washington, to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Tuesday.

The USDA banned all "downer" cattle -- those unable to walk because of broken bones, disease or sickness -- from being processed into human food, after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was found late last month in a Washington state dairy cow.

The department sent letters to Brazil, Argentina, Australia and seven other beef exporting nations earlier this month, saying exports would be blocked if nations did not comply with the new rules.

"We notified all the countries that export to us and we're working with them to ensure that they have the same or equivalent regulations in place," Veneman said during testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Asked by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle whether all countries had adopted the downer ban and were 100 percent compliant, Veneman said they were.

The Washington dairy cow infected with mad cow disease was unable to walk when she arrived for slaughter on Dec. 9, and was deemed a downer animal by USDA.

Of the more than 35 million cattle slaughtered in the United States each year, about 200,000 are downer cattle, the USDA said.

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