Lawsuit Against USDA Alleges Use of Diseased Cows for Human Food

Aired January 27, 2002 - 22:32 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, for those of you who eat meat, and how often you do, actually contemplate where the meat comes from, and does the matter? Should you know? Well, one group has -- one group has filed a lawsuit against the USDA alleging that some animals allowed to enter the food chain are diseased, and that the government knows it and still allows it. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has more on the controversy -- and we should warn you that some of the video you are about to see may be disturbing.

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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The hills of Southern California, where you will some of the largest dairy farms in the country. What you may not know is when these milk cows gets old or injured, they aren't put to pasture, they're sent to slaughter -- for beef.

(on camera): These animals were separated from the herd because they are sick, with anything from hoof ailments to digestive problems. And if for any reason they weren't able to walk or stand because of disease or injury, they'd be considered downed animals.

(voice-over): The slaughter of downed animals for human food is where the controversy begins.

Gene Baur (formerly Bauston) , DIRECTOR, FARM SANCTUARY: Animals with frightening diseases are being approved for human food, and the USDA knows this.

BOB FEENSTRA, CALIFORNIA MILK PRODUCERS COUNCIL: USDA nor anyone is going to let an animal that has unhealthy meat get into the food process. It's just not going to happen.

GUTIERREZ: But a nonprofit group called Farm Sanctuary says it is happening. It claims this videotape of sheep, pigs and cows was shot undercover at slaughterhouses over the past decades, and show sick and injured animals being dragged to slaughter.

BAUSTON: I think consumers would be appalled to learn that animals that are too sick to walk are routinely entering the food supply.

GUTIERREZ: Farm Sanctuary wants all downed animals banned for human food, so the group filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging tens of thousands of downed livestock slaughtered every year may be diseased and pose a serious threat to our health.

FEENSTRA: Sickly animals do not make the cut.

GUTIERREZ: Bob Feenstra is a spokesman for the dairy industry. He says meat from injured animals is wholesome and healthy, compared to those that are sick.

FEENSTRA: We don't process cows that have been ill or have been drugged.

GUTIERREZ: He claims Farm Sanctuary is really fighting for animal rights, and is against the handling and transport of injured animals. Farm Sanctuary doesn't deny it.

SHELDON EISENBERG, FARM SANCTUARY ATTORNEY: Farm Sanctuary's central concern here is the fact that the process of slaughtering downed animals truly involves acts of terrible cruelty.

FEENSTRA: We have to handle it as an industry and as a business, and we do it as humanely as we can. We don't run petting farms.

GUTIERREZ: Meet Syp Vander Dussen. He has 3,000 cows.

SYP VANDER DUSSEN, DAIRYMAN: I have been a dairyman for 34 years. It's my entire life.

GUTIERREZ: It's been a good life. Syp's cows produce a $500,000 a month in milk alone. When his cows stop producing, he sends them to slaughter.

VANDER DUSSEN: An average cow that is walking into the slaughter, she will bring up $500, the average cow. A downed cow, in other words, one that cannot walk, will bring up $300.

GUTIERREZ: Syp says his downed cows go to slaughter because they are injured, but their meat is completely wholesome. He says he'd never send a sick animal.

(on camera): Would you ever eat meat from a diseased downed animal?

VANDER DUSSEN: No, nor would I expect anyone else to.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): But according to USDA inspection records obtained by Farm Sanctuary through the Freedom of Information Act, downed animals from other dairy farms have passed inspection with diseases like malignant lymphoma, pneumonia and hepatitis.

BAUSTON: We do not believe that it's acceptable for animals with gangrene, with cancer, with yellow gelatinous oedema, to be used for human food, and we don't think it's acceptable for just that part of the animal to be removed.

GUTIERREZ: USDA officials declined an on-camera interview, but in a written response told CNN: "Federal regulations allow for slaughter any animal that does not pose a health risk to humans. Dead animals with central nervous system conditions and generalized infection are automatically condemned. And by law, diseased meat is prohibited for human consumption."

But a USDA document obtained by CNN states: "Federal inspection regulations clearly provide for the slaughter and processing of diseased animals for human food, and the diseased part can be removed to make a wholesome product."

DR. LAURENE MASCOLA, LA CO. PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: If you saw that cow standing in front of you, you would not pick that cow and say, I want to eat that one, you know, from the lot.

GUTIERREZ: Public health expert Dr. Laurene Mascola says the idea may be disgusting, but it's not likely to hurt you.

MASCOLA: They are not at risk to give disease that we know of, that we know of.

GUTIERREZ: There is no way to know if you're eating meat from downed animals. Syp says USDA-inspected meat is healthy, and we shouldn't worry.

As for his animals, he says he respects them. After all, his livelihood rests on their backs.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

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