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The
Humane Society of the United States has moved its campaign
on downer cattle to a new venue: the courts.
The organization filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court
in Washington, D.C., against the Department of Agriculture,
alleging that the agency's rules fail to prevent sick animals
from being slaughtered, and are inconsistent with the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act and the Federal Meat Inspection
Act. The group also charges that the USDA's rules were promulgated
in 2007 without adequate public notice and comment as called
for by the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
At issue is the 2007 rule that allows downer cattle to be
slaughtered for human consumption as long as they are re-inspected
by the USDA after they are brought to their feet again but
before heading into the slaughterhouse. The rule addresses
the issue of cattle that may have lost their footing due
to injury or fatigue, and not disease. The 2007 rule also
changed a 2004 emergency ruling that prohibited downer cattle
of any kind from entering the food chain; that ruling was
promulgated when bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered
in the United States.
The HSUS alleges that the change amounts to a loophole that
can be exploited by processors who may violently force the
cattle onto their feet just long enough to pass inspection.
American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle, in a
statement released late yesterday afternoon, characterized
the lawsuit as an attempt to "prohibit veterinarians in
federally inspected meat plants from exercising medical
judgment" that is "appropriate discretion to give these
veterinarians."
"The consequences of disregarding federal rules and industry
best practices are enormous, as we've clearly witnessed.
(Furthermore,) HSUS would have the American public believe
that...an animal with a broken ankle is at some dramatically
increased risk of BSE," Boyle said in the statement. "Such
a simplistic assertion is absurd."
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