Mad cow ruling could bring germs HEALTHBurying cattle poses danger to groundwater
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 22, 2008
A dairy cow peers out at Tim Forry’s Oregon Dairy Farm in Lititz, Pa. AP PHOTO
LITITZ, Pa. — A federal regulation aimed at preventing mad cow disease from getting into the food supply could create health risks of its own: many thousands of cattle carcasses rotting on farms, spreading germs, attracting vermin and polluting the water.
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At issue is a Food and Drug Administration rule, set to take effect in April, that will prohibit the use of the brains and spinal cords of older cattle as ingredients in livestock feed and pet food.
Some of the rendering plants that grind up carcasses for use in feed have already announced they will stop accepting dead cattle from farms because it would be too costly to remove the banned organs. Other renderers are likely to raise the prices they charge farmers.
As a result, many farmers — especially now, with the economy in crisis — may bury dead cattle on their property or let them rot in the open, officials and regulators say.
Thomas Glanville, an agricultural engineering professor at Iowa State University, said farmers who opt for burial will need to pick sites with favorable drainage and geology to avoid contaminating groundwater and soil.
