AR-News: [US] Legislation would change definition of 'downer'

[Leigh-Anne Dennison]

Legislation would change definition of 'downer'
by Eric Hanson on 4/5/04 for Meatingplace.com
http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/pop.asp?ID=12123

A bill introduced Thursday by U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg would alter the
definition of "downer" cattle to allow thousands more animals to be
slaughtered for food each year.

After the discovery of a single Washington state cow infected with bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, the Agriculture Department banned all
non-ambulatory cattle from the food supply.

But Rehberg, a Montana republican, said USDA's rule is overly broad and
hurts producers' bottom line. He said there is no scientific basis for
banning meat from an animal with a broken leg.

The bill, co-sponsored with Rep. Collin Peterson, R-Minn., would amend the
Federal Meat Inspection Act to change the definition of a downer to exclude
animals that can't stand or walk because of "fatigue, stress, obdurator
nerve paralysis, obesity, or one or more fractured appendages, severed
tendons or ligaments, or dislocated joints."

Rehberg calls his bill the Consumer and Producer Protection Act.