WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture in late 2002 warned against using the same mad cow disease test the agency is now using, UPI has learned.
Governments should not employ the test, which is manufactured by Bio-Rad Laboratories in Hercules, Calif., because it can give false positives -- results that are ruled negative on follow-up testing -- and "will cause loss of consumer confidence in beef and beef products," the agency wrote in a letter to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris.
The OIE, as it is known by its French initials, establishes international standards for animal disease issues.
Concerns about false positives with the Bio-Rad test became a reality recently during the first month of the USDA's expanded surveillance plan, launched June 1 in response to the only confirmed U.S. case of mad cow last December.
The agency reported two preliminary positive results, which caused concern among the public and havoc in the cattle futures markets until both were ruled negative on follow-up testing several days later.
