WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman chastising her for releasing preliminary results of mad cow tests.
In the past two weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture disclosed two positive results from preliminary mad cow disease tests. The findings caused alarm among consumers and havoc in the cattle futures markets until both tests were later ruled negative by follow-ups.
Burns said in his letter the release of the preliminary results deviated from USDA's own protocol, which specifies testing results will not be released until they are confirmed.
"This sort of irresponsible behavior has twice caused Montana's cattle markets to plummet, throwing our farmers and ranchers into a tailspin," Burns wrote in the letter sent Tuesday. "Not only does the uncertainty harm our producers, but it opens the door to market manipulation."
Burns asked Veneman "to seriously consider the reliability of your tests and to rigorously evaluate (mad cow) screening tests used internationally that may offer more accurate results."
Humans may contract a fatal brain disorder called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating meat contaminated with the mad cow pathogen.
