Feinstein, Boxer Statement on Detection of ‘Mad Cow’ Disease in California

Feinstein, Boxer Statement on Detection of ‘Mad Cow’ Disease in California Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (both D-Calif.) today issued the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s detection of a case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, in Central California. “We have been notified that a case of mad cow disease has been detected in a single dairy cow in Central California. This was an atypical case of BSE involving one animal and did not enter the human food supply. The USDA is taking this incident seriously and has moved quickly to notify the public about the diseased cow. “According to USDA, BSE cannot be transmitted to humans through milk consumption. In addition, the department has strong safeguards in place to prevent diseased animals from entering the food supply. “We believe the system is working as it is supposed to work and have requested a meeting with USDA to receive a status report on this incident. We are following this closely and will work with USDA and the State of California to ensure that all precautions have been taken.”