The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has moved its campaign on downer cattle to a new venue: the courts.
The organization filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against the Department of Agriculture, alleging that the agency’s rules fail to prevent sick animals from being slaughtered, and are inconsistent with the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act. The group also charges that the USDA’s rules were promulgated in 2007 without adequate public notice and comment as called for by the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
At issue is the 2007 rule that allows downer cattle to be slaughtered for human consumption as long as they are re-inspected by the USDA after they are brought to their feet again but before heading into the slaughterhouse. The rule addresses the issue of cattle that may have lost their footing due to injury or fatigue, and not disease. The 2007 rule also changed a 2004 emergency ruling that prohibited downer cattle of any kind from entering the food chain; that ruling was promulgated when bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in the United States.
The HSUS alleges that the change amounts to a loophole that can be exploited by processors who may violently force the cattle onto their feet just long enough to pass inspection.
American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle, in a statement released late yesterday afternoon, characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to "prohibit veterinarians in federally inspected meat plants from exercising medical judgment" that is "appropriate discretion to give these veterinarians."
"The consequences of disregarding federal rules and industry best practices are enormous, as we’ve clearly witnessed. (Furthermore,) HSUS would have the American public believe that…an animal with a broken ankle is at some dramatically increased risk of BSE," Boyle said in the statement. "Such a simplistic assertion is absurd."
Source: Lisa Keefe, MeatingPlace.com