Post by diamondindykin on Jan 25, 2006 11:31:51 GMT -5
THE INDEPENDENT
USDA skirts horse food ban
By: DIANA LADDEN
01/24/2006
Sweeney calls Agriculture Department's action a 'defiance' of Congress
HILLSDALE-Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-20th) joined 39 colleagues in the U.S. House and Senate in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, January 17, to remind him that a bi-partisan majority of both parties in both the House and the Senate passed legislation in November to halt the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Mr. Sweeney and others say the Department of Agriculture has found a way to circumvent the ban, flouting the will of Congress.
On November 11, 2005, President Bush signed H.R. 2744 into law after the House of Representatives approved the measure 269-158 and the Senate 69-28. A section of the legislation was intended by the House and the Senate to remove funding for horse slaughter under the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
According to Mr. Sweeney, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) informed Congress that overseas owners of the three American slaughterhouses-two Belgian-owned plants and one French-owned plant-have quietly petitioned the agency to approve a "fee-for-service" private inspection system that would allow the companies to continue shipping horse flesh abroad for the market in Europe -mostly Belgium and France-and Japan.
Horsemeat is considered a delicacy in these counties. And the consumption of horsemeat there has also increased because the threat of mad cow disease has reduced the enthusiasm for beef.
The USDA further announced that it is considering writing emergency rules to provide fee- for-service inspections. The fee-for-service inspection system is used for export of "certain exotic animals," like elk, reindeer and, even, rabbits. The USDA inspectors would not be paid by the government to inspect the horses, the bill would be paid by private sources-the slaughterhouses.
Mr. Sweeney characterizes the use of the fee-for-service system in regard to horses as "a complex regulatory maneuver to willfully circumvent legislation that was passed by an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate."
Melissa Carlson, media representative for Mr. Sweeney, told The Independent Monday that this was exactly the sort of trick the Congressman feared the owners of the slaughterhouses might try to head off the legislation.
But Steve Cohen, spokesman for the Food Safety Inspection Service of the USDA, said that the amendment covered only one aspect of an inspectors' obligation under the law. "The amendment did not remove horses from the list of animals covered under the Federal Meat Inspection Act," he said.
But correspondence from counsel for the USDA James Michael Kelly informed the Congress that the amendment "does not prevent horse slaughter at all." The department then cites a passage in a conference report that accompanied the amendment that USDA interprets to mean that the inspectors could be paid, but not with federal money.
Mr. Cohen told The Independent Monday that the wording of the amendment covered only one of the three duties performed by FSIS inspectors.
According to Mr. Cohen, the Meat Inspection Act-created in 1906-directs inspectors to: check animals listed in the law, which includes horses, before the animals are killed; inspect the carcasses and vital organs, and then to examine the meat to be sure it is safe and wholesome. "The amendment only covers the inspection of the live animal," says Mr. Cohen. "Under the law, our inspectors must still examine the carcass and the resulting meat."
Mr. Sweeney does not buy that approach. He said "an estimated 90,000 U.S. horses are slaughtered and processed for human consumption in foreign countries." This number includes thoroughbreds, trotters and wild mustangs supposedly protected by the federal government.
Mr. Sweeney calls the proposed "fee for service" arrangement "direct defiance of Congressional intent." He adds that every statement of record regarding this amendment it constitutes a clear and direct avoidance of congressional intent.
The Humane Society of the United States says the petition is also a direct violation of the Federal Meat Inspection Act -- which mandates that any flesh bound for human consumption must be inspected by USDA employees before and after the animal is killed.
According to the Humane Society, the slaughterhouses have asked that the USDA implement this change without notifying the public or following normal rulemaking procedures, claiming that it is in the "public's interest" to keep this maneuver secret.
The three slaughterhouses, one in Fort Worth and another in Kaufman, Texas, as well as one in DeKalb, Illinois, process horsemeat largely for human consumption abroad.
Owners of those plants say ending the inspections will eliminate up to 222 jobs and cause a $41 million dollar economic loss annually in those communities.
The USDA has made not decision as yet on the matter. Federal funding for the inspections runs out March 10.
©The Independent 2006
Letters to the editor must be made by an online form at this link:
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7360136&BRD=248&PAG=461&dept_id=462344&rfi=6
USDA skirts horse food ban
By: DIANA LADDEN
01/24/2006
Sweeney calls Agriculture Department's action a 'defiance' of Congress
HILLSDALE-Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-20th) joined 39 colleagues in the U.S. House and Senate in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, January 17, to remind him that a bi-partisan majority of both parties in both the House and the Senate passed legislation in November to halt the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Mr. Sweeney and others say the Department of Agriculture has found a way to circumvent the ban, flouting the will of Congress.
On November 11, 2005, President Bush signed H.R. 2744 into law after the House of Representatives approved the measure 269-158 and the Senate 69-28. A section of the legislation was intended by the House and the Senate to remove funding for horse slaughter under the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
According to Mr. Sweeney, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) informed Congress that overseas owners of the three American slaughterhouses-two Belgian-owned plants and one French-owned plant-have quietly petitioned the agency to approve a "fee-for-service" private inspection system that would allow the companies to continue shipping horse flesh abroad for the market in Europe -mostly Belgium and France-and Japan.
Horsemeat is considered a delicacy in these counties. And the consumption of horsemeat there has also increased because the threat of mad cow disease has reduced the enthusiasm for beef.
The USDA further announced that it is considering writing emergency rules to provide fee- for-service inspections. The fee-for-service inspection system is used for export of "certain exotic animals," like elk, reindeer and, even, rabbits. The USDA inspectors would not be paid by the government to inspect the horses, the bill would be paid by private sources-the slaughterhouses.
Mr. Sweeney characterizes the use of the fee-for-service system in regard to horses as "a complex regulatory maneuver to willfully circumvent legislation that was passed by an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate."
Melissa Carlson, media representative for Mr. Sweeney, told The Independent Monday that this was exactly the sort of trick the Congressman feared the owners of the slaughterhouses might try to head off the legislation.
But Steve Cohen, spokesman for the Food Safety Inspection Service of the USDA, said that the amendment covered only one aspect of an inspectors' obligation under the law. "The amendment did not remove horses from the list of animals covered under the Federal Meat Inspection Act," he said.
But correspondence from counsel for the USDA James Michael Kelly informed the Congress that the amendment "does not prevent horse slaughter at all." The department then cites a passage in a conference report that accompanied the amendment that USDA interprets to mean that the inspectors could be paid, but not with federal money.
Mr. Cohen told The Independent Monday that the wording of the amendment covered only one of the three duties performed by FSIS inspectors.
According to Mr. Cohen, the Meat Inspection Act-created in 1906-directs inspectors to: check animals listed in the law, which includes horses, before the animals are killed; inspect the carcasses and vital organs, and then to examine the meat to be sure it is safe and wholesome. "The amendment only covers the inspection of the live animal," says Mr. Cohen. "Under the law, our inspectors must still examine the carcass and the resulting meat."
Mr. Sweeney does not buy that approach. He said "an estimated 90,000 U.S. horses are slaughtered and processed for human consumption in foreign countries." This number includes thoroughbreds, trotters and wild mustangs supposedly protected by the federal government.
Mr. Sweeney calls the proposed "fee for service" arrangement "direct defiance of Congressional intent." He adds that every statement of record regarding this amendment it constitutes a clear and direct avoidance of congressional intent.
The Humane Society of the United States says the petition is also a direct violation of the Federal Meat Inspection Act -- which mandates that any flesh bound for human consumption must be inspected by USDA employees before and after the animal is killed.
According to the Humane Society, the slaughterhouses have asked that the USDA implement this change without notifying the public or following normal rulemaking procedures, claiming that it is in the "public's interest" to keep this maneuver secret.
The three slaughterhouses, one in Fort Worth and another in Kaufman, Texas, as well as one in DeKalb, Illinois, process horsemeat largely for human consumption abroad.
Owners of those plants say ending the inspections will eliminate up to 222 jobs and cause a $41 million dollar economic loss annually in those communities.
The USDA has made not decision as yet on the matter. Federal funding for the inspections runs out March 10.
©The Independent 2006
Letters to the editor must be made by an online form at this link:
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7360136&BRD=248&PAG=461&dept_id=462344&rfi=6