Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
Issues
Health
Downed Animal Protection Act
21 January 2004
Inslee joined other lawmakers, consumer groups and public interest groups in support of the Downed Animal Protection Act (HR 2519). This legislation would prohibit animals that are too sick to stand or walk from entering the American food supply. The legislation also ensures that downed animals are humanely euthanized. It makes the current USDA ban permanent, and expands the ban to downed sheep, pigs, goats, horses, and mules.
Study after study proves that downed cows are more likely to have mad cow disease and other bacterial infections than the general cattle population. Both the "mad cows' discovered in Canada and Washington State were downed animals. In addition, downer cattle are three times more likely to have E. Coli infections, which kill an average sixty people in the United States each year and sicken over 70,000 people a year.
Inslee has cosponsored this legislation for each of the last three sessions of Congress. Last year, the bill failed passage by just three votes. Because the health and economic implications caused by the discovery of one mad cow are so significant, it is imperative that the United States take strong measures to restore confidence in the safety of our food supply.Inslee also supports measures such as giving mandatory recall authority to the USDA, so that they can remove potentially dangerous meat from America’s grocery stores and restaurants immediately.
Inslee explains the need to "put out to pasture" the old rules that allowed sick cows to be incorporated into our food supply. To Inslee's left are U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenhauer (OR) and Senator Maria Cantwell.