Gephardt on Bush Mad Cow Policy: Too Little Too Late

December 30, 2003

MANCHESTER, NH - Dick Gephardt today released the following statement in response to the Bush Administration's new policy on mad cow disease released this afternoon.

"Though I agree with the steps taken by the USDA today to combat mad cow, the new policy is too little and much of it is too late. Many of the measures should have been taken immediately when we knew that the deadly disease was a threat to our food supply.

"We could have traced these animals much better if President Bush had implemented country-of-origin-labeling provisions that Congress passed in the farm bill, and it is still inexcusable that it took two weeks to get results back on tests of the BSE-affected animal. There should be a process in place that expedites these safety mechanisms. And I remain concerned that the administration has not addressed the need to compensate affected ranchers and farm producers.

"President Bush has been beholden to huge agribusiness his entire career and he has worked with them to slow the implementation of these important food safety measures and many others. I will be a president who will fight on the side of family farmers and American families every day, not the special interests. I also believe that we need to create an independent food safety agency that combines the efforts of the USDA and FDA to increase the speed and accuracy of all food safety tests."