President's Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Would Increase BSE Funding $8 Million

FDA Veterinarian Newsletter January/February 2004 Volume XIX, No 1

The President's proposed budget for fiscal year 2005, released February 2, would boost spending to prevent Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy by $8,325,000 to support new Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture safeguards against BSE.

With this increase, total spending on BSE control is increased to $29.8 million, which includes the $21.5 million in the base budget.

The FDA and USDA initiatives were adopted following the December 23, 2003 , discovery of an infected cow in the U.S. imported from Canada .

The requested resources will enable FDA to

• Carry out (by FDA) an additional 920 risk-based BSE inspections and 600 targeted sample collections and analyses of both domestic and imported animal feed or feed components;
• Fund 2,500 more State inspections of animal feed firms;
• Acquire further information on feed firms and firms handling prohibited rendering materials; and
• Strengthen the States' infrastructures to monitor, and respond to, potential feed contamination with prohibited materials.