From: Grassie, Linda A
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 10:13 AM
To: Butler, Jennie C
Subject: FW: Ruminant feed rules

More comments.

		Linda

-----Original Message-----
From: Fitzsimmons, Lorraine (NINDS) [mailto:fitzsiml@ninds.nih.gov] 
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 10:11 AM
To: Grassie, Linda A (FDA)
Cc: 'rtj@jhmi.edu'
Subject: Ruminant feed rules


Linda:

After I sent you our comments, I received the following comment which would
be responsive to several of the questions raised, particularly #8:

A ban on poultry litter should be considered.  Litter consists of feces and
spilled food.  Some evidence exists that scrapie infectivity may go through
the chicken GI tract and be potentially infectious in feces.  Second, the
spilled feed in litter is of bovine origin.  The problem with banning
poultry litter is that it is often not bagged and sold commercially, but
traded informally among ranchers and farmers, so enforcement would be
problematic. Only an education program would probably solve this.

If it is still possible to add to the official record, this comment should
be included in NIH's (NIAID and NINDS)response to #8. 

Thank You.
Lorraine Fitzsimmons

Lorraine G. Fitzsimmons
Senior Policy Analyst
Science Policy and Analysis Branch
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/NIH
301-496-9271