Letter from the USDA

[Guest guest]

Last week I received this from Senator Lugar. He got this letter back after

I wrote asking him to support the petitions. He then wrote to the USDA.

This is what they sent to him......Robin

Dear Senator Lugar:

Thank you for your letter and enclosures of March 12,1999, to the Department

of Agriculture (USDA), concerning your constituent, Mrs. Robin L. Hawkins.

Mrs. Hawkins expressed her concerns about Transmissible Spongiform

Encephalopathies (TSE), particularly Bovine Spongeform Encephalopathy and the

human Cruetzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD). She also requested your support for

petitions sent to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), asking

that Department to implement a national system for monitoring all new strains

of TSE, and the Food and Drug Administration, asking that agency to take

immediate actions to combat the spread of TSE in the United States.

The USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research programs at the

National Animal Disease Center, Ames, Iowa, and the Animal Disease Research

Unit, Pullman, Washington, have developed much needed pre-clinical and

post-mortem diagnostic assays for TSE's of livestock. These assays in turn

enhance the ability of the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to

conduct TSE surveillance in the United States. The ARS research program also

focuses on oral transmission of TSE's across species barriers, the mode of

spread of prion infections in host animals, and the genetic basis for disease

resistance.

Please assure Mrs. Hawkins that USDA is well aware of the seriousness of this

issue, and, with the resources made available to us, we will continue our

research efforts. As I'm sure you are aware, the DHHS' Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDCP) is the responsible Federal agency for research

involving CJD in humans. For additional guidance, CDCP may be contacted at:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE., Atlanta,

Georgia 30333, Telephone: .

Again, thank you for writing. I hope the information I provided will assist

you in responding to Mrs. Hawkins.

Sincerely, B. Kuipling

for

Floyd P. Horn

Administrator