U.S. senators pay attention to strengthen the defense against mad cow disease

Lead: Washington (Reuters) - U.S farm senators are expected to announce legislation on Tuesday to expand the government's ban on cattle feed, affecting the first line of defense against the spread of deadly mad cow disease, a congressional aide said Monday The move comes in response to a five-year FDA ban on the vulnerability of cattle residues to mad cow disease detailed in the congressional report A report by the general audit office is also expected on Tuesday Mad cow disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) When bones, spinal cord and other remains of diseased cattle are ground up for livestock feed, BSE is believed to have spread from the UK to other European countries Although there has never been a case of mad cow disease in the United States, consumer groups have urged the Bush administration to enforce stronger government rules A recent report by Harvard University suggested that mad cow disease was most likely to spread to the United States as a stain on the weak FDA's cattle feed ban Officials at the U.S Food and Drug Administration say the agency is considering tightening some of the ban in April, including banning chicken waste from cattle feed and restaurant residues Consumer advocates say the FDA should ban factories from using any animal residues to feed livestock Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, and Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar asked the Gao to review the FDA's feed ban Durbin is expected to announce new legislation on Tuesday to expand the ban A spokesman for Harkin said the senator also supported the additional rules More than 100 people in the UK, France and Ireland have died or been diagnosed with a new variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vccd) after consuming infected meat Last year, Purina mills informed federal officials after suspecting that a mixed cow feed contained animal protein from animals susceptible to BSE Officials suspended 1222 cattle in Texas that ate a small amount of banned feed, but the chance of contamination is unlikely (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: