Farm Bill Lacks Authority for First Line Disease Testing System

Although mad cow disease is in the headlines this week after the discovery of an affected cow in California, the farm bill passed on Thursday by the Senate Agriculture Committee failed to include an inexpensive and uncontroversial provision authorizing the lab system that tested the animal.

The National Animal Health Laboratory Network exists, but without formal authorization it can’t get a set stream of funding and must hobble along with just a few million dollars, said Gina Luke of the American Veterinary Medical Association, who has been lobbying on the issue.
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