In substantiation of allegations made by R-CALF USA against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for failure to meet its statutory duty to protect the U.S. cattle herd and U.S. consumers against the introduction of foreign animal diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and bovine tuberculosis (TB), the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a hard-hitting audit report covering August 2006 through July 2007.

The report states in part: “APHIS’ import controls are not sufficient to prevent, detect, or address the entry of animals that do not meet import requirements (pg. 6).” The OIG also states it found that APHIS’ “animal import procedures were not sufficient to prevent unauthorized shipments (of live animals) into the United States (pg. 13),” and that APHIS’ current practice of allowing shipments of Mexican cattle into the U.S.—even after an animal in the shipment was rejected for health concerns, and without confirming the status of that animal—“is not in compliance with regulatory requirements (pg. 22).” The OIG points out this is a critical issue, given that the OIG previously had found that “75 percent of the bovine infected with TB found in the United States were imported from Mexico (pg. 21).”

“These findings are alarming, to say the least,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who chairs the group’s animal health committee. “For the past five years, R-CALF USA has been the lone voice in the U.S. cattle and beef industries that has been calling upon Congress and the judicial system to first accept, and then to correct, the fact that our own government is exposing U.S. consumers and our U.S. cattle herd to unnecessary and avoidable disease risks from imported cattle. Perhaps now that we have yet another official government report that substantiates our claims, Congress and the courts will take meaningful steps to correct this unacceptable situation.”

In its most recent lawsuit against USDA’s OTM (over-30-months) Rule that allows the importation of OTM Canadian cattle and beef from Canadian cattle of all ages, R-CALF USA argued that, “A regulation whose protection of the health of U.S. cattle, and ultimately U.S. consumers, is founded on a requirement for which there is no specified means of compliance and no practicable means of verifying or enforcing compliance is arbitrary and capricious and should be struck down.”

With respect to the OTM Rule, the OIG audit states the problems that the OIG found regarding compliance with APHIS’ earlier (minimal risk region) rule “raise concerns with APHIS’ controls over live animal imports and whether the controls are adequate to ensure compliance with import restrictions (contained in the OTM Rule) (pg. 10)…”

Thornsberry said the list of infractions and failures found by the OIG suggests that APHIS does not take seriously its responsibility to enforce U.S. import protections.

“The agency, even in its response to this official report, continues to demonstrate a cavalier attitude regarding its duty to U.S. citizens,” he pointed out. “For example, despite the ongoing problem with BSE in Canada, APHIS states in response to the audit that the agency did not believe it was necessary to perform specific reviews of Canada’s export operations (pg. 12).”

Additional Findings in the OIG audit include:

APHIS does not have adequate processes in place to determine the extent of import problems nationwide when individual violations are identified by field units (pg. 6).

APHIS does not have effective systems or controls for approving and/or tracking live animals into and through the United States (pg. 6).

The OIG found cattle entered the United States that did not meet import requirements (pg. 7).

The OIG found 145 indications of noncompliance with the 2005 minimal-risk region rule (pg. 8).

APHIS officials did not sufficiently document import problems (pg. 9).

Animals entered the United States without APHIS inspection (pg. ii).

During FYs 2005 and 2006, 161 animal shipments gained unauthorized entry into the United States (pg. iv).