Judge Upholds Killing of Vermont Sheep in 'Mad Cow' Case

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/080200sci-sheep-ruling.html

Date accessed: 10 August 2000

August 2, 2000

              By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

                MONTPELIER, Vt., Aug. 1 -- A

                federal judge ruled today that two

          flocks of sheep that the federal government

          says may suffer from a version of the always

          fatal mad cow disease should be killed.

          The judge, J. Garvan Murtha of Federal

          District Court in Brattleboro, refused to

          stop the killing of the flocks, which are

          owned by Larry and Linda Faillace of East

          Warren and Houghton Freeman of Stowe.

          The Faillaces and Mr. Freeman had argued

          that the tests used to condemn their sheep

          were inconclusive.

          But Judge Murtha wrote that in seeking to prevent diseases with long

          incubation periods, officials could not afford to wait for clinical signs of

          disease "because any actions implemented at that time would be taken

          years too late."

          The judge said the owners had until Monday to appeal.

          Thomas Amidon, a lawyer representing Mr. Freeman, said an appeal

          was possible.

          "We are looking at what our options were," Mr. Amidon said. "We

          haven't made any decisions yet."

          "Obviously, we knew that we had a huge burden to overcome going in,"

          Mr. Amidon noted. "But we really had to have someone look at it. To

          that extent we are appreciative to the fact that a third party -- the

          judiciary -- has taken a look at it."

          Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman ordered the sheep to be destroyed

          last month after tests found that four animals were found to be infected

          with a transmissible brain disease that could be bovine spongiform

          encephalopathy, the scientific name of mad cow disease.

          The owners of 21 sheep in a third flock voluntarily sold their sheep to the

          Agriculture Department to be destroyed before the order.

          The disease devastated the cattle industry in Britain in 1995. It has killed

          about 70 people in Europe and, because the incubation period of the

          disease can be up to 10 years, the number of human victims is expected

          to rise.

          Even though scientists are not sure the four Vermont sheep carcasses had

          a form of mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department says it is better

          to destroy them and avoid any possibility that the disease could gain a

          foothold in North America.

          The sheep in all three flocks were either imported from Belgium in 1996

          or are the offspring of imported sheep. The Agriculture Department said

          the sheep might have eaten contaminated feed in Europe before they

Category: 26. BSE