Feds asked to help fight deer disease
10:30 PM 5/16/02
State Journal wire services

indentWASHINGTON - Wisconsin officials and members of the state's congressional delegation called Thursday for an expanded federal role in combating chronic wasting disease, which is killing white-tailed deer in Wisconsin and several other states.
indentAppearing at a Capitol Hill hearing, Republican Gov. Scott McCallum and Wisconsin lawmakers warned that without help from the federal government, the disease could spread throughout the state, with potentially catastrophic consequences for public health and the multibillion-dollar deer hunting industry.
indentThe disease has been found in 14 deer in south-central Wisconsin, and state officials estimate that hundreds more could be infected. To prevent the disease from spreading, state officials want to kill about 15,000 deer in an "eradication zone" near Mount Horeb.
indent"This is a tremendous sacrifice for local landowners, and it will be a very costly project for the state," McCallum told a House panel.
indentEarlier this year, Wisconsin's nine House lawmakers asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for $4 million in emergency funding to help defray disease-related costs; McCallum separately requested $18 million.
indentAt the request of Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, a House committee approved a spending bill Wednesday with $10 million to help Wisconsin and other states respond to the disease.
indentIn addition to more money, Wisconsin lawmakers pressed Thursday for a broader federal role in researching the disease, helping states and localities control it, and informing the public about its risks.
indentExperts testified Thursday that they did not know whether it was safe to eat venison taken from animals infected with chronic wasting disease, which has not been known to affect humans.
indentThat uncertainty worried Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who demanded a new round of congressional hearings on the subject.
indent"I am very concerned for the health and safety of the families of my district who have the potential to be exposed to, or have already been exposed to, venison from a deer infected with (the disease)," the Madison Democrat said.
indentObey and Reps. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Thomas Barrett, D-Milwaukee, introduced a bill Wednesday requiring the U.S. Department of the Interior to devise safe methods to dispose of infected carcasses, monitor where the disease is reported and develop a diagnostic test for live animals.
indentRep. Jay Inslee of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Resources subcommittee on forests and forest health, cited 1998 memos to and from state officials raising the possibility of chronic wasting disease being introduced to the state by game farm animals.
indentAn April 17, 1998, memo from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to the Wisconsin state veterinarian put the state on notice that an elk from a herd that been diagnosed with the brain disease had been sold to a farm in Wisconsin.
indentAnd on Sept. 15 of that year, Steven Miller, an administrator with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, urged then-DNR Secretary George Meyer to ban the importation of all game animals to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease to the state.
indent"I'm having a hard time figuring out how a state like a Wisconsin, that is so dependent on the integrity of its food industry to its economy, would not have responded quicker and in a more effective way to this infestation," said Inslee, asserting that state officials did not test for the disease.
indentMcCallum, who was lieutenant governor at the time, said animals were tested and none were positive.
indent"I can tell you that we have rules in place in Wisconsin," McCallum said. " .