Gaps remain in U.S. defense against mad cow disease

WASHINGTON -- American cattle are eating chicken litter, cattle blood and restaurant leftovers that could help transmit mad cow disease -- a gap in the U.S. defense that the Bush administration promised to close nearly 18 months ago.

The Food and Drug Administration promised to tighten feed rules shortly after the first case of mad cow disease was confirmed in the U.S., in a Washington state cow in December 2003.

The FDA said it would ban blood, poultry litter and restaurant plate waste from cattle feed and require feed mills to use separate equipment to make cattle feed.

However, last July, the FDA scrapped those restrictions. McClellan's replacement, Lester Crawford, said international experts were calling for even stronger rules and that FDA would produce new restrictions in line with the experts' report.

Today, the FDA still has not done what it promised to do. The agency declined interviews, saying in a statement only that there is no timeline for new restrictions.

Unlike other infections, bovine spongiform encephal-opathy, BSE, or mad cow disease, doesn't spread through the air. As far as scientists know, cows get the disease only by eating brain and other nerve tissues of already-infected cows.

Ground-up cattle remains left over from slaughtering operations were used as protein in cattle feed until 1997, when an outbreak of mad cow cases in Britain prompted the U.S. to order the feed industry to quit doing it. Unlike Britain, however, the U.S. feed ban has exceptions.

For example, it's legal to put ground-up cattle remains in chicken feed. Feed that spills from cages mixes with chicken waste on the ground, then is swept up for use in cattle feed.

Scientists believe the BSE protein will survive the feed-making process and may even survive the trip through a chicken's gut.

That amounts to the legal feeding of some cattle protein back to cattle, said Linda Detwiler, a former Agriculture Department veterinarian who led the department's work on mad cow disease for several years.

"I would stipulate it's probably not a real common thing, and the amounts are pretty small," Detwiler said. But still, if cattle protein is in the system, it's being fed back to cattle, she said in an interview.

Cattle protein can also be fed to chickens, pigs and household pets, which presents8 World Series. And Cavarretta, 89 next month and the only Cubs player still around from that team, planned to watch from his home in suburban Atlanta.

"I'll be in front of the TV for every game," the 1945 NL MVP said in a telephone interview. "I wish I could be there, rooting for the Cubbies. It would bring back so many good memories from the good days."

Cavarretta also wanted to see an old friend. He was the hitting coach for the New York Mets in 1978 when their manager was Joe Torre, now guiding the Yankees.

"He called me Chi-Chi. He was a good guy," Cavarretta said. "I miss seeing him."

The Cubs and Yankees met in a memorable series at Wrigley Field two years ago. Sammy Sosa had appealed his suspension for using a corked bat, and helped Chicago take two of three from New York. In a neat matchup, Kerry Wood and the Cubs rallied to deny Roger Clemens his 300th career victory.

Torre was looking forward to the Cubs' return trip to town.

"We went to Wrigley a couple of years ago and it was exciting there. And I'm sure with the same type of history in this ballpark, one of the originals coming in here, it's going to be exciting," he said. "Chicago, they have a great following."

The first time the Cubs and Yankees played, it certainly was historic. That was in the 1932 World Series when Babe Ruth's "called shot" highlighted New York's sweep.

The teams met six years later, and though Ruth had retired, the result was the same. The Yankees had a half-dozen Hall of Famers, including pitchers Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez, catcher Bill Dickey and manager Joe McCarthy. They also had Ol' Reliable, Tommy Henrich -- at 92 and in poor health, he's the only other player left from that Series.

"I mean I shouldn't say it, because we were supposed to be out there trying to beat them, but I was thrilled to be on the field with those guys," Cavarretta said.

The Yankees won the first two games at Wrigley, pulling off a late comeback to beat a determined Dizzy Dean.

"Diz had nothing, his arm was shot by then," Cavarretta said. "He'd throw one pitch at 40 mph and another at 60 mph. DiMaggio got up and Diz was zigging and zagging. They kept yelling from their dugout, telling him to throw the ball and he was just out there laughing."

Then, the Series shifted to the Bronx.

"I went out early, before batting practice, because I wanted to see the field," Cavarretta said. "I'd heard so much about it, and it already had a lot of history because of the Babe."

Only 22, Cavarretta hit .462 for the Series and played right field, the same spot where Ruth once stood. But Cavarretta's proudest moment involved the player he looked up to the most, the Iron Horse himself.

"Lou Gehrig was my idol and in one of the games at Yankee Stadium, I was on first and he was holding me on. He was just getting sick with his illness, and I looked him in the face. He had some wrinkles and was yellowing up.

"I'm looking at him and he's looking at me -- he had such sharp eyes. And then he said, 'Phil, I've been watching you play, and I like the way you play.' That was pretty good, I thought," he said. "And every day I stepped on the field the rest of my career, I remembered that."