00Enrolled HJR 35                                                                                                         
01 Relating to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, and                                    
02 country-of-origin labeling for meat products.                                                                           
03                                        _______________                                                                  
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
05      WHEREAS the first cow in the United States infected with bovine spongiform                                       
06 encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, was identified in December 2003;                                     
07 and                                                                                                                     
08      WHEREAS bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a neurological disease in cattle                                     
09 caused by an aberrant protein called a prion, most commonly found in specified risk materials                           
10 such as the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord, and dorsal                           
11 root ganglia; and                                                                                                       
12      WHEREAS humans can develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating                                         
13 contaminated beef products; and                                                                                         
14      WHEREAS cattle most commonly contract bovine spongiform encephalopathy from                                      
15 feed contaminated by infectious prions; and                                                                             
16      WHEREAS, in 1997, the United States Food and Drug Administration prohibited the                                  
17 use of most mammalian protein in the manufacture of animal feed intended for cattle; and                                

01      WHEREAS the United States Department of Agriculture has taken steps to control                                   
02 bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and                                                                                   
03      WHEREAS, among those steps, the United States Department of Agriculture has                                      
04 banned all nonambulatory disabled cattle from the food chain, prohibited the use of specified                           
05 risk materials in human food consumption, and prohibited slaughter practices that may cause                             
06 the dislocation of brain material and its inclusion with other tissue; and                                              
07      WHEREAS the cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was imported                                      
08 from outside the United States; and                                                                                     
09      WHEREAS country-of-origin labeling for meat products has been postponed for two                                  
10 years by the United States Congress; and                                                                                
11      WHEREAS Americans deserve to know what is in their food and where it comes                                       
12 from; and                                                                                                               
13      WHEREAS Americans deserve to have a safe food supply;                                                            
14      BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports efforts by the United                                  
15 States Department of Agriculture to control and eradicate bovine spongiform encephalopathy                              
16 in United States cattle; and be it                                                                                      
17      FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports any efforts by                                       
18 the Alaska congressional delegation to implement country-of-origin labeling for meat                                    
19 products sooner than the current implementation date.                                                                   
20      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ann Veneman, United                                     
21 States Secretary of Agriculture; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa                                
22 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
23 the Alaska delegation in Congress.