Timeline

The U.S. has taken aggressive measures to prevent BSE from entering the country.

The following chart documents specific prevention and surveillance actions taken since BSE was first diagnosed in the U.K. in 1986.

Other developments assisted the fight against BSE. For example, due to risks other than BSE, no U.K. processing plants were approved to export British beef into the United States. Consequently, the U.S. has not imported beef products from the UK since 1985 and banned live cattle imports since 1989. While there is no BSE risk associated with beef muscle meats, the absence of live cattle and of cattle products from the U.K. has served as a further window of prevention.

Timeline of BSE Prevention Measures
November 1986	BSE is first diagnosed in the U.K.
July 18, 1988	Ruminant meat-and-bone meal (MBM) is banned from inclusion into cattle feed in the U.K.
July 21, 1989	USDA/APHIS bans the importation of ruminant animals (cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk and buffalo) from countries with confirmed cases of BSE.
November 1989	USDA/APHIS enacts emergency ban on the importation of high risk ruminant products (including meat-and-bone-meal) from countries with confirmed cases of BSE. Formal regulation to follow.
1990	FDA intensifies microbiological review of new drug applications for human drug products derived from bovine sources. USDA initiates a surveillance program and begins testing for BSE in cattle showing signs of possible neurological disease.
December 6, 1991	USDA/APHIS enacts formal regulation to restrict the importation of ruminant meat and edible products, and bans high risk by-products of ruminant origin from countries known to have BSE.
1993	USDA/APHIS expands BSE surveillance program to include examination of brain tissue from non-ambulatory or "downer" cows.
January 1993	BSE epidemic in U.K. peaks with 1,000 new cases reported per week.
1994	USDA/APHIS implements immunohistochemistry testingmethod for BSE.
March 20, 1996	British government announces possible link between BSE and 10 cases of a new human TSE called new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD).
March 29, 1996	National livestock organizations and professional animal health organizations in the U.S. announce a voluntary program to discontinue the use of ruminant-derived protein in ruminant feed. The FDA and USDA announce their intentions to determine if additional regulations are necessary to prevent the introduction and or amplification of the BSE agent in the United States.
January 1997	FDA proposes a ban on the use of ruminant products in livestock feed.
June 2, 1997	FDA issues a regulation banning the use of high risk mammalian protein in animal feed. Limited exceptions include blood, milk or gelatin products, and equine and porcine protein, which are derived from species not known to develop TSEs naturally.
August 4, 1997	FDA rule that banned the use of high risk mammal-derived protein by-products in bulk feeds for cattle becomes effective.
October 3, 1997	FDA rule that banned the use of high risk mammal-derived protein by-products in bagged feed for cattle becomes effective.
December 12, 1997	USDA/APHIS bans imports of all live ruminants and high risk ruminant products from Europe.
April 24, 1998	USDA/APHIS enters into a cooperative agreement with HarvardUniversity’s School of Public Health to analyze and evaluate the USDA’s BSE prevention measures.
March 2000	Due to concerns about foot-and-mouth disease, U.S. restricts imports of live ruminants and animals from Japan. Restrictions continue as the first case of BSE found outside of Europe is reportedin Japan, in September 2001.The ban from March 2000 remains in effect.
December 7, 2000	APHIS prohibits all imports of rendered animal protein products from Europe, regardless of species.
January 29, 2001	The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association hosts meeting with the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the feed industry and meat packing and rendering industries to discuss ensuring full compliance with FDA rulings.
February 3, 2001	Officials from the NCBA, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and Conferacion Nacional Ganadera of Mexico sign a joint statement pledging to keep BSE out of North America.
April 2001	U.S. beef industry implements an affidavit system by which cattle producers provide written confirmation that cattle posted for sale have not been fed prohibited materials per the 1997 feed ban regulations. The U.S. feed industry develops a certification program, which assures that certified feed suppliers comply with FDA feed ban regulations.
Fall 2001	USDA announces enhancements to its cattle surveillance system, including dividing the country into eight regions to assure testing accounts for regional differences yet assures uniform national surveillance.With this regional structure, USDA will double the number of cattle tested for BSE in 2002 as compared to the previous year.
November 2001	HarvardCenter for Risk Analysis releases its BSE risk assessment study commissioned by the federal government.The report finds the risk of BSE ever occurring in the U.S. is very low. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse-riskassmt.html
February 2002	The beef industry develops an affidavit form for feed suppliers to certify that the feeds sold to cattle producers contain no prohibited materials.
FY 2000	U.S. surveillance is increased to testing 19,990 cattle brains.
May 20 2003	Canada confirms first indigenous case of BSEin a single 6-year old Alberta beef cow. The U.S. closes the border to live cattle and beef imports. The Canadian government conducts an exhaustive investigation that turns up no additional cases (Canadian Food Inspection Agency www.inspection.gc.ca) The probe concludes that the most likely explanation for infectivity was that, prior to the feed ban, the cow consumed livestock feed containing contaminated rendered animal proteins.An international team of BSE experts, called to Canada to review the official investigation, confirmed the findings. Acting on recommendations from the international team, Canada tightens prevention to include new rules on specified risk materials (SRM). For U.S. reaction to the Canada case, go to http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/05/bg0166.htm
August 2003	USDA announces it will allow certain Canadian ruminant products to enter the U.S. under permit. These include boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age and boneless veal from calves under the age of 37 weeks.
September 2003	FDA reports that the compliance rate on the ruminant feed ban is near 100% for feed mills. http://www.fda.gov/cvm/index/updates/BSEInspec03.htm.
October 2003	USDA announces a proposed rule to amend its BSE regulations to allow the importation of certain low-risk live ruminants and ruminant products from minimal BSE risk regions under specified conditions. The proposed rule places Canada on a list of countries considered minimal risk for BSE. USDA also releases the results of the second Harvard BSE risk assessment. The study found that even if infected animals or ruminant feed material entered the U.S. from Canada, the risk of it spreading within the U.S. herd is low; that any possible spread would now have been reversed by the controls put in place in the late ‘90s; and that the disease would be eventually eliminated from the U.S over a period of time. For more information go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html
December 23, 2003	USDA announces a single, "presumptive positive" case of BSE in Washington state in a 6 ½-year-old dairy cow.The cow originated in Canada.The diagnosis was made through histopathology and immunohistochemical testing at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, Ames, Iowa.USDA/APHIS launches an exhaustive investigation that ultimately involves more than 75,000 animals on 189 premises. USDA/FSIS initiates a beef recall.
December 23, 2003-December 31, 2003	Fifty-three countries ban imports of US beef and beef products.
December 25, 2003	The OIE International Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, England confirms the BSE diagnosis.
December 30, 2003	USDA/FSIS announces new rules banning all "downer" cattle from the human food chain, removing certain animals and specified risk material (SRM) and tissues from the human food chain, requiring additional process controls for establishments using advanced meat recovery (AMR), holding meat from cattle that have been targeted for BSE surveillance testing until the test has confirmed negative and prohibiting air-injection stunning of cattle.(See http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/news/2004/bseregs.htm for more information.)
January 12, 2004	Interim final rules announced by USDA on December 30 become effective.
January 26, 2004	FDA announces new rules to strengthen existing BSE firewalls.New measures include banning a wide range of bovine material from human food, dietary supplements and cosmetics, and strengthening the 1997 feed ban through an extended list of banned feeding and manufacturing practices.See http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040126.html for more information.
February 4, 2004	International panel releases report on measures relating to the incidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S.
February 9, 2004	USDA completes BSE field investigation.See http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/updates/bse_update02-09-04.htm for a complete summary.
June 1, 2004	Following an international scientific review panel’s recommendation (see the report at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_sec_adv_comm.doc,) USDA begins an enhanced BSE surveillance program targeting cattle from highest-risk populations, as well as a random sampling of animals from the aged cattle population. See the initial program announcement at: http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0105.04.html See the latest details on the enhanced surveillance program at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html
June 24, 2005	USDA announces the first indigenous case of BSE found in the United States, traceback activities indicate the animal was approximately 12 years old, and born and raised on a ranch in Texas. Updates on the epidemiological investigation can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html