Official Tells of Investigation Into Mad Cow Discrepancies: "
The government has begun a criminal investigation into whether documents were falsified in the lone case of mad cow disease found in the United States, the Agriculture Department's inspector general said yesterday."

The official, Phyllis K. Fong, told a House appropriations subcommittee that the investigation focused on whether the Holstein dairy cow was a "downer" — a cow too sick or injured to walk — when it was slaughtered on Dec. 9 at Vern's Moses Lake Meats in Washington State.

The inquiry was "based on allegations that were reported in the media in early February concerning possible alteration of official records," Ms. Fong said. She declined to identify any targets of the investigation.

The official records of the veterinarian at the slaughterhouse, released by the Agriculture Department in January, said the animal was "sternal, alert," meaning that it was conscious but down on its sternum, or chest, before it was killed.

But three witnesses — the worker who killed the animal, the trucker who hauled it to the slaughterhouse and an owner of the slaughterhouse — have all said publicly that it was walking.

Dave Louthan, the slaughterer at Vern's, said in a February interview that the cow walked to the edge of the truck when he killed it with a "knocking gun" to keep it from doubling back and trampling the downed cattle inside.

At the time, Mr. Louthan said he believed that the slaughterhouse veterinarian had falsified the records. He repeated that assertion yesterday in more detail.…

The Agriculture Department tested fewer than 21,000 cows last year — compared with millions in Europe — but Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman has repeatedly said that amount is enough to assure that the country's beef is safe because it focuses on downers, which were more likely to be diseased. If the disease was found in a walking cow, the premise behind the testing system would be undermined.

Asked yesterday whether it was possible that someone in the top ranks of the department could have ordered Dr. Thompson to forge a report, Alisa Harrison, the department's chief spokeswoman, repeated five times: "I cannot fathom that that would happen."

Asked several times if she was saying it did not happen, Ms. Harrison said Ms. Veneman did not order it. Asked if someone else in the top ranks could have, she repeated, "I'm saying I cannot fathom it."…

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/politics/04COW.html