Mad cow testing.

Does the U.S. do enough testing for mad cow disease? In December, a cow in Washington State was found with the disease. The Department of Agriculture says testing is rigorous enough, but critics disagree.

Several of the countries that produce the largest amounts of beef do
the least testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow
disease.

                   United
In 2002:           States (b)   Australia (b)   France (a)   Italy (a)

Slaughtered        35,737,000     9,228,000     5,777,000    4,337,000
Tested               19,990         1,781       3,145,473     717,698
Cases of mad cow      0 *             0            239          38

                                               United
In 2002:            Germany (a)   Canada (b)   Kingdom (a)   Japan (c)

Slaughtered         4,272,000    3,457,000     2,282,000    1,300,000
Tested              2,966,560      3,300        354,599     1,300,000
Cases of mad cow       106          0 *          1,144          2

KEY
Cattle slaughtered in 2002

(a) Cattle tested in 2002
(b) The size of this circle represents two million cattle.
(c) Japan tests all cattle slaughtered

* 2003 was the first year a case was confirmed.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES