Register their "premise" (home, farm, stable) in a national database and pay an annual fee.   The amount of the fee has not yet been specified.  Once in this database the property can never be released even if in the future you own no animals.  And you pay the fee even if you own no animals.  Anyone who buys your property must continue to pay the fee.

Agree to allow the USDA to enter your "premise" at any time to "inspect" your animals and confiscate them if they determine it necessary.  All without warrant. 

Place an id tag (ear tag or RFID id) on each individual animal you own and register that animal in a national database.

Report to the national database every significant event in each individual animal's life including:
     - birth
     - anytime it leaves the "premise" including vet visits, shows, exhibits, and trail rides
     - anytime it arrives at a vet office, show, exhibit, organized trail ride (this will actually be done for you by the event organizer who now must report all animals participating)
     - vet appointments on your property (actually your vet will have to do this and rat on you if s/he sees an animal that is not identified in the DB)
     - death

In addition to the above requirements for animal owners, those involved in the animal industry such as your vet, hay dealer, and feed store are going to have to report the "premises" they do business with - and of course that means reporting on those they do business with who don't have an ID.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease in the United States.  One was a Washington state cow that had been imported from Canada.  Another was a Texas born cow and the third was an Alabama cow.

USDA's own analysis concluded that the prevalence of mad cow disease is extremely low.  Their analysis states there are probably four to seven undetected cases of the disease in the United States.

Mad cow disease can be eliminated by proper feeding practices.  Don't feed sheep, pig, and cow parts to cows and the disease will be eliminated.  Feeding these rendered animal products to cows is now illegal.

Random beef carcasses are tested in slaughter facilities to prevent infected beef from entering the food supply.

In July 2006 the USDA reduced it's testing for mad cow disease in slaughter facilities by 90% Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns explained this reduction by saying:  "It's time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of BSE in the United States.  There is no significant BSE problem in the United States, and after all of this surveillance, I am able to say there never was."  Reference article.

Prior to July/Aug 2006, 1,000 tests for mad cow disease were conducted in slaughter plants every day representing approximately 1% of the cattle slaughtered.  The cost was $1M per week.

After August 2006 the level of testing was 110 tests a day.

Consumer groups advocate 100% testing of beef.  They estimate the cost to be between $30 - $50 per cow.

European standards require testing only of animals over 30 months of age because age is associated with infection.  In the US this is approximately 10 million cows.  The additional cost would add an estimated 10 cents a pound to the price of beef.

In response to the request for 100% testing Mr. Johanns' said that the real key to food safety was removing at slaughter the cattle parts known to carry mad cow disease.

Japan is the largest US beef importer and they have demanded that all beef be tested.  Keith Collins, USDA's Chief Economist, told the Senate Appropriations committee that the USDA considers Japan's demands "unreasonable".

One beef producer, Creekstone Farms, wants to test 100% of their beef carcasses in their own testing lab and at their own cost to meet consumer requests.  The USDA has been fighting them in court to prevent them from testing.  The USDA contends their testing of 1% of cattle slaughtered is adequate to protect consumers from BSE.  The USDA has not stated their motives for denying an independent company from going above and beyond the current required testing in order to satisfy their customers.

There has not been an incidence of Foot and Mouth in the US in over 50 years.

Foot and Mouth is no threat to people.

Foot and Mouth is not a particularly deadly disease to animals either.  The mortality is very low.  It causes mostly economic losses due to treatment and slower growth.

During the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK not a single person was infected or harmed by the disease (no threat to people).  But 6.5 million animals were killed, most of them healthy, because they were near the infected farms.  The devastation to family farms caused by the depopulation of the livestock and, in some cases, burning of barns and infrastructure to dispose of the bodies caused 80 farmers to commit suicide.

There is currently a voluntary scrapies program that has made great headway in eliminating this disease in the US.  Sheep in this program are inspected and flocks certified scrapies free.

EIA can be tested for by the Coggins test.  Most states require a negative Coggins test prior to bringing horses in and many boarding stables also require a negative Coggins before accepting boarders. 

Known positive horses are isolated or euthenized.