THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230371
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
State agriculture officials launched an inspection sweep across southeast Virginia on Wednesday in search of tainted corn that has killed at least 18 horses and has shaken equestrians across the region.
The inspection of feed manufacturers from Richmond to North Carolina comes after officials found that a Virginia grain dealer had sold bad corn to owners of a James City County horse that died of a rare illness known as moldy corn poisoning.
When horses started dying this winter in Chesapeake and Suffolk from an invisible toxin in the corn, officials at first thought the source was a North Carolina feed store.
But after inspectors there found no contamination in the store's stocks, the search shifted to Virginia - especially in light of the James City County death earlier this month.
State officials cautioned that they have found no evidence so far to suggest that the biggest outbreak in a decade can be blamed on local feed. They still urge owners to professionally test corn or buy feed labeled as safe.
Normally, about one horse dies a year from corn poisoning, a painful but fast-acting affliction that attacks the brain and nervous system. But since October, the state has confirmed 18 deaths, and horse owners in Chesapeake and Suffolk say the body count is much higher.
The inspection sweep began Wednesday in a huge geographic area east of Interstate 95 and south of Interstate 64, Lidholm said. The area contains ``three or four'' large manufacturers that supply much of the feed to regional stables and farms. by CNB