USDA secretary Mike Johanns (JOE’-hands) announced on Friday that almost 12-Million in funds has been re-directed from other programs to intensify research into BSE, or Mad Cow Disease. USDA spokeswoman Suzan Holl says while the funding will throw more weight into research to be done at a new addition to the animal-disease lab in Ames, it won’t necessarily guarantee faster results. About 750-thousand dollars will go toward a “bio-containment” facility at the Animal Research Facility under construction in Ames. It’ll allow for longterm study of BSE in cattle and other large animals, which she says can take a decade or more. Construction’s already underway in Ames to expand the animal-research facility, an important center of APHIS, the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.