By Associated Press, 03/23/01

WASHINGTON -- Almost two-thirds of Americans say they're concerned that mad cow disease could become a problem in the United States -- a number that appears to be growing, says a poll released Friday.

About three in 10, or 29 percent, were very concerned and about four in 10, some 36 percent, were somewhat concerned, according to the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll. A fourth, 24 percent, were not too concerned and only about one in 10, or 11 percent, were not concerned at all.

The poll was taken March 9-11 after the first reports of sheep in Vermont that might have been exposed to a form of mad cow disease and reports of concerns about tainted cow feed. But the poll was taken before widespread coverage of the slaughter of possibly infected sheep in Vermont.

Less than half of Americans said they were concerned about mad cow disease becoming a problem in this country in an ABC News-Washington Post poll taken in mid-January. While it's good to use caution when comparing the results from one organization's poll with another, dramatically different results came when the same question was asked.

The latest poll of 1,015 adults had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.