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E-mailCanadian official says mad cow case not a threat
"Canada has a strong regulatory regime in place to protect against the spread of BSE," Minister Andrew Mitchell said, referring to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. "From a public health perspective, this finding does not threaten the safety of Canadian beef."
Canada revealed Sunday that an 8-year-old dairy cow in Alberta tested positive for the brain-wasting illness, confirming preliminary test results released last week. The cow did not enter the human or animal food supply, Mitchell said.
Despite learning of the case, the Bush administration said it would stand by its decision to renew Canadian cattle imports in March, citing a World Health Organization study that even if 11 cases of mad cow disease were discovered in the 5.5 million head Canadian cattle herd every year, they would pose only a minimal threat to human health.
"Canada has been assured by the United States Department of Agriculture that this case will have no impact on the restoration of live cattle and broadened beef trade" across the border, Mitchell said yesterday, after speaking with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman on Sunday.
Meanwhile in Texas, some cattlemen in the nation's leading beef-producing state are saying the U.S. government is acting too hastily in lifting a ban on importing live cattle from the country. The ban -- lifted last week -- has been in place since the first confirmed case of the disease in Canada was found in May 2003.
"We don't need any more mad cows over here," said longtime West Texas rancher Benny Montague. "I think it's crazy since they found one to open it back up."
But not everyone agreed with Montague.
"The bottom line is that the beef supply is safe," said Jan Lyons, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
She said procedures in place to keep potentially infected cows out of the food chain are working. The rules on beef imports stipulate that imported cows must be younger than 30 months old.
Concerns about mad cow have been heightened since the May 2003 discovery in Canada. The United States closed the border with Canada following that case, but has slowly been easing the restrictions, including last week's lifting of the ban on live cattle under 30 months old.
The Bush administration said it would stand by the decision. But Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., says he has written Veneman saying she should immediately suspend the rule.
This country's first confirmed mad cow case, in Washington state in December 2003, turned out to be a Canadian-born Holstein. It prompted several countries, Japan being the largest, to ban U.S. beef.
Gene Harris, owner of a small, family-operated ranch in Killdeer, N.D., said the United States should import beef from countries that have taken adequate steps to ensure human and herd safety.
"In the short term, it will have some negative effects to the market," he said. "But in the long term, re-establishing trade will allow us to establish a framework to trade with Canada and other minimal-risk countries."
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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