U.S., Canadian Officials Downplay Impact of BSE
(December 31, 2004 - CP) The discovery of
a new suspected case of mad cow disease in Alberta shouldn't hamper the
newly scheduled reopening of the U.S. border to trade in live cattle,
Canadian and American officials said Thursday.
"We don't expect this to have an impact on our final rule," said
Jim Rogers of the American Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The
ruling, delivered Wednesday only hours before word on the new suspected
Canadian case was released, will allow live cattle under 30 months old and
meat from older cattle back into the U.S. on March 7. Such trade has been
banned since May 2003, when an Alberta cow was found to be infected with
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Rogers said the U.S. ruling was written with the likelihood of further
cases being discovered in mind.
"That's a probability we examined," Rogers said. "The key
thing is the safeguards that Canada has in place."
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency released information on the latest
possible BSE case early Thursday morning.
The 10-year-old Alberta animal was a dairy cow but more of a family pet
and not in commercial milk production, said CFIA veterinarian Keith
Lehman.
"She was just kind of being kept on the farm," Lehman said from
Ottawa.
The cow was first examined Dec. 17 after she was identified as a
"downer" - too sick to walk - said Gary Little, a CFIA senior
veterinarian.
Tissue samples were tested twice in Edmonton and Winnipeg using two
different preliminary quick tests. Test results from all four failed to
clear the cow.
"We've elevated this sample to a suspect case based on the fact that
we have multiple consistent non-negative findings," Little told a
news conference in Ottawa.
Definitive diagnostic tests are being performed in Winnipeg. The results
will be known in a few days.
Many cattle groups feared that U.S. opponents of Canadian beef imports
would use the latest suspected case to again delay the opening of the
border. The Montana-based group R-CALF successfully used legal
technicalities to delay a previous attempt to open the border last spring.
"When you are dealing with a protectionist group such as R-CALF, they
will try to take advantage of any situation," said Cindy McCreath of
the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
But federal Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell said U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Ann Veneman assured him in a meeting last August that the new
ruling would stand up against such challenges.
"They wanted to make sure, as they constructed a rule, that they did
it in a way that would ensure that it would withstand any type of
challenge," Mitchell said.
"There are different perspectives held by different people in the
U.S., but we clearly believe that we have a safe food supply and the
Americans are recognizing that."
The preliminary results of the tests on the suspected cow were passed
along to American officials before they released their ruling on the
border reopening - news greeted with joy and relief across a cattle
industry that has lost about $5 billion since the border closed.
Lehman said the farm where the purebred Holstein cow originated has not
been quarantined. The other cattle on the farm are beef breeds and are
neither as old nor from the same background as the suspect animal.
"There are no equivalent animals of risk," Lehman said.
The only known way that animals can contract BSE is by eating animal
byproducts contaminated with "specific risk materials" or SRM.
Such materials include the brain and spinal column, eyes and parts of the
nervous system.
The World Health Organization has said the disease cannot be transmitted
through milk or milk products.
The cow's Holstein pedigree will make tracing her past movements easier if
it becomes necessary, said Lehman.
Pedigreed cattle are tracked more closely. As well, the type of
record-keeping needed to track cattle movements has been in place longer
for dairy than for beef cattle.
However, Lehman acknowledged that at least some of the calves from the
suspect cow have entered the food or feed chain.
The disease is not transmitted through contact from animal to animal, but
there is some scientific evidence to suggest that calves born to cows with
BSE may have a greater chance of developing the disease.
Officials emphasize that it was recognized on both sides of the border
that occasional cases of mad cow were still likely to emerge.
"In the extensive risk analysis conducted as part of the rule making,
we considered the possibility of additional cases of BSE in Canada,"
said Ron DeHaven of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"Because of the mitigation measures that Canada has in place, we
continue to believe the risk is minimal."
Little said none of the animal's parts made their way into the food or
feed systems.
BSE is a chronic, degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous
system of cattle. Since it was first diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986,
there have been more than 180,000 cases.
Canadian experts believe the first Alberta cow probably became infected
after being fed ruminant meat and bone meal before the practice was banned
in 1997.
It's believed humans can develop a fatal brain-wasting illness called new
variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease when they eat meat contaminated by
specified risk materials from infected animals.
Key events in Canada's mad cow crisis:
January 2003: Marwyn Peaster, a farmer near Wanham, Alta., notices his
Black Angus cow is ill and unable to stand. He ships it for slaughter.
Jan. 31: The cow is condemned on the kill floor as unfit for human
consumption. Its brain stem is sent to an Edmonton lab but is deemed low
priority and not tested for months.
May 16: Tissue tests on the cow show bovine spongiform encephalopathy or
BSE. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Winnipeg confirms the finding
and the sample is sent to a British lab.
May 20: The British lab confirms the test results. The CFIA announces the
cow was infected with BSE. The United States immediately closes its
borders to Canadian beef and cattle and 33 more countries follow suit.
Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief tells reporters: "I want to stress
from the beginning this is one cow."
May 21: Mel McCrea from Baldwinton, Sask., gets a phone call telling him
his ranch must be quarantined. Eventually 17 farms in B.C., Saskatchewan
and Alberta are quarantined in the hunt for the birthplace of the cow.
June 5: Test results show none of the 1,200 animals slaughtered to date
have BSE.
June 6: Four international inspectors arrive to review Canada's BSE
investigation.
June 17: Federal Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief announces a beef
industry compensation package, cost-shared with provinces, of up to $460
million.
July 18: Vanclief announces changes to slaughter rules as recommended by
the international experts panel: cattle tissues at high risk to carry BSE
- notably brain and spinal cord - must be removed at the slaughterhouse
for cattle older than two and a half years.
July 26: More than 2,000 people from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana
rally at the Coutts border crossing in southern Alberta to get the border
reopened.
Aug. 8: The U.S. and Mexico partially lift the ban on some Canadian beef,
allowing some beef products but no cattle. A month later, boneless cuts
are moving over the border.
Sept. 14: Alberta Premier Klein tells a meeting of U.S. governors in
Montana that "any self-respecting rancher would have shot, shovelled
and shut-up," rather than report a case of mad cow. Klein later
explains he was just reflecting on the absurdity of the situation.
Oct. 2: Mexico, Canada's second largest beef market after the U.S.,
announces it will take some Canadian beef products still banned by U.S.,
including liver, kidney, heart and tongue.
Oct. 8: Tests confirm the cow that sparked the Canadian crisis was born in
Saskatchewan.
Oct. 31: U.S. Department of Agriculture issues proposed rule to allow
import of live Canadian cattle under age of 30 months.
Dec. 23: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces the first
suspected U.S. case of mad cow - a Holstein in Washington state - but says
"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply."
Dec. 25: A British lab confirms earlier findings that the U.S. cow had BSE;
30 countries eventually close their borders to U.S. beef. Canada imposes a
partial ban.
Dec. 27: The USDA says it has information the infected cow came from an
Alberta herd.
Jan. 5, 2004: The comment period closes in the U.S. on the proposal to
reopen the border to live Canadian cattle under 30 months, but officials
say no decision will be made until the Washington state mad cow
investigation is concluded.
Jan. 6: DNA tests confirm the Washington state cow came from an Alberta
herd but USDA chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven says: "Beef continues to
be safe, whether this cow originated in Canada or not."
Jan. 9: Bob Speller, the successor to Vanclief as agriculture minister,
announces $92 million will be spent over the next five years to increase
mad cow testing from the current level of 5,500 to 30,000.
Jan. 13: U.S. President George Bush, meeting with Prime Minister Paul
Martin at the Summit of the Americas in Mexico, promises renewed
co-operation to keep beef safe.
Feb. 24: Statistics Canada reports that farm income fell to its lowest
level in three years in 2003 due in part to the mad cow crisis. Revenue
from livestock fell 11 per cent, the largest such drop in more than a
decade.
March 3: Klein, pressed by reporters on why his government blocked
Alberta's auditor general from investigating allegations of meat packer
price gouging, storms out of his news conference, saying: "I've had
enough of this crap."
March 4: U.S. officials announce they will take public submissions until
April 7 on whether to reopen the border to live Canadian cattle and beef
products from older animals.
March 9: Klein, saying Media pressure forced him to reverse his position,
orders Alberta's auditor general to determine if meat packers unfairly
profited at the expense of cattle producers and consumers.
March 10: The federal agriculture committee grills the heads of Canada's
three main meat-packing companies over allegations packers are gouging
consumers and ranchers. The executives say they don't know how much aid
money trickled down to them and added they have faced increased costs due
to the crisis.
March 11: Alberta Agriculture Minister Shirley McClellan releases a
departmental report into mad cow aid programs. The report can't confirm
whether meat packers gouged consumers and cattle producers but McClellan
says the province achieved its chief aim of keeping the cattle industry
alive.
March 22: Martin visits a third-generation ranch family in the heart of
Alberta cattle country to announce an extra $995 million in mad cow aid
money, two-thirds of which will go directly to cattle producers.
March 30: The federal agriculture committee orders Canada's top five
meat-packing companies to open their books to them in private by April 21
to prove that the companies have not been profiting unfairly during the
crisis.
April 7: The USDA stops taking submissions on whether the U.S. should
re-open its market to Canadian cattle. Veneman promises to review the
submissions quickly.
April 19: U.S. changes import rules and begins accepting more beef
products from Canada, including all bone-in cuts and processed beef from
animals under 30-months of age. Canada's beef industry lauds the move.
April 30: Martin pays his first visit to the White House. Bush promises
the U.S. will drop its ban on live Canadian cattle "as soon as
possible" but gives no firm commitment on when trade would resume.
Martin later says he found Bush's response "very encouraging."
May 2004: U.S. Agriculture Department reaches deal with R-CALF USA, a
protectionist cattle group, to halt imports of Canadian processed beef
products such as ground beef and sausage until the larger issue of
dropping the ban on live Canadian cattle is settled.
May 26: R-CALF, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, a
national, non-profit consumer agency and the U.S. Consumers Union, which
publishes Consumer Reports, press the U.S. government to hold public
hearings on Canadian imports and want experts from the Institute of
Medicine and National Academy of Sciences to calculate the chances of more
mad cow cases.
July 23: A risk assessment study commissioned by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture supports reopening the border to live Canadian cattle.
Aug. 3: Meat-packers nearly tripled their profits since the mad cow crisis
hit Canada, says a report by Alberta's auditor general.
Aug. 12: Angry after struggling to survive the mad cow crisis for 15
months, a small group of Canadian producers launches a multimillion-dollar
claim against the U.S. government in a bid to force the reopening of the
border to live cattle.
Nov. 29: A report from BMO's economics department says Canadian cattle
producers have lost about $5 billion since the crisis began.
Nov. 30: During a visit to Canada, Bush says his administration is working
as quickly as it can to restore the free flow of cattle across the border.
Dec. 10: Ottawa proposes banning high-risk cattle tissues from all animal
feed, pet food and fertilizers. Such materials were banned from cattle
feed since 1997 to prevent BSE.
Dec. 29: The U.S. announces plans to reopen the border on March 7 to
nearly all Canadian exports of beef and live cattle.
Dec. 30: CFIA announces that preliminary tests show BSE is suspected in a
10-year-old Alberta dairy cow, but U.S. officials say that won't change
plan to reopen border.
A sample of what people were saying Thursday about news of another
suspected case of mad cow disease in Canada - released hours after the
U.S. announced its decision to reopen the border to Canadian imports of
live cattle:
"This finding, if positive, is not unexpected . . . We have
maintained that a low, declining level of BSE is likely present in North
America. Confirming BSE in this case will not indicate the disease is
spreading in Canada." - Dr. Gary Little, Canadian Food Inspection
Agency.
-
"In the extensive risk analysis conducted
as part of the rule making, we considered the possibility of additional
cases of BSE in Canada. Because of the mitigation measures that Canada has
in place, we continue to believe the risk is minimal." - Ron DeHaven,
head of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
-
"It's worrisome but not necessarily surprising. From the moment
Canada decided to proceed with more testing, it became more likely that
we'd end up detecting anything with a possible risk." - Michel
Dessureault, president of the federation representing Quebec beef
producers.
-
"I believe that the USDA has done their due diligence, they've
analysed our surveillance system and this surveillance system worked very
well, and I think that bodes well for any arguments that come up against
it." - Alberta Agriculture Minister Doug Horner.
-
"I'm hopeful now that we've gone a long way towards impressing upon
the U.S. the lengths that we have been going to, which are absolutely
unprecedented in terms of being careful, and testing rigorously. The fact
is, apparently they've found another case, but we've found the case, we've
isolated that case, and that's what you want to be able to do." -
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
-
"The Americans were made aware of this investigation before they made
the announcement, and they went ahead and made the announcement anyway.
They obviously had confidence in the protocols that we had in place, and I
think it's very positive." - Mark Nairn, president of the B.C.
Cattlemen's Association.
-
"Interest groups in the United States will try to use this case as
ammunition in influencing congressional representatives down there not to
open the border. R-CALF (protectionist American cattlemen's lobby) will
probably use this to muddy the waters to confuse the public down there
that there is really a threat here in Canada, even though the scientific
evidence for that isn't there." - Rod Scarlett, executive-director of
Wild Rose Agricultural producers, Alberta's largest farm group.
-
"Certainly there are groups like R-CALF that are not in favour of
opening the border and they will take every step that they can to stop the
border opening. But decisions like this have to be made based on science
rather than politics." - Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk.
-
"Well, I don't think the markets can get any worse than they are at
the moment." - Frazer Hunter, first vice-president of the Nova Scotia
Federation of Agriculture, asked about the effect on markets of another
possible case of BSE. |
