MAD COW NEWS

'MAD COW' BEEF TRACED TO FOUR MORE STATES & GUAM Meat from a Holstein infected with mad-cow disease has been traced to four more states - bringing the total to eight. Investigators have determined that some of the meat went to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and the U.S. territory of Guam, said Dr. Kenneth Petersen, a U.S. Agriculture Department veterinarian. Earlier, officials said most of the meat was shipped to Washington and Oregon, with smaller amounts going to California and Nevada...Mad cow case heightens debate about feed inspections Congressional investigators last year sharply criticized federal efforts to keep mad cow disease out of the United States after they found weak enforcement of a ban on certain cattle feed considered the likely source of such infections. Now the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates animal feed, says enforcement has improved so significantly that 99.9 percent of the nation´s feed companies comply with the ban. But the agency acknowledges that statistic is based on inspection of company records, not on independent testing of the potentially infectious feed itself. Such tests are still being developed. So some lawmakers want more proof that the warnings issued in 2002 have been taken seriously...Cattle industry braces for Tuesday sale Montana cattle producers and dealers could learn this week how much the first U.S. case of mad cow disease will cost them. The state's first cattle sale since last week's announcement of the infected Holstein cow in Washington state is set for Tuesday. "I know that the market will be lower, but I don't know how much," said Craig Britton, manager of the Montana Livestock Co. in Ramsay. "That's the million-dollar question." Britton said he'd have a better idea Monday after packing house representatives meet and assess their situation before heading into auctions...Farmers anxiously await DNA tests on mad cow Prairie governments urged worried beef producers Sunday not to panic after American officials pointed to an Alberta dairy farm as the likely source of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease. Producers and governments in Canada must wait for the results of DNA testing before they can really grapple with the potential impact to the already-battered industry, said Saskatchewan deputy premier Clay Serby. "Let's just hold on right now. There is no need to panic," Serby said from his home in Yorkton, a community surrounded by cattle ranches...Beef industry looks to reopen markets With U.S. beef exports having been brought to a near halt, ranchers and packers are turning to diplomacy and science to try to reopen foreign markets that closed due to the mad cow scare. A U.S. agricultural delegation traveled over the weekend to Japan, the largest export market for American beef, as U.S. officials continued to determine the extent of the outbreak. About 1,800 shipping containers crammed with more than 44 tons of U.S. beef were already on their way when the bans came down, says Lynn Heinze, a vice president with the U.S. Meat Export Federation. He says his group is sending e-mails and making other efforts to convince trading partners that the shipped beef is safe. On Saturday, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said the indication that the infected cow was from Canada means countries should reopen their borders to American beef. Beef producers say relief can't come soon enough...Dairy farmers struggling with mad cow setbacks Dairy farmers in Southwestern Ontario say it will be years before their industry recovers from border closings prompted by mad cow disease. Canadian beef producers aren't the only ones suffering from a crisis that intensified last week when American officials said they suspected an infected animal found there originated in Alberta. Since May, when borders were closed to Canadian cattle after a single case of mad cow was found in Alberta, dairy farms have lost business and exporters of the animals have shut down operations...In Brush, mad cow news rattles pews If you were blindfolded, wrapped in ankle chains and dropped in the center of Brush, it would still take you less than two minutes to find a church and somebody willing to talk about the mad cow disease scare. That's because this is cattle country, and there's a church on nearly every other corner. And from the organists to the pastors to the folks in the pews, everyone either now has, or once had, a deep stake in beef...Japanese seek Australian beef Australian beef producers are not expecting a bonanza from the United States mad cow scare despite a Japanese delegation heading to Australia in January to explore buying more beef. Meat and Livestock Australia marketing services manager Peter Barnard said he expected the Japanese ministry of agriculture, fisheries and forestry delegation to visit Australia and New Zealand early next month after Japan closed its doors to US beef last week. "We don't believe that this event in the United States will lead to a bonanza for the Australian industry," Dr Barnard said...U.S. Envoys Discuss Mad Cow in Japan U.S. agriculture envoys met with Japanese officials on Monday to allay concerns in Japan - a top overseas market for U.S. beef - about the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. Japan, which bought more than $1 billion of U.S. beef last year, joined more than two dozen nations that suspended imports after a cow in Washington state tested positive for the brain-wasting bovine disease last week. The meeting with U.S. officials is unlikely to lead to Japan lifting its ban on imports of U.S. beef, the Japanese media reported, saying government officials here first want the United States to adopt more stringent screening of its herds...Japan Refuses to Discuss Lifting Beef BanJapan rejected a U.S. request Monday to discuss lifting a ban on American beef, saying that officials should first establish the facts surrounding the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, Agriculture Ministry officials said. The officials spoke after talks with American agriculture delegation in Tokyo to discuss the mad cow disease scare. Japan, the largest overseas market for U.S. beef, banned American beef last week to check the spread of the disease. The U.S. delegation asked to discuss the lifting of the ban, a Japanese official said on condition of anonymity. "First we have to confirm the facts, so it's too early to have such a discussion," the Japanese official told reporters...Democrats Criticize Bush on Beef Policy Democratic candidates tried to turn "mad cow" disease to political advantage Sunday, accusing the White House of lax regulatory policies, as officials announced that meat from the cow infected with the disease had been distributed to four more states than previously thought. During a daylong swing through Iowa, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean hammered away at the "mad cow" issue, scolding the administration for not doing enough to trace and test the nation's cattle. Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, also campaigning in Iowa, called for similar efforts to protect public health, including a ban on selling beef brains and vertebrae and federal aid for farmers forced to slaughter their cattle. "There are many in the cattle industry who will continue to resist much-needed changes," Kerry said in a statement. "I urge President Bush for once not to listen to the demands of corporate America and act on behalf of the health and economic needs of all Americans." For good measure, a fellow Democratic candidate, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, said in a statement that Bush "refuses to fund important country-of-origin labeling provisions for meat and has ignored the need for resources at the [Food and Drug Administration] and [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] to inspect the agricultural products coming across our borders."...Dairy Farmers Contributed to House Panel The dairy industry contributed to most members of a key House committee who voted nearly in lockstep against banning the sale of meat from ill or disabled animals, like the one that tested positive last week for mad cow disease. Political action committees representing dairy farmers gave money to 33 of the 51 members of the House Agriculture Committee, an Associated Press review of campaign reports shows. Of the 33, 28 voted against the ban on marketing "downed" animals, four voted for it and one didn't vote, when it was defeated 202-199 in July. The Senate approved the ban on a voice vote in November, but it was left out of the final compromise passed by the House this month and awaiting action in the Senate...U.S. set to extend beef ban News that the Washington-state Holstein with mad-cow disease was almost certainly born at an Alberta dairy farm is likely to prolong the U.S. ban on imports of Canadian cattle. Canada's chief veterinarian, however, warned yesterday that feed contaminated in the United States could have infected the animal. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, suggested yesterday that if investigators confirm the Holstein came from a dairy farm near Edmonton, Canada's hopes of moving live cattle and more beef products over the border by early next year could be damaged...Column: Don't Have a Cow, Man We can be assured of one thing when it comes to the safety of our food: media hysteria will be inversely proportional to actual risks. Alfred Hitchcock knew a shadowy figure was far more terrifying than a well-lit known villain. Nothing haunts us more than our own imaginations, said Frank Furedi, sociologist at the University of Kent in Canterbury and author of The Culture of Fear (Continuum Publishing, 2002). Likewise today's newspapers and television networks have found that fictitious, sensationalized, "what-if?" scares of hidden dangers lurking in our foods make the juiciest stories guaranteed to capture audiences and sell papers. The mania surrounding mad cow is already proving this point...Editorial: Lax rules and testing put public, cattle industry at risk When mad cow disease was discovered in Canada earlier this year, the cattle industry and the U.S. Agriculture Department shrugged off the incident as regrettable, but unlikely to affect beef in the United States. Resisting calls for more testing of animals and new restrictions on how they are raised and slaughtered, the industry boasted the safest beef supply in the world. Cattlemen and meat packers have fought calls for more frequent inspections, and tighter feeding and slaughtering rules. Such measures have long been identified as necessary to fully protect U.S. beef. The laissez-faire approach to inspections and opposition to regulations might help cattlemen save money in the short run, but it exposes them to far greater losses over time through damage to the reputation of U.S. beef. Already, U.S. beef bans by 28 countries risk shutting off as much as $6 billion in annual exports. Experts see beef prices domestically dropping by 20% or more. And with the announcement on Sunday that meat from the sick Holstein has reached retail markets in eight states and Guam, concern is spreading in spite of assurances by Agriculture Department officials that the public faces no health risk. The dearth of cattle inspections is hardly the only example of industry-friendly beef regulations that expose the nation's food supply to avoidable dangers:...Cattle prices set to plunge again The unprecedented rout in prices for live-cattle futures is set to accelerate Monday, further pummelling Canadian and U.S. ranchers already reeling from the second confirmed case of mad-cow disease on the continent. Futures contracts for live cattle and for feeder cattle have fallen by the maximum daily allowed in the past two sessions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange — with trading shutting down within minutes as a result — despite the CME doubling that daily limit on Friday to $3 (U.S.) a hundredweight, or 3 cents a pound. The trading limit will be increased even more Monday, allowing prices to drop by 5 cents a pound, more than triple the amount of the original collar...