MAD COW NEWS

Canadian agriculture ministers attend meeting of U.S. farm officials Two provincial agriculture ministers from Canada attended a meeting of U.S. farm officials over the weekend, building cross-border relationships that one of the Canadians said will be useful in preventing outbreaks of mad cow disease. The meeting of Legislative Agricultural Chairs, made up of state agricultural officials from the 50 U.S. states, was planned before the discovery on Dec. 22 that a Holstein cow born in Canada and slaughtered in Washington state had been infected with the brain-wasting disease. But mad cow was a hot topic among the Canadian and American officials in hallways outside the meeting's seminars, even though the subject was not on the agenda, said Clay Serby, Saskatchewan's agriculture minister....New research indicates human form of mad cow more complex than first thoughtNew research suggests that the human form of mad cow disease is a lot more complicated than originally thought, and, potentially, much scarier. Scientists have long agreed that eating cattle tissue infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy - mad cow disease - can cause the human form of the disease, known as variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease. But recent animal tests indicate that eating infected beef may also cause another form of the disease, classical CJD, forcing scientists to re-examine assumptions about the nature of the deadly disease and raising fears that it may be more widespread than previously thought. Manuelidis says a recent study in Britain involving mice whose brains were genetically engineered with human genes gives weight to her long-held theory that classical CJD may be more insidious than assumed. The mice were injected with tissue from mad cows. One set of mice fell sick with the human form of mad cow, or variant CJD. But, in a finding that shocked researchers, a few of the mice developed what looked like classical CJD, the form scientists have long believed had no relationship to mad cows or eating meat....No need for mass BSE testing: prime minister Prime Minister Paul Martin says there is no need to test all cows for mad cow disease to re-establish consumer confidence and re-open international borders to Canadian beef. Martin made the comments Saturday after touring a provincial veterinary laboratory in Edmonton. He says he'll follow the advice of Canadian government scientists who have told him there's no need to test all of the animals for bovine spongiform encephalopathy....Charities that feed hungry talk turkey A portable cannery from Mennonite Central Committee--an Akron, Pa., relief agency--is rolling across Illinois and Indiana this month and next, part of a broader, 15,000-mile annual trip to can 800,000 pounds of meat bound for places like Iraq and Russia's war-torn Caucasus. Yet Freeport is becoming an anomaly because it has remained a beef-canning operation. In a shift of tradition that reflects anxiety over beef abroad, canning volunteers in the Mennonite effort are turning to turkey. Serbia and Ukraine have already asked not to receive beef because of mad cow fears, and other countries may follow, said Kevin King, Mennonite Central Committee's material resources manager....Citizen group sues state over mad cow A consumer advocacy group has filed a claim against the Washington State Beef Commission, saying it should have kept the meat of a mad-cow-infected Holstein from entering the food supply by taking action against slaughterhouses that process "downer" cows. The claim, filed by Citizens for Leaders with Ethics and Accountability Now! in the state Attorney General's Office on Friday, alleges the commission knew that slaughterhouses processed "downer" cows, which are considered most at risk for harboring mad cow disease, yet failed to take action either to end the practice or ensure proper testing....U.S. balked at new mad cow safeguards Similar assurances would be repeated -- until Dec. 23, when the United States suddenly faced its first mad cow case. Within a week, however, federal officials ordered some of the safeguards food safety advocates had sought for years and that industry had resisted. A review by The Oregonian found that regulators and Congress passed up an opportunity to act more aggressively after the Canadian case, despite pointed warnings from scientists, food safety experts and politicians who saw a looming threat. During the seven months between the two cases, Agriculture Department and other U.S. officials steadfastly declared their faith in the system of import controls, mad cow surveillance and feed restrictions already in place....Two countries, one herd Rick Paskal runs a trio of feedlots situated just 85 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border. It is here that he takes truckloads of cattle for fattening up on grain and then, when they're ready for slaughter, ships them out. It's a revolving door of the hoofed that has long blended cattle from Canada and the nearby United States -- and routinely sold them back to processors in both countries. Mad cow disease makes that painfully clear, with U.S. officials persistent in blaming the Washington state mad cow incident on a Canadian cow, and Paskal is sharp on the point. "It isn't a Canadian problem. It isn't Washington state's problem," Paskal says, pulling his pickup to a stop alongside a feeding pen. "It's a North American problem because of the integration of our herds."....Steps to Safer Beef? Much of What Advocates Propose, Cattlemen and Government Oppose Most people agree that the United States has one of the safest food supplies in the world. But food safety can be a moving target as bacteria mutate and industry looks for ways to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible. So, for instance, despite years of criticism, it was only after the BSE incident that the government declared, and industry agreed, that downer cattle -- cows too sick or injured to walk -- would be eliminated from the food supply. Here then are nine other changes that food-safety advocates are calling for from the beef industry, along with the positions of industry groups and government regulators....Japan says further U.S. mad cow cases possible Japan's Farm Ministry said on Monday there was no guarantee that other mad cow cases would not be found in the United States as the two countries prepare for talks this week on lifting a Japanese ban on U.S. beef imports. "(Given the situation), it is difficult to say that there is a significant difference in the level of BSE contamination between the United States and Canada," a ministry fact-finding team dispatched to North America from January 8-18 said in a report. "There is no guarantee that BSE will not occur again in the United States," it said. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Undersecretary J.B. Penn will visit Japan this week to explain new U.S. safeguards so that trade can resume. He will also be traveling to the Philippines, Hong Kong and South Korea....US beef 'passed off as Australian' One of Australia's key beef customers has confirmed that some United States beef is being illegally labelled and sold as Australian product. South Korea banned imports of US beef when a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington state before Christmas, leaving Korean wholesalers with product still to sell. Mike Heywood from Meat and Livestock Australia says that means Australian beef is in high demand, leading to the labelling scam. "The problem will be if these reports keep going, consumers just simply lose faith in the integrity of the labelling system," he said....