MAD COW NEWS

DNA Tests Verfiy U.S. Mad Cow From Canada

Genetic testing confirms that the cow diagnosed with the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was born in Canada, agriculture officials said Tuesday.

The test results will allow investigators to intensify their search for the source of infection, most likely from contaminated feed, in Alberta, where the Holstein was born in 1997.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced the mad cow diagnosis on Dec. 23, the first time the disease has been found in the United States since its discovery in Great Britain in the mid-1980s.

The DNA tests on the cow, on one of its offspring and on the semen from the cow's sire, as well as records that show the cow came from a dairy farm in Alberta, make "us confident in the accuracy of this traceback," said Dr. Ron DeHaven, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian.

Brian Evans, a Canadian agriculture official, said independent testing from a Canadian lab agreed.

Canadian officials had announced last May that a cow in Alberta had been diagnosed with the disease.

While no links have been found between the two cases, investigators now will focus on looking for common sources of feed, Evans said.

He added, "We have not got sufficient evidence to make any feed link between the two farms."...

USDA technical briefing and Webcast On BSE with Canadian and U.S. Officials including Dr. Ron DeHaven, Chief Veterinary Officer, USDA and Dr. Brian Evans, Chief Veterinary Officer, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, January 6, 2004

MR. CURLETT: Hello. I'd like to welcome everybody to today's BSE situation update. I apologize for the late start today. Today we have with us Dr. Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And we have Dr. Ron DeHaven, the chief veterinary officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They will both make statements today, and then we will take some questions. We ask that you limit your questions to one, as we have a lot of people on the line, and that you state your name and affiliation prior to asking your question. And with that, I will turn it over to Dr. DeHaven. Thank you.

DR. DEHAVEN: Ed, thank you very much, and thanks to all of you for joining us, particularly on such short notice.

Today we are updating on recent events that have occurred since the briefing that we held yesterday by phone. We now have DNA evidence that allows us to verify with a high degree of certainty that the BSE positive cow found in the state of Washington originated from a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada. This DNA evidence is based on a comparison of DNA from the brain of the positive cow with the DNA from the semen of her sire, as determined by records on the farm in Alberta.

Additional DNA test results involved the yearling heifer calf on the index farm, which was born from this positive cow. Breeding records on that calf confirm that she was born from the positive cow, bearing the same tag number found on the positive cow at slaughter, which is also the same tag number found on the record on the dairy farm in Alberta, Canada.

This new DNA information, coupled with the documentation that we have obtained from our colleagues in Canada, from the owner of the dairy farm in Mabton, Washington, and through import records makes us confident in the accuracy of this trace-back.

Clearly other elements of the investigation will continue, and will continue on both sides of the border, and may provide additional information.

I'd like to point out that from the very beginning of this investigation the cooperative efforts on both sides of the border have been tremendous. Indeed, we are sharing colleagues, with Canadian personnel actively involved in our epidemiological investigation in the United States, as well as their U.S. counterparts actively involved in the investigation and activities on the Canadian side of the border.

So I want to thank our Canadian colleagues for their professionalism, for their thoroughness, and for their assistance in this investigation.

And now I'd like to pass the microphone to my friend and colleague, Dr. Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Brian?

DR. EVANS: Thanks very much, Ron. As Dr. DeHaven has clearly indicated in his opening address, the DNA results conducted in Canada, and being reported today as well, fully complement and reflect those returned from the U.S. laboratory.

As indicated as well, in reaching the determination being announced today, it is very important that we all recognize the fact that the DNA results themselves are but one step in a broader fabric of elements that are being fully considered as we continue to pursue all of the avenues of the investigation.

The cooperation at the field level and at the laboratory level continues to be exemplary from our perspective, and it reflects the commitment that we both share to protecting public animal health and food safety in the broader North American context.

The finding today is but one step, as Ron has indicated, down a road, which we will continue to pursue in parallel on the Canadian and U.S. sides. The important next steps that we will collaborate on, as he has indicated -- we will look at areas like how this animal has become infected, and therefore feed investigations will be intimate to that determination.

Equally, joint decisions relative to ongoing tracing of associated animals and appropriate depopulation and testing strategies, will be a second key component of the investigation, which we will continue to work through.

And finally, at the end of the day, as we try to bring conclusion to all the avenues of the investigation, we are equally committed to continue to work together in any other manner that would be dictated by the findings of the investigation, so that again other factors are fully taken into account to ensure that there is no outstanding issue, no rock unturned, to ensure at the end of the day, no matter who assesses the integrity of the investigation, that it will withstand any scrutiny brought to bear, and will reflect collectively again our interests to continue to protect public and animal health.

DR. DEHAVEN: With that, operator, I think we could go to questions. Operator, if you could, we would like to have a short question-and-answer period, please...

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