MAD COW NEWS

U.S., Canada to Work Together on Mad Cow President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin promised on Tuesday to work to reassure consumers that North American beef is safe to eat, as U.S. farmers surveyed by Reuters showed strong support for stricter livestock feed rules to prevent mad cow disease. Although more than 40 nations have cut off purchases of U.S. beef since the case was discovered Dec. 23, Canada has allowed shipments of certain beef cuts to continue. Ottawa reported its own first native case of the disease last May. "The best way to make sure that we're able to satisfy the consumers in both our countries -- as well as around the world -- is for there to be very close coordination on regulation, on information and on the science," Bush told reporters. He and Martin jointly spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a summit of Latin American states in Monterrey, Mexico. Agriculture ministers from Canada, Mexico and the United States will meet this week to discuss mad cow safeguards. Martin said that restoring beef trade would depend on "science-based solutions" reached by both nations. He did not elaborate....37,000 tons of U.S. beef for export in limbo About 37,000 tons of frozen or chilled beef industrywide are in transport or at the dock ready to go to countries that have banned U.S. imports since the first U.S. cow infected with mad cow disease was discovered last month, a meat company executive said on Tuesday. "They have not cleared customs," Mark Gustafson, senior vice president for the international division of Swift & Co., told about 100 ranchers at a symposium on mad cow at the National Western Stock Show. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of beef shipments to Asia are chilled and the rest frozen, he said, meaning the industry still had some time to work out the problem. Chilled beef is good for around 60 days, Gustafson said.... Japan says Canadian mad cow testing regime not sufficient to lift import ban Canada's plans to expand mad cow testing aren't sufficient to justify lifting an eight-month ban on imports of Canadian beef, Japan's agriculture minister was reported as saying Tuesday. Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei told Canadian Agriculture Minister Bob Speller it would be "difficult" to convince the Japanese public to accept a resumption of Canadian beef imports on the basis of the newly announced testing regime, a Japanese ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Speller, who wrapped up his mission to Asia on Tuesday, said he never expected Japan or South Korea would lift their borders during his visit....Japanese scientists meet with U.S.D.A. about mad cow Japanese scientists met with U.S. agriculture officials in Washington state Monday about the ongoing investigation into mad cow disease, as more cows from a Mabton dairy farm were killed. Meanwhile, a team of agriculture and health officials from Japan met with U.S. counterparts in Yakima to discuss the mad cow case. The delegation was not made available to the media. U.S. agriculture officials stressed the meetings were strictly a fact-finding mission and not a trade delegation....Bush pledges efforts to restore confidence in the beef industry U.S. President George W. Bush assured Canadian cattle farmers that his officials will work to restore confidence in the beef industry of both countries. In a further indication of warming Canada-U.S. relations, Bush touted the close integration of the two beef markets and gave no indication that that should change. "I'm confident that we will be able to assure those who buy Canadian and/or U.S. beef that the products they buy are safe," he told reporters with Prime Minister Paul Martin sitting at his side. "This is an issue that's going to require close co-ordination between our two countries. I mean, we got a lot of beef going across our border - we've got beef on the hoof and beef in the box."....Biggest US farm group backs mad cow trace-back system Delegates representing the 5.5 million members of the American Farm Bureau Federation voted on Tuesday to support a voluntary U.S. livestock identification system to help prevent mad cow and other dangerous diseases. Although members rejected a proposal for a mandatory ID system, leaders said the vote backing a voluntary program showed the United States' largest farm group was committed to ensuring American beef is safe to eat....As Americans shrug off mad cow, so does Wall St Investor concerns that consumers would shun beef after last month's discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease appear to have evaporated as shares of steakhouses and hamburger chains have snapped back to their previous levels....Poll: Farmers Oppose Testing All Cattle, Favor IDs Two-thirds of a sampling of American farmers polled by Reuters said they oppose mandatory testing of all U.S. cattle for mad cow disease, an approach used by Japan as a sure-fire way to ensure that deadly beef products do not enter the human food chain. A similar margin of 70 percent of farmers questioned for the Reuters survey said they want the Food and Drug Administration to ban cattle remains from being fed to all livestock as a safety precaution against mad cow disease. And more than half of those polled said the government should require identification tags for all U.S. cattle to allow faster tracking of animals if mad cow disease or another ailment is discovered....Cattle industry worries emerge The cattle industry is suffering under the shadow of mad cow disease and steps must be taken to remedy that - but those steps must be affordable and practical, Rep. George Nethercutt told area ranchers Monday. Audience comments ranged from asking that beef imports be limited until the domestic market can recover, to questioning how the disease might be detected in downer cattle now that they are no longer going to slaughterhouses. Audience member Sheryl Cox sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture's handling of the mad cow case. Early in the investigation it appeared likely the cow was from Canada, but the USDA delayed announcing the possibility because of concerns about the political fallout in U.S.-Canadian relations, she believes. In the meantime, cattle prices fell and countries banned U.S. beef imports. "They knew (the cow was from Canada), and nothing was said,' Cox said. "...I'd like you to hold USDA's feet to the fire.'....Consumer Group Says Mad Cow-Like Disease May Already Be Killing Americans; Organic Consumers Association Releases Report, Calls for Mandatory Reporting of Sporadic CJD The Organic Consumers Association, a nationwide citizen grassroots lobby, is releasing their latest report on the mad cow disease crisis written by expert Michael Greger, M.D., now available at http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/gregercjd.cfm. New research suggests that some of the hundreds of Americans dying of the sporadic form of CJD (Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease) every year may in fact be dying because of mad cow disease. And since autopsy studies done at Yale and elsewhere have shown that a few percent of Alzheimer's deaths may in fact be sporadic CJD, not hundreds, but thousands, of Americans may already be dying because of mad cow disease every year. Five years ago this week, the Center for Food Safety, the Humane Farming Association, the Center for Media & Democracy, and ten families of CJD victims petitioned the FDA and the CDC to immediately enact a national CJD monitoring system. The petition was denied. Now that mad cow disease has been confirmed in the United States, The OCA is calling on the CDC to immediately enact an active national surveillance program for CJD.... Mad cow aftershocks Charlie Myers will move 1,300 head of cattle through his auction barn during most Friday sales here. But Friday, Myers sold only about 400 head at Cattleman's Livestock Auction. So why was he smiling after the last bunch - a half dozen rangy, snorty animals from Catron County - were auctioned off? Because about 400 is about twice as many cattle as he sold at his previous auction on Jan. 2. The Jan. 2 sale was his first after the U.S. mad cow scare and the smallest sale Myers has had during four decades in the business. "I'm very much encouraged," he said Friday. "There was more activity today. Less people are nervous." Calves sold for 10 cents a pound more on Friday than they had the previous week and cows were up 8 cents a pound....Livestock Association Seeks USDA Investigation On Insurance Decision The Livestock Marketing Association is asking USDA Secretary Ann Veneman "for an immediate investigation and public explanation" of the circumstances surrounding the Dec. 23 decision by USDA's Risk Management Agency to stop taking applications for specific coverages of Livestock Risk Protection insurance. An LMA release called the decision "abrupt, arbitrary and unfair," and said it "undoubtedly has affected the future viability of LRP." A letter to Veneman from LMA President Billy Perrin said: "It is particularly upsetting, to us and to those whose applications for LRP coverage had been filed with the Agency, that RMA cited the finding of (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or) mad-cow disease in Washington state, as the reason for the suspension." The LRP was marketed, Perrin said in the letter, "to producers from the very outset as a way to protect against the kind of severe market price fluctuations that we have seen since the announcement of the BSE finding....Big falloff expected in cost of beef in the U.S. The loss of export markets for U.S. beef following last month's discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States will significantly lower cattle prices in 2004, the Agriculture Department said Monday. U.S. cattle prices were forecast in the range of $72 to $78 per hundredweight, down from last month's government estimate of $84 to $91 per hundredweight for this year. Cheaper prices are being reflected in the meat sections at supermarkets. Last week, Chicago supermarkets were advertising boneless round tip roasts for $1.99 a pound, a savings of $3 per pound. Retailers also were promoting beef in Washington, D.C., with "buy one, get one free" roasts. In Chicago Mercantile Exchange trading, live cattle futures contracts for February delivery closed at $74.70 per pound....