MAD COW DISEASE

U.S. Stands Firm on Canadian Beef Imports Expressing confidence in the safety of Canadian beef, the Bush administration said Thursday it would stand by its decision to renew Canadian beef imports beginning in March despite a possible new case of mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department said that even if the Canadian cow is confirmed positive for mad cow disease it believes public health measures in Canada and the United States will protect U.S. livestock and consumers. "Because of the mitigation measures that Canada has in place, we continue to believe the risk is minimal," said Ron DeHaven, administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A day after the United States announced that with some restrictions it would reopen its borders to Canadian beef, the Canadian government on Thursday announced it may have another case of mad cow disease. It said preliminary screening of a "downer" cow -- one unable to walk -- showed multiple positive results for mad cow....
Possible Canada Mad Cow Case Fuels Industry Tension Canada may have found a new case of mad cow disease, officials said on Thursday, rekindling tensions in its hard-hit beef industry just one day after the United States announced plans to reopen the border to live Canadian cattle. A 10-year-old dairy cow from Alberta tested positive in two preliminary examinations, but the case -- which comes 20 months after Canada's first home-grown mad cow discovery -- has yet to be confirmed by a full-scale test, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. The animal did not enter the human food or animal-feed supply, officials stressed. Definitive "gold standard" test results are expected in two to four days, Little said. The agency has started tracing the animal's offspring as a precaution, he said....
Officials confident suspect cow won't affect border opening ``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 rule, released Wednesday only hours before the new suspected Canadian case was identified, will allow live cattle under 30 months old and meat from older cattle back into the U.S. after a 19-month ban stemming from the discovery of one Alberta cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Rogers said the rule, which would open the border on March 7, was written with the likelihood of further cases being discovered in mind. The preliminary results were passed along to American officials before they released their rule on the border reopening _ news greeted with joy and relief across a cattle industry that has lost about $5 billion since the border closed. Leahman said the farm where the purebred Holstein cow came 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,'' Leahman said. The cow's pedigree will make tracing her past movements easier if it becomes necessary, said Leahman....
Statement By Dr. Ron DeHaven Administrator, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service "USDA is confident that the animal and public health measures that Canada has in place to prevent BSE, combined with existing U.S. domestic safeguards and additional safeguards announced yesterday provide the utmost protections to U.S. consumers and livestock. "Last night Canada announced the finding of a "suspect" animal, which is their term for inconclusive. If this animal proves to be positive, it would not alter the implementation of the U.S. rule announced yesterday that recognizes Canada as a Minimal-Risk Region. 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. "When Canadian ruminants and ruminant products are presented for importation into the United States, they become subject to domestic safeguards as well. Beef imports that have already undergone Canadian inspection are also subject to re-inspection at ports of entry by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to ensure only eligible products are imported. "We are working closely with Canadian officials as they conduct their investigation into this situation."
AMI files suit challenging USDA Charging that continuing to enforce a ban on importing older cattle is “arbitrary and capricious,” the American Meat Institute (AMI) today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court saying there is no legal or scientific justification for continuing to ban Canadian cattle 30 months of age and older. The filing came a day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted for display at the Federal Register a new rule affecting beef and cattle imports. The ban on Canadian cattle and beef dates back to May 2003, when Canada diagnosed a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an Alberta cow. In its pleadings, AMI said that USDA continues to ban the importation of Canadian cattle 30 months and older and that this is “scientifically insupportable and is therefore arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law, in violation of the Administration Procedure Act.” The Institute made clear that it is not challenging the rule announced yesterday, but is seeking an injunction against enforcement of the original May 2003 ban....