MAD COW DISEASE

Canada confirms new mad cow case

Another Canadian case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature dairy cow in the province of British Columbia, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Wednesday. The CFIA said the cow was 66 months old, within the age range of other Canadian cattle found to have the disease. The agency has the animal's carcass and no part of it entered the human or animal feed systems. The case is the tenth found in Canadian cattle since 2003, and the second in less than three months. Many of the cases have been blamed on exposure to contaminated feed. The CFIA did not specify the likely cause of the new case, but said in its release the animal likely came into contact with invective material during the first year of its life. The agency is now seeking out the animal's herdmates....

Another Canadian case of BSE born after feed ban

Canada found its tenth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) within its borders Wednesday. This latest one, like several before it, was also born after that country implemented a ruminant-to-ruminant feeding ban. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the latest BSE-positive animal is a dairy cow in British Columbia that was born 66 months ago. That puts its date of birth in or near November of 2001. Canada implemented its feed ban, which when effectively administered, prevents the transmission of BSE, in August of 1997. A rule pending final approval by USDA would allow all Canadian cattle born after March of 1999, 18 months after Canada implemented its feed ban, into the country on an essentially unrestricted basis. When Dr. John Clifford, the top veterinarian for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that proposed final rule earlier this year, he conceded the March, 1999 date had been a "back of the envelope" calculation that surmised an 18-month window would be sufficient to allow Canada's feed ban to take effect. America's first case of BSE involved an older dairy cow in Washington State that had been imported from Canada. USDA has since found two other native born cases, both involving animals born before the U.S. implemented its own ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban....