MAD COW NEWS

U.S. Cattle Prices Tumble on Mad Cow U.S. cattle prices tumbled in the Chicago markets on Monday after the U.S. Agriculture Department slashed its estimate for 2004 beef exports by 90 percent after the first U.S. case of deadly mad cow disease. "I think reality finally dawned on the CME cattle floor that the export markets will not reopen in weeks or even months,'' said Ann Barnhardt, livestock analyst with Colorado-based HedgersEdge.com. At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle futures for February delivery closed 1.225 cents lower at 74.700 cents per pound. That is down 18 percent since the U.S. Agriculture Department on Dec. 23 announced the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state....Abbott Laboratories Submits Application to U.S. Department of Agriculture For Mad Cow Disease Test Responding to the call for applications issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week, Abbott Laboratories today announced that a Veterinary Biological Product License Application for its bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test was submitted and is pending review by the USDA. Abbott had previously submitted BSE test data, along with draft product labeling, to the USDA in October 2003. In addition, the USDA performed inspections of the test's manufacturing site in Ireland and Abbott's distribution center in the United States. To date, the Enfer BSE test has been approved for cattle testing by the European Union and Japan, where large scale BSE testing is mandatory. The test detects the presence of the abnormal proteins believed to cause BSE -- commonly known as mad cow disease....Poll: U.S. Still Eating Beef Despite Mad Cow Case Few Americans have changed their beef-eating habits despite discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, according to a poll released on Monday by the largest U.S. farm group. The survey of 1,000 consumers, conducted on Saturday and Sunday by the American Farm Bureau Federation, found 74 percent have not changed their beef consumption. Another 15 percent said they were eating less beef while 7 percent said they were eating more. "Consumers are largely standing behind America's beef producers," said Bob Stallman, president of the 5.5 million-member American Farm Bureau Federation. The farm group plans to conduct three more weekly polls to track consumer confidence in beef, a spokesman said....UN agency: Mad cow precautions in many countries still insufficient Measures taken by many countries to screen cattle for mad cow disease are not enough to prevent the spread of the infection and reassure consumers, a UN food agency said Monday. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in December highlights the need for wider testing programs and the stricter application of preventive measures in countries where the disease is known to be present. But the UN agency said testing should be done on all cattle older than 30 months, an age beyond which the disease becomes detectable, as a measure to enhance consumer confidence....Japan boost imports of Australian beef Japan's buying more Australian beef, following its ban on U-S beef imports because of mad cow disease. A spokesman for Meat and Livestock Australia, Dr Peter Barnard, says a Japanese delegation last week accepted an offer from the Australian beef industry to increase shipments to Japan. He says demand is already rising. "Last week in the Japanese wholesale beef market prices for Australian product increased significantly and from talking to meat exporters from Australia there's increased interest and increased orders already flowing through for Australian product," says Dr Barnard .... Madcow kills big bull sale in New Mexico Concerns over mad cow disease forced the cancellation of a large sale of bulls this week near New Mexico's border with Mexico. The annual International All-Breeds Bull Sale, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, was to be a chance for Mexican ranchers to buy breeding bulls from New Mexico ranchers, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday...Mad cow ranks third among consumer food concerns Even after weeks of intense and emotionally charged coverage by the news media, a poll released today by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) shows that mad cow disease ranks third among consumers' food-related health concerns. Food poisoning and food-borne bacteria remain the greatest concerns, followed by mad cow, irradiated meat and cloned foods....Canadian agriculture minister fails to persuade South Korea to lift beef ban Canada's agriculture minister petitioned South Korea on Monday to begin a dialogue on lifting a ban on Canadian beef amid mad cow fears but failed to win any quick concessions. Soth Korea said it will keep the ban in place but agreed to send experts to examine safety measures taken by Canada since a case of mad cow disease was uncovered last year....More Suspect Cows at Quincy-Area Farm Identified Seven cows believed to be part of the same Canadian herd as the first U.S. mad-cow case have been traced to another Washington state farm, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said over the weekend. The cows linked to the infected Holstein have been located on a dairy farm near Quincy, Grant County, about 60 miles north of Yakima. A state quarantine order was being prepared yesterday but has not been served on the farm, said Washington State Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Mary Beth Lang....Mad cow's untold story Below the drumbeat of reassurances from government and the cattle industry that mad cow disease poses no threat to public health, a small universe of scientists working on a family of related illnesses are finding disturbing evidence to the contrary. Several little-publicized studies, as well as ongoing research at a government laboratory in Montana, continue to spark questions about human susceptibility not only to mad cow, but to sister diseases such as chronic wasting disease that mainly affects deer and elk, and to scrapie, which infects sheep. Mice research and clusters of cases where humans contracted a disease similar to mad cow also has some scientists wondering if consuming infected meat might have killed far more people than medical experts have long assumed, not only in Great Britain, but in the United States as well....Mad cow has implications for insurance industry The first case of mad cow disease discovered in the United States will have far-reaching implications for the beef industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and grocery chains. But the Insurance Information Institute pointed out the bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak will also tangle the insurance industry in complex ramifications. The institute said animal mortality insurance would cover the market value of cattle destroyed in a government-ordered slaughter. Insurance is generally taken out on livestock of particularly high value, such as a prize stud bull, and one bull could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, if the mad cow infected meat is found to have gotten into the food supply, litigation would undoubtedly ensue. According to the institute, normally the plaintiff needs to demonstrate some physical or financial harm in a tort case....