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Rapid City Journal –
Monday – September 17, 2007
USDA to
open border to older Canadian cattle
Cattle industry leaders concerned about risks to U.S. producers
By Steve Miller, Journal staff
A
federal government decision to open the U.S. border to older Canadian cattle
makes it more likely that mad cow disease from that country will infect the U.S.
cattle herd, congressional and cattle industry opponents say.
One cattle industry leader even said it could put U.S. consumers at greater
risk.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced it plans to open the
border in November to Canadian cattle older than 30 months of age.
Most animal scientists say mad cow disease, known scientifically as bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, doesn’t usually appear in cattle younger than
30 months.
USDA banned all Canadian cattle in May 2003, when Canada found its first case of
BSE. It later relaxed the ban, to allow cattle younger than 30 months.
Since 2003, Canada has reported 10 cattle with BSE, a fatal neurological disease
with no known cure. It has been linked to a similar disease in humans, although
there have been no reports of human deaths from infected cattle in North
America.
USDA officials say the move to allow older Canadian cattle poses a minimal risk
of introducing BSE into the U.S. The agency said it will allow Canadian cattle
born after March 1, 1999, which it considers the date at which a Canadian BSE-prevention
measure became effective.
But Sam Holland, South Dakota state veterinarian, said opening up the border to
older Canadian cattle is premature.
Holland said the March 1, 1999, date is arbitrary, and five Canadian cattle born
after that date have been found with BSE, suggesting a feed ban aimed at
preventing the spread of BSE wasn’t yet fully in force.
He said opening the border to older Canadian cattle likely will mean the entry
of a small number of BSE-infected cattle into the United States, which could
complicate efforts to regain foreign markets for U.S. beef.
Japan, South Korea and other countries banned U.S. beef after a Canadian-born
cow was found in Washington state in December 2003.
Holland, head of the South Dakota Animal Industry Board, said current BSE
prevention measures are adequate in the U.S., both for consumers and cattle. But
he said those measures might have to be tightened if BSE-infected cattle come in
from Canada.
In 1997, the U.S. and Canada banned using cattle remains in cattle feed,
considered the primary way BSE is spread. Until the ban, cattle remains in the
form of meat and bone meal were often added to cattle feed.
Also, in both countries, cattle parts that can carry BSE, including spinal
tissue, are removed from the food chain at slaughter, ensuring safe meat
products for the public, Holland said.
But Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of R-CALF USA, a national cattle
group, said reopening the border to older Canadian cattle and beef products from
older cattle could raise the risk of BSE infection for both the U.S. cattle herd
and consumers.
“We ... believe that it demonstrates an irresponsible action by USDA to expose
the U.S. cattle industry and U.S. consumers to an unacceptable and avoidable
risk,” Bullard said Monday.
He said USDA’s own analysis shows the move likely would lead to the import of
about 20 infected Canadian cattle into the U.S.
Bullard said the World Organization for Animal Health has recommended banning
high-risk ruminant tissues from all animal feed. The fear is contaminated cow
parts could be ground up and fed to pigs or chickens, and then contaminated
offal from those animals could be added to cattle feed.
He said cross-contamination also can occur in feed mills, which produce feed for
both ruminants and other animals.
Such cross-contamination is thought to be a leading cause of BSE infection in
Canada, Bullard said.
Bullard said opening the border to older Canadian cattle would also increase the
risk to humans of getting a related and fatal illness, called variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
He said removal of specific risk materials (such as spinal tissue) from the food
chain reduces the risk. “But it does not eliminate the risk due to the potential
of infectious materials cross contaminating meat products that do not contain
central nervous system tissues,” Bullard said.
South Dakota Stockgrowers Association President Larry Nelson of Buffalo said he
questions the validity of guidelines set by the World Organization for Animal
Health that designates the United States and Canada as “minimal risk”
countries.
Canada has had 10 cases, and the United States has had three reported cases of
BSE, the first being a cow from Canada, Nelson said. The other two cases were
cattle with “atypical BSE.”
Holland said the two “atypical BSE” cases in the U.S. were found in extremely
old cattle and could have occurred naturally.
The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association is still evaluating the voluminous
proposed rule, SDCA Executive Director Jodie Hickman of Pierre said Monday. “We
support normalization of trade, but we would like to see more stringent aspects
of the rule,” she said.
Hickman said, for example, the rule would allow in cattle older than the
youngest previous infected Canadian cow. She said the SDCA also favors a system
to track all imported animals before the border is opened to older cattle.
The association also is unhappy with the rule’s timing, opening up the border to
more Canadian cattle during the critical fall marketing period, according to
SDCA President Scott Jones of Midland.
The USDA proposed rule will be published today in the Federal Register and,
unless Congress overturns it, will take effect Nov. 19.
Bullard said R-CALF is working with members of Congress on a bill to halt the
border reopening.
Both Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and John Thune, R-S.D., along with Rep.
Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., oppose reopening the border to older Canadian cattle.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/09/17/news/top/doc46ee9f93895a8098341832.txt
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