January 17, 2005

 

 

Canada Mad Cow Owner Points To Suspect Cattle Feed

 

The Alberta rancher who owned the cow at the centre of Canada's latest BSE scare said he purchased a suspect cattle feed supplement after 1997, when feed rules changed.

 

The feed supplement was purchased in central Alberta in the spring of 1998, and the outlet is likely to be investigated, he said.

 

"I bought that feed in good faith,'' said Wilhelm Vohs. He said he believed it contained mostly grain along with

 

In 1997, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had banned the use of feed containing animal remains, which is thought to be the way BSE is spread.

 

Vohs, of Innisfail, Alta., told his story at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said 104 of his cattle ate from the same feed supply.

 

He said he first noticed the cow's illness between Christmas and New Year's Eve. A local veterinarian was called in, who decided to put the cow down.

 

Vohs' animal became the third known case of BSE, or mad cow, in Canada. The news came just days after the United States agreed to re-open its border to Canadian cattle older than 30 months.

 

A CFIA veterinarian who attended the news conference praised Vohs as a model producer and scrupulous record-keeper. He said Vohs' records will help with their investigation.

 

The unnamed distributor, and the feed manufacturer, are now part of a government probe which is tracking back eight years, to the time when the feed ban came into effect.

 

At the time no one checked to ensure ranchers and manufacturers had stopped using the cheaper, illegal product. Instead officials relied on an honour system.

 

Dr. George Luterbach from the CFIA said while the feed is being investigated, there could be another explanation for the BSE transmission.

 

"A theoretical possibility is the transmission from a mother, late in the disease, to her offspring,'' said Luterbach. "We would investigate and remove the offspring of a positive animal.''

 

Controversy over cull

 

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is repeating his call for a cull of older cattle, despite the objections of those who say such a drastic move is not needed.

 

In an interview with Craig Oliver that will air Sunday on CTV's Question Period, Klein repeated his belief that a cull may be just what the cattle industry needs in the wake of a third diagnosis of mad cow disease in Canada.

 

"There are ways of culling," Klein said. "I've talked to our agriculture minister and, one way of culling is to increase slaughter capacity for those older bulls and cows. And by older I don't mean as old as we are, I mean older than 30 months. So that's one way.

 

"But how that cull is achieved is entirely up to the industry and the scientific community."

Klein says there's a need for a cull, although he says that doesn't mean a mass "slaughter" of animals.

 

Both the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and the Alberta Cattle Feeders are also urging a cull. They believe it would send a strong message to the United States, where many ranchers are fighting plans to reopen the border to Canadian cattle.

 

But Gary Little, a senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, says any talk of a cull is an overreaction.

 

The CFIA insists Canadian beef is safe, cull or no cull. They say the ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban introduced in 1997 has limited the spread of BSE.

 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman says nothing has changed with this latest diagnosis and plans to re-open the border to Canadian cattle will stay on schedule.

 

"The Canadian authorities have been very co-operative. We will continue to investigate this process to determine if there are any different actions that need to be taken," she said Wednesday.

 

But a spokesman for the U.S. National Farmers Union says it matters little what officials say about the safety of Canadian beef. His members already have the perception that Canadian cattle imports are bad for business.

 

"It's one thing to say that your food is safe," Tom Buis told CTV's Canada AM. "But if our customers are not buying that argument -- and obviously they haven't. Our No. 1 and 3 customers, Japan and South Korea, are not buying our food until we get those customers reassured that we have a safe product."

 

"I think it would be a disservice to producers in the United States to accept product that has forced us to lose our export sales, over $2 billion annually."

 

Buis adds that U.S. farmers feel empathy for their Canadian counterparts.

 

"We feel for the producers and farmers and ranchers in Canada. We know the struggles they go through," he said. "But it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to transfer a problem that you have in Canada right now."

 

Canada has committed to increasing the number of cows it tests for BSE. In 2003, it tested one in every 1,000 Canadian cows. Over the next five years, the plan is to test one in every 110 cows.

 

In Britain, Germany, France and Japan, all cattle are tested for BSE from 24 to 30 months of age. Critics say that if more Canadian cattle were tested, more cases of BSE would be found.

 

Under World Health Organization guidelines, so-called "minimal risk" countries such as Canada can retain that status even with as many as 11 reported cases in a 12-month period.