May 22, 2006

US delays importing cattle from Mexico's fever-tick infested regions

The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has postponed a proposal to allow cattle imports from fever-tick infested areas of Mexico while it does a risk assessment, said Jim Rogers, APHIS spokesman, on Friday (May 19).

APHIS had proposed to eliminate a prohibition on entry of Mexican cattle exposed to or infested with fever ticks, or exposed to tick-borne diseases, into quarantined areas of Texas, Rogers said. However, the rule was pulled to do the risk assessment.

Rogers did not know how long the assessment might take, but said it had not begun yet.

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America recommended that US standards not be relaxed in regard to imports of Mexican cattle from areas of Mexico infested with fever ticks until such a study was completed.

R-CALF also said in a release that the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) had protested and sought the study, but a spokesman from the TAHC was not available for confirmation immediately.