October 18, 2006

Quebec farmer seeking class action lawsuit over mad cow

A Canadian farmer is hoping to bring a class action lawsuit against the federal government and Ridley Feed Inc, alleging they could have taken steps to prevent mad cow disease a decade before a rash of mad cow cases broke out in the country and led to international bans on which cost Canadian farmers billions.

Estimates put losses at between US$6 billion and US$7 billion, according to the lawsuit filed by Donald Berneche. He himself lost CAN$100,000 (US$87,800) despite the compensation he received from the federal government.

Berneche was in Quebec Superior Court on Monday (Oct 16) asking a judge to approve the class action suit against the federal government and Ridley Inc on behalf of all Quebec farmers. If approved, this would be the first class action lawsuit in the country.

It has been known since the late 1980s that cattle are infected when fed parts of other cattle infected with the disease, the lawsuit said.

Berneche's lawyers said the government's own documents had appreciated the magnitude of the threat to the industry then.

Although the UK banned ruminant meat and bone meal in its cattle feed in 1988, Canada only implemented a similar ban nine years later. In fact, the federal government passed a regulation in 1990 allowing the continued use of ruminant parts in feed.

Ridley Inc, an Australia-based company that produces feed in Canada, voluntarily halted meat and bone meal production in Australia but continued to use it for years in Canada until the ban was imposed in 1997, according to the lawsuit.

So far, seven cows in Canada have tested positive for mad cow disease, the most recent being last July in Alberta.

Ridley and the federal government also face similar actions in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.