January 5, 2004

 

US May Still Claim BSE-Free Status

 

The United States may still claim BSE-free status, despite the country's first mad cow case reported on December 24, a move that a consumer group says would be a mistake. This would all depend on whether the infected cow is or isn't imported from Canada.

 

Scientists are expected to report early next week if the infected Holstein milk cow in Washington state was born in Canada, based on two separate DNA tests.

 

Two dozen nations stopped importing U.S. beef following the discovery. To reassure international and domestic consumers, the Bush administration announced new safeguards, including a ban on butchering sick or injured cattle for human food.

 

"We have the opportunity to preserve our export market," said Michael Stumo of the Organization for Competitive Markets, a group that supports small farmers.

 

It wants the Bush administration to declare the United States "provisionally free" of mad cow, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

 

"That's the whole reason for the losses," he said.

 

Standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) say a nation can be classified as provisionally free of mad cow when the disease is found in imported cattle and authorities are diligent in rooting it out and in maintaining safeguards.

 

"As you know, we are just one week into the investigation so it is too early to say what actions we will be taking in regard to OIE status," an Agriculture Department spokeswoman said, using the French abbreviation for the animal health organization.

 

That approach would jeopardize the administration's credibility, consumer groups said.

 

"It would not be a good interpretation from a public health standpoint" nor one that Americans would believe, said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group.

 

Canada and the United States have a large cattle trade, DeWaal said, so blaming Canada would not end the need for U.S. caution. Canada reported its first native case of mad cow last May 20 in the same province where the Washington state cow may have been born in April 1997.

 

"Now that two cattle have been discovered who probably ate from the same feed source, there probably are others. Where those cattle are today is anybody's guess," said DeWaal.

 

Both animals may have fallen ill because they ate feed contaminated with infected remains. U.S. officials are trying to locate 80 head of cattle that entered the United States with the infected cow.

 

At the OIE, Alex Thiermann said discussion of how to classify the United States was hypothetical until the origin of the infected Holstein was known.

 

Thiermann, chairman of OIE's standards-setting committee, said by telephone from Paris that officials should focus on reducing the risk of disease because of the large U.S.-Canada cattle trade.

 

Canada usually ships 1 million head to U.S. buyers each year and is the fourth largest importer of U.S. beef. It has banned imports of U.S. animals older than 30 months.

 

International trade expert Paul Drazek said ranking the United States as provisionally free of mad cow "is a legitimate question."

 

"Any other country would be attempting to make the same claim if it could," Drazek said.