January 12, 2005

 

 

Canada Confirms New Case of Mad Cow

 

Canadian authorities confirmed on Tuesday another case of mad cow disease in the western province of Alberta - the second animal found to have the deadly brain-wasting disease in Canada since US officials announced last month they would resume the cross-border cattle trade in March.

 

Canadian officials said no part of the animal has yet been consumed by humans or other animals. This is the third case of the disease ever found in Canada.

 

But the announcement may strengthen the position of a group of US cattlemen who have sued to block the lifting of the ban who say that resuming trade will hurt US producers and put consumers at risk.

 

US Department of Agriculture officials said Tuesday they are sending a team to Canada to evaluate the latest mad cow case before deciding whether to change their plan to resume imports.

 

The latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in an animal under 7 years old. Canadian Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell said the case was unrelated to the second case of the disease, which was confirmed January 2 and also involved an Alberta cow.

 

The latest sick cow was born after a 1997 feed ban in Canada removed the use of animal remains in feed, commonly believed to be the cause of the disease. This makes this third Canadian cow with BSE more serious than the others because the cause could be much more difficult to trace.

 

Nevertheless, Mitchell stressed the new case was not a cause for alarm.

 

He has pledged that Canada would toughen measures to stem the disease and that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with an independent third party, would conduct an audit of the country's animal feed safety.

 

The January case was announced after the disease was detected in an 8-year-old cow from Alberta. It was born in the same herd - within one year - of a cow shipped to the United States in February 2002 for immediate slaughter, the USDA said.

 

Canada's first case of mad cow surfaced in May 2003, prompting the U.S. government to close the border to Canadian beef imports. Concerns persisted after a Canadian-born cow in Washington state was found in December 2003 to have the disease, which attacks the animal's nervous system.

 

All three cases have involved animals from Alberta.

 

On Dec. 29, the Bush administration announced plans for lifting the ban.

 

Mad cow disease eats holes in the brains of cattle. Food contaminated with BSE can afflict humans with a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is usually fatal.

 

The border closure by the United States has cost the Canadian beef industry at least $3 billion. Before the trade ban, animals regularly crossed the border and Canada sold more than 70 percent of its live cattle to the United States.

 

Imports of some packaged beef resumed in the fall of 2003, but it was not until late last month that Washington said it would resume trade in live animals on March 7. The USDA ruling declared Canada a "minimal-risk region" so that cattle could be shipped into the United States under certain restrictions. The cattle must be slaughtered by the age of 30 months, which scientists say is too young to contract mad cow disease, and they must also be transported in sealed containers to a feedlot or slaughter house.

 

Under World Health Organization guidelines, a country may have up to 11 cases of mad cow disease in a year and still be considered a minimal-risk country.