Montana Stockgrowers- Halt OTM Rule Making

[Oldtimer]

Today 7/18/2006 1:56:00 PM


MSGA Urges Johanns To Suspend Rule Making On Cattle Over 30 Mos. Of Age



The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) has contacted the U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Mike Johanns, to request a halt to any and all pending decisions that may liberalize the importation standards for Canadian cattle over 30 months of age.



MSGA cited the recent identification of a 50-month-old Canadian cow positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) as reason to question the effectiveness of Canada's ban on ruminant-to-ruminant feed.



The ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban is the cornerstone of the effort to eliminate the spread of BSE. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) feed ban was introduced in 1997, to prevent "mad cow disease" or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from entering the food chain. Scientists believe that the spread of this disease in cattle in Great Britain 20 years ago was caused by feeding protein products made from infected cattle or sheep. The United States enacted it's own feed ban in 1997 as well.



As the latest case of BSE in Canada was in a cow born well after the feed ban, MSGA has asked that the USDA perform a full investigation into the case and into the CFIA's feed ban process as a whole to determine if the incident is isolated or if the ineffectiveness of the feed ban is widespread.



"This latest development has left U.S. producers and consumers with more questions than answers on effectiveness of the Canadian feed ban", stated Bill Donald, MSGA President and Melville rancher. "We need our policymakers in Washington to address this issue in the best interest of our industry, and both human and animal health."

 

[SaskHerf]

Easy for you guys to sit down here and say that, funny how i remember reading a post yesterday that talked about 10787 tonnes of feed was shipped out containing animal by-products.
We (North America) and alot of other countries have a problem (BSE).While some are trying to clean the problem up, Others are sweeping it under the rug and acting like they don't have one. I'm not convinced the latter is going to fix anything.

 

[Oldtimer]

Easy for you guys to sit down here and say that, funny how i remember reading a post yesterday that talked about 10787 tonnes of feed was shipped out containing animal by-products.
We (North America) and alot of other countries have a problem (BSE).While some are trying to clean the problem up, Others are sweeping it under the rug and acting like they don't have one. I'm not convinced the latter is going to fix anything.

I agree with you SaskHerf- WE, both Canada and the US should quit sweeping things under the table and making decisions based on short term economics instead of what the science advises us...It is important to stop the spread of this disease and eliminate it from North America- but we will never do this if we let economics override science in making policy, like USDA has been doing....

The USDA had a sound BSE policy- that their TSE advisors developed after years of study, which they need to put back in place and strengthen instead of weakening... And they testified to Congress that the number one firewall in that policy and in keeping BSE from entering or spreading in the US was their quarantine rule which included not importing beef or cattle from any BSE country......

 

[SaskHerf]

i really think the US lacks any form of a usable BSE testing program. There are many on here that will agree with me that the US has BSE but chooses not to find it. What would it matter even if a canadian cow went to the states and had BSE, they'd never find her anyways. Oh wait a minute they always find the canadian cows, we're the only ones that have BSE.

 

[Oldtimer]

i really think the US lacks any form of a usable BSE testing program. There are many on here that will agree with me that the US has BSE but chooses not to find it. What would it matter even if a canadian cow went to the states and had BSE, they'd never find her anyways. Oh wait a minute they always find the canadian cows, we're the only ones that have BSE.

Well SaskHerf, many down here have been questioning USDA and USDA's BSE policy too since the first BSE cow was found in Canada...R-CALF even took them to court--But the US courts have ruled that they have "ultimate decision making power" and are immune from judicial oversight....

 

[frenchie]

Today 7/18/2006 1:56:00 PM


MSGA Urges Johanns To Suspend Rule Making On Cattle Over 30 Mos. Of Age



The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) has contacted the U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Mike Johanns, to request a halt to any and all pending decisions that may liberalize the importation standards for Canadian cattle over 30 months of age.



MSGA cited the recent identification of a 50-month-old Canadian cow positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) as reason to question the effectiveness of Canada's ban on ruminant-to-ruminant feed.



The ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban is the cornerstone of the effort to eliminate the spread of BSE. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) feed ban was introduced in 1997, to prevent "mad cow disease" or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from entering the food chain. Scientists believe that the spread of this disease in cattle in Great Britain 20 years ago was caused by feeding protein products made from infected cattle or sheep. The United States enacted it's own feed ban in 1997 as well.



As the latest case of BSE in Canada was in a cow born well after the feed ban, MSGA has asked that the USDA perform a full investigation into the case and into the CFIA's feed ban process as a whole to determine if the incident is isolated or if the ineffectiveness of the feed ban is widespread.



"This latest development has left U.S. producers and consumers with more questions than answers on effectiveness of the Canadian feed ban", stated Bill Donald, MSGA President and Melville rancher. "We need our policymakers in Washington to address this issue in the best interest of our industry, and both human and animal health."

June 20, 2006, 5:13PM
Feed Recalled Over Mad Cow Violation


© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Livestock feed ingredients shipped to nine states may have been contaminated with cattle remains in violation of a 1997 ban to protect against mad cow disease, a manufacturer said Tuesday.

H.J. Baker & Bro. Inc. said it was recalling three livestock feed ingredients, including two used to supplement feed given to dairy cows. A sample tested by the Food and Drug Administration was positive for cattle meat and bone meal, said Mark Hohnbaum, president of the Westport, Conn.-based company's feed products group.

"This is very concerning to us. This isn't something that happens to us. We are very serious about food safety," Hohnbaum said.

Mad cow disease is only known to spread when cows eat feed containing brain and other nerve tissue from infected cattle. Protein from cattle was commonly added to cattle feed to speed growth until the ban largely outlawed the practice.

Cattle tissue may have contaminated two feed ingredients given to dairy cows _ Pro-Lak and Pro-Amino II _ made by H.J. Baker between August 2005 and June. The third of the recalled ingredients, Pro-Pak with Porcine Meat and Bone, was mislabeled. It is used in poultry feed.

The company announced the recall in the wake of ongoing FDA inspections of its Albertville, Ala. plant, Hohnbaum said. The inspections have found manufacturing and clerical issues, he added.

The company shipped the ingredients to feed manufacturers and dairy farms in the following states: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee. The company is notifying its customers of the voluntary recall. It does not know how much of the feed ingredients it sold, Hohnbaum said.

and he,s concerned about our feedban Ot...seriously you do realize that the U.s & Canadian feedbans both have loopholes.that could be responsible for transmitting this problem such as blood meal , mammalian tissue etc

 

[Oldtimer]

and he,s concerned about our feedban Ot...seriously you do realize that the U.s & Canadian feedbans both have loopholes.that could be responsible for transmitting this problem such as blood meal , mammalian tissue etc

I agree with you- I do believe both the US and Canadian feedbans have loopholes in them-- that is one reason I believe we should not be importing beef or cattle from a country with a known higher BSE risk until we plug these loopholes....

Just because you have one rattlesnake living under the porch you can't catch, doesn't mean you go out and import in a dozen more....

Then we need to country of origin label all meat and leave any related health or safety decisions to those that it pertains to- the consumer....

 

[frenchie]

Just because you have one rattlesnake living under the porch you can't catch, doesn't mean you go out and import in a dozen more....

....

.Nor does it mean that you shoot a few garder snakers , when it might leave you short of shells to shoot the other 300 rattlesnakes that are hiding in other places, you forgot to look