POTENTIAL CASE OF BSE MAD COW IDENTIFIED IN B.C.

[S.R.R.]

What do you believe demand will be 5 or say 10 years from now if people start showing up infected and dying?

As per my other post:

45,000 Canadians die from smoking each year. 6000 from alcohol.

435,000 Americans die from smoking each year. 85 000 from alcohol.

Only one human death in Canada has been related to BSE.

USA has none.

Why do you think there is such an obsession with BSE?

 

[Oldtimer]

What do you believe demand will be 5 or say 10 years from now if people start showing up infected and dying?

As per my other post:

45,000 Canadians die from smoking each year. 6000 from alcohol.

435,000 Americans die from smoking each year. 85 000 from alcohol.

Only one human death in Canada has been related to BSE.

USA has none.

Why do you think there is such an obsession with BSE?

One of the main reasons is that it is something new- and scarey- so many thories and ways of transmission and no known cure....

With alcohol and tobacco you know the risks-- with BSE their is still too many questions- with few solid answers...And both countries governments USDA and CFIA have handled the situation poorly --openly allowing the science of short term economics to override the science of health and safety and the long term of the cattle industry....And now having many of there previous statements and actions coming back to haunt them.....

I only hope that the prion infectivity hasn't entered our food supply and/or blood supply and that we don't begin seeing human cases in future years- it will devestate any cattle industry that is left....

As I typed this the news article on Canada's 6th cow was on Paul Harvey News on the radio...They made a big deal about the fact of the age of this cow and that it was born 3 years after the feed ban that was supposed to protect cattle from being infected...The final statement of the announcer filling in for Paul was that it made many wonder if feed companies or ranchers in Canada were cheating on the feedban!!!

We need Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling!!!

 

[S.R.R.]

As I typed this the news article on Canada's 6th cow was on Paul Harvey News on the radio...They made a big deal about the fact of the age of this cow and that it was born 3 years after the feed ban that was supposed to protect cattle from being infected...The final statement of the announcer filling in for Paul was that it made many wonder if feed companies or ranchers in Canada were cheating on the feedban!!!

There is my answer. The obsession comes from the media.

 

[frenchie]

This is now the 3rd POST feedban animal- really supports what some where saying about there being questions and problems with Canada's feed ban....

And Canada like the US still haven't implemented all the recommendations to close these loopholes.....

I wonder how long before the U.S starts turning up its own post feed-ban b.s.e cases ... :?: ;-)

If they already have or do in the future do you think they would be dumb enough to tell the whole world? :roll:

S.R.R...I,m absolutely shocked you would even suggest such a thing Tsk tsk...

I don,t think they would be able to bury that sort of a thing for very long ..people talk.

You guys can set there and chuckle all you want......

Whos chuckleing Ot:?:

 

[frenchie]

The final statement of the announcer filling in for Paul was that it made many wonder if feed companies or ranchers in Canada were cheating on the feedban!!!

Again more wild speculation on your part :roll:

 

[Oldtimer]

The final statement of the announcer filling in for Paul was that it made many wonder if feed companies or ranchers in Canada were cheating on the feedban!!!

Again more wild speculation on your part :roll:

Wild speculation on my part? :???: :roll: I did not say that- the announcer on the Paul Harvey National syndicated radio show said that...Thats what the radio listeners across the country are hearing...That is not speculation.....

And that is what consumers that know beef is coming from Canada are hearing- I'll leave it up to you to speculate what effect that has on them hearing from a national news source that Canada has another BSE case and it was born 3 years after their feedban- which the announcer then questions Canada's ranchers and feed companies honesty about...

Actually following that report, the local Ag News was much more ho-hum about announcing the BSE case altho they also brought up the 2000 birth date-- and they cited R-CALF's investigation of 3 years ago that the feedban was flawed and not being followed in some areas of Canada, indicating this was more evidence proving R-CALF right....

 

[frenchie]

The final statement of the announcer filling in for Paul was that it made many wonder if feed companies or ranchers in Canada were cheating on the feedban!!!

Again more wild speculation on your part :roll:

Wild speculation on my part? :???: :roll: I did not say that- the announcer on the Paul Harvey National syndicated radio show said that...Thats what the radio listeners across the country are hearing...That is not speculation.....:

Nope just gossip

Actually following that report, the local Ag News was much more ho-hum about announcing the BSE case altho they also brought up the 2000 birth date-- and they cited R-CALF's investigation of 3 years ago that the feedban was flawed and not being followed in some areas of Canada, indicating this was more evidence proving R-CALF right....

Ot a flawed feedban and a violated one are 2 different things.Lets have some names here dick

 

[S.R.R.]

Talk about flawed feed baned. Why is it still legal in the US to feed chicken SH!T? Also blood, left over meat, ect.



WASHINGTON - American cattle are eating chicken litter, cattle blood and restaurant leftovers that could help transmit mad cow disease -- a gap in the U.S. defense that the Bush administration promised to close nearly 18 months ago.
"Once the cameras were turned off and the media coverage dissipated, then it's been business as usual, no real reform, just keep feeding slaughterhouse waste," said John Stauber, an activist and co-author of "Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?"

The Food and Drug Administration promised to tighten feed rules shortly after the first case of mad cow disease was confirmed in the U.S., in a Washington state cow in December 2003.

"Today we are bolstering our BSE firewalls to protect the public," Mark McClellan, then-FDA commissioner, said on Jan. 26, 2004. FDA said it would ban blood, poultry litter and restaurant plate waste from cattle feed and require feed mills to use separate equipment to make cattle feed.

However, last July, the FDA scrapped those restrictions. McClellan's replacement, Lester Crawford, said international experts were calling for even stronger rules and that FDA would produce new restrictions in line with the experts' report.

Today, the FDA still has not done what it promised to do. The agency declined interviews, saying in a statement only that there is no timeline for new restrictions.

"It's just a lot of talk," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a senior House Democrat on food and farm issues. "It's a lot of talk, a lot of press releases, and no action."

Unlike other infections, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, or mad cow disease, doesn't spread through the air. As far as scientists know, cows get the disease only by eating brain and other nerve tissues of already-infected cows.

Ground-up cattle remains left over from slaughtering operations were used as protein in cattle feed until 1997, when an outbreak of mad cow cases in Britain prompted the U.S. to order the feed industry to quit doing it. Unlike Britain, however, the U.S. feed ban has exceptions.

For example, it's legal to put ground-up cattle remains in chicken feed. Feed that spills from cages mixes with chicken waste on the ground, then is swept up for use in cattle feed.

Scientists believe the BSE protein will survive the feed-making process and may even survive the trip through a chicken's gut.

That amounts to the legal feeding of some cattle protein back to cattle, said Linda Detwiler, a former Agriculture Department veterinarian who led the department's work on mad cow disease for several years.

"I would stipulate it's probably not a real common thing, and the amounts are pretty small," Detwiler said. But still, if cattle protein is in the system, it's being fed back to cattle, she said in an interview.

Cattle protein can also be fed to chickens, pigs and household pets, which presents the risk of accidental contamination in a feed mill.

The General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said last month that a feed mill, which it did not identify, accidentally mixed banned protein into cattle feed. By the time inspectors discovered the problem and the mill issued a recall, potentially contaminated cattle feed had already been on the market for about a year, GAO said.

Rendering companies, which process slaughter waste, contend that new restrictions would be costly and create hazards from leftover waste. They say changes are not justified.

"We process about 50 billion pounds of product annually -- in visual terms, that is a convoy of semi trucks, four lanes wide, running from New York to L.A. every year," said Jim Hodges, president of the meatpacking industry's American Meat Institute Foundation.

While new restrictions stalled, the administration also ignored the advice of its own experts to close the loopholes before allowing Canadian cattle back into the U.S.

Cattle trade "should not resume unless and until" loopholes in the feed ban are closed, according to an internal Agriculture Department memo, written by its working group of BSE experts in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, dated June 15, 2003, shortly after Canada's first case of mad cow disease.

The ranchers' group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, obtained the memo as part of its lawsuit against the department.

Even though the loopholes remain, the Agriculture Department late last year approved reopening the border. Only a federal judge in Montana is keeping the border closed. He sided with R-CALF, which fears another infected cow shipped south might be carrying the disease, just like the lone U.S. case found in Washington state in 2003.

Today, the department maintains that much has been learned since the memo was written. Lisa Ferguson, senior staff veterinarian for the department, said the memo didn't mean the government thought the feed ban was inadequate "or anything other than what it was, a group of suggestions from a group of employees at that point in time."

"Is our feed ban completely perfect and absolutely airtight?" she said. "No, I don't think anybody would claim that. Could changes be made? Yes, changes can be made."

* __ Below are some of the ways in which United States cattle feed regulations could amplify and spread cases of mad cow disease.

Loopholes in cattle feed

* Ground-up cattle remains can be fed to chicken, and chicken litter is fed back to cattle. Poultry feed that spills from cages mixes with chicken waste on the ground, then is swept up for use in cattle feed. Scientists believe the BSE protein will survive the feed-making process and may survive being digested in chickens.

* Cattle blood can be fed to cattle and often comes in the form of milk replacement for calves. Some scientists believe blood from infected cattle could transmit the disease.

* Restaurant leftovers, called "plate waste," are allowed in cattle feed. Cuts of meat that contain part of the spinal cord, or become contaminated by spinal tissue while being prepared, could be infected with BSE.

* Factories are not required to use separate production lines and equipment for feed that contains cattle remains and feed that does not, creating the risk that cattle remains could accidentally go into cattle feed.

* Besides being fed to poultry, cattle protein is allowed in feed for pigs and household pets, creating the possibility it could mistakenly be fed to cattle.

* Unfiltered tallow, or fat, is allowed in cattle feed, yet it has protein impurities that could be a source of mad cow disease.

 

[Oldtimer]

SRR- Many US ranchers and ranchers groups like R-CALF have been fighting hard to close these loopholes- some of which were put in effect or proposed in 2004, but then dropped after Big Dollar lobbying from Packing, Rendering, Dairy, and the Poultry Industries...

The same happened in Canada- and some of the ones you thought were in effect have never taken place...I think your poultry litter (chicken ****) ban has never been put in place either- I can't remember them all- but they were exposed by a Calgary journalist just a few months ago...They were proposed- but never put into effect :roll:

But NCBA and your CCA and ABP will tell you nothing- they set back and play stooges for the USDA and the big multinational Corporate Interests......

That is the reason I have said all along that we should not open the border to Canadian live cattle or OTM cattle or beef until these loopholes are closed in BOTH countries and the USDA initiates the M-COOL law that was passed 4 years ago so that the choice is left to consumers....

 

[frenchie]

SRR- Many US ranchers and ranchers groups like R-CALF have been fighting hard to close these loopholes- some of which were put in effect or proposed in 2004, but then dropped after Big Dollar lobbying from Packing, Rendering, Dairy, and the Poultry Industries...

The same happened in Canada- and some of the ones you thought were in effect have never taken place...I think your poultry litter (chicken be nice) ban has never been put in place either- I can't remember them all- but they were exposed by a Calgary journalist just a few months ago...They were proposed- but never put into effect :roll:

But NCBA and your CCA and ABP will tell you nothing- they set back and play stooges for the USDA and the big multinational Corporate Interests......

That is the reason I have said all along that we should not open the border to Canadian live cattle or OTM cattle or beef until these loopholes are closed in BOTH countries and the USDA initiates the M-COOL law that was passed 4 years ago so that the choice is left to consumers....

Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) Feed Ban
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.

What is BSE?

BSE is a progressive, fatal disease in cattle affecting the nervous system. It is part of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family of diseases, such as scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. Research is incomplete, but to date there is no effective treatment or vaccine to protect against this disease.

Do we have BSE in Canada?

In 1993 BSE was found in a beef cow that had been imported from Britain in 1987. The animal was destroyed and additional measures were taken immediately by the federal government to deal with any risk that Canadian cattle might have been affected.

Through Canada's BSE surveillance program there have been 3 cases of BSE found in Canada since 2003. The first case of BSE was reported May 20, 2003. The animal was condemned at slaughter and no meat from the carcass entered the food system. The CFIA responded with a comprehensive investigation that tested some 2,000 animals. All test results were negative for BSE.

The second and third cases were confirmed on January 2 and 11, 2005, respectively. Neither of these animals entered the food or feed systems. Investigations into these 2 cases are complete and all of the animals depopulated through these initiatives tested negative for BSE.

BSE has been a reportable disease in Canada since 1990.

What does the feed ban do?

Ruminant or cud-chewing animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk and bison are considered susceptible to TSEs. The feed ban controls what is fed to ruminant animals in Canada and prevents the spread of TSEs affecting ruminant species. Producers feeding these animals cannot use rendered protein products derived from ruminants.

Why are animals fed protein?

Proteins are organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and are composed of one or more chains of amino acids. Proteins are important to an animal's diet as they are considered essential for the growth and repair of tissue. Although plant materials such as cereals, oilseeds, hay, silage, etc. are commonly used in animal rations, protein products from meat, fish, eggs and milk are used in animal feeds because they provide high quality nutrients.

Which animal proteins are exempt from the feed ban and can be fed to ruminants?

Pure porcine and equine proteins.
Poultry and fish proteins.
Milk, blood, and gelatin, and non-protein animal products such as rendered animal fats (e.g. beef tallow, lard, poultry fat).
Which materials are prohibited in feeds for ruminants?

Prohibited materials comprise all protein, including meat and bone meal, derived from mammals such as cattle, sheep and other ruminants.

Salvaged pet food, plate waste and poultry litter may contain prohibited material and are not approved for feeding to ruminants.

Can these prohibited materials be fed to non-ruminants?

Yes, prohibited protein materials can be used in feeds for poultry, swine and other non-ruminant species.

What about labelling?

Labelling regulations require that all feeds or feed ingredients consisting of or containing prohibited material are clearly identified and bear the following cautionary statement:

Do not feed to cattle, sheep, deer or other ruminants.

What about record keeping if I own or take care of ruminants?

Producers who also purchase feeds for non-ruminants that may contain prohibited materials must keep accurate records, including copies of all invoices, for a period of at least two years.

What if I mix or sell feeds?

Producers who mix or manufacture feeds for ruminants and non-ruminants (e.g. swine, poultry, horses, ducks, geese, ratites or game birds), should take steps to avoid cross contamination. This includes providing separate storage and dedicated equipment for mixing and distribution. Shipments containing prohibited material must be kept separately from feeds for ruminants. If it is not possible to use dedicated equipment for ruminant and non-ruminant feeds, equipment must be thoroughly cleaned using flushing, sequencing or physical clean-out procedures before feeds for ruminants are made.

Records for all feeds manufactured must be kept and include the formula for each feed, the date of manufacture and the content of every batch. The records must indicate if any prohibited material was used in the feed.

If you sell feeds which contain or may contain prohibited material (including swine and poultry feed), you must keep accurate records of every sale for at least two years. The records must show the names and addresses of purchasers, quantities sold, a lot number, date of manufacture or some other information that identifies the lot of feed.

Every shipment containing prohibited material must be clearly labelled with the statement:

Do not feed to cattle, sheep, deer or other ruminants.

What are the requirements for rendering plants and feed mills?

As part of the 1997 regulations for the feeding ban, the CFIA implemented a permit system for Canadian renderers. In order to operate their plants, renderers are required to obtain an annual permit from the CFIA. The issuance of permits is contingent on rendering plants being in full compliance with the regulatory requirements. Compliance is verified by annual CFIA inspections.

Since 1997, all feed mills in Canada have been fully inspected for compliance with the feeding ban regulations and additional inspections are a routine part of the National Feed Inspection Program. A high level of compliance has been recorded among feed manufacturers. If non-compliance is noted, CFIA inspectors secure corrective action and confirm this with follow-up inspections.

What else can I do to prevent BSE?

BE AWARE: It is illegal to feed ruminants prohibited material.

Read feed labels carefully and follow the directions.

Store and handle ruminant feeds separately from feeds for other animals.

If you manufacture feeds for ruminants, purchase animal proteins from a supplier that does not handle prohibited material.

If you are concerned that a feed may contain prohibited material, do not feed it to your ruminants.

How can I find out more?

Contact your local CFIA office or producer organization to find out more about Canada's feed ban or log on to the following sites for more information:

CFIA Links:

Fact sheet on BSE:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/ani ... bfse.shtml

Fact sheet on CFIA Feed Ban:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/ani ... nfse.shtml

Health of Animals Regulations, Part XIV:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/H-3.3/C.R. ... index.html
[/u][/b]

 

[Oldtimer]

Heres the Canadian Journalists Editorial--this 3rd POST feedban cow makes her opinions even more factual....

Oldtimer
Member



Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 983
Location: Northeast Montana
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 4:21 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a long article-- but quite interesting...She could be saying the same about the lack of the US to close our feedban rules loopholes...Same reason in both countries- short term economic gain for a few corporate interests (dairy, rendering, poultry (Tyson) and Packers) outweighing long term herd and consumer safety.....Seems Canada didn't learn from Britain and Europe and the US is learning from none......

Mad cow again! Action needed now
Paula Simons, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Dear Stephen,

I know you were busy Monday, winning an election and all. But there's an important matter I want to bring to your prime ministerial attention. If you want to do Alberta beef producers and Alberta beef consumers a big favour, start by putting a comprehensive mad cow prevention policy at the top of your national "to do" list.

On Monday, while Canadians went to the polls, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced another cow had tested positive for BSE: bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Our latest mad cow was a 69-month-old breeding heifer, a Holstein-Hereford cross, from somewhere in north-central Alberta. That's the fifth infected Canadian-born cow that's turned up, and the fifth born and raised in this general area.

Given how many, many more cattle we test for BSE these days, it was only to be expected that we would find a few more sick animals. Back before we found our first mad cow in June of 2003, Alberta was only testing 150 to 200 specimens a year. Last year, Canada tested 57,766 cattle. Of those 30,536, or 53 per cent, were from Alberta. All were high-risk animals from the so-called 4D group: dead, distressed, diseased or downers.

With that massive increase in surveillance, finding one more positive sample should be no surprise. Indeed, it would scarcely be cause for alarm.

There's just one problem.

This particular cow was only six years old. She was born in April 2000, three years after Canada instituted the feed ban that was supposed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. That ban completely forbade the use of rendered cows, sheep, elk and other ruminants in cattle feed. The leading scientific thinking on BSE says that's how cows get prion disease -- by eating rendered protein from infected animals.

All the other sick cows we've found were either born before the ban or just after it came into effect.

So how did this heifer get infected? So far, no one knows.

It's a troubling question -- with even more troubling answers.

Are we to believe some farmer had contaminated three-year-old feed left over and that he fed it to his stock in defiance or ignorance of the law?

Or perhaps our existing national feed ban isn't stringent enough.

Back in 1997, when we instituted the feed ban, we naively believed that our national herd was actually BSE-free. The ban was only thought to be a precautionary measure. Now, we know we were wrong. We know our herd is infected, if only at a low level. Yet we've never toughened our feed ban to deal with that new reality.

We still allow feed mills to turn cattle, sheep and other ruminants into rations for swine and poultry. That leaves the possibility that cattle feed can be contaminated in two ways. Farmers could mix up feed on the farm. Or feed mills can cross-contaminate their product at the factory. Either way, it only takes a tiny speck of infected material -- .001 of a gram -- to make a cow fatally ill. That's why rendering just one diseased animal into food can lead to an exponential increase in infections.

In July 2004, Paul Martin's government announced it would improve Canada's feed ban. The CFIA unveiled plans to ban all dead and downer ruminants -- cattle, sheep, bison, elk, llamas and the like -- from all animal feed.

The new rules would still have allowed apparently healthy ruminants to be rendered for pig and poultry feed. However, renderers and feed mill operators would have been required to remove all the "specified risk materials" -- the parts of the cow most likely to contain prions, the infectious, protein-warping particles that cause BSE.

Those risky bits include all brain and spinal cord material, as well as eyeballs, tonsils and parts of the small intestine. We already ban them from beef meant for human consumption. Banning them from all animal feed would dramatically lower the risk of accidental cross-contamination.

Yet here we are in January 2006 and the new rules are still not in force.

Instead, we've had 18 months of "discussion" and "stakeholder consultations" and delicate federal-provincial negotiations. Meanwhile, who knows how much more feed could have been contaminated or how many more cows could have become infected?

Stephen, you say you're going to put Alberta's interests on the national agenda. Keeping Alberta's beef exports moving, breaking down the trade barriers that still remain is vital to our economy.

But we need national leadership to keep our herd healthy and to show our international trading partners we take BSE seriously.

True, a stricter feed ban will create major inconveniences and expenses for the rendering and feed industries, and for farmers. But the costs and consequences of not addressing the gaps in our feed rules are too great to ignore.

No one should panic over the discovery of one more sick cow. The surveillance system worked perfectly. The animal was quickly identified, tested and destroyed, and kept out of the human and animal food chain.

But if we shouldn't panic, neither should we shrug. This election-day announcement should be a wake-up call for our new prime minister. Mr. Harper, please cut through the red tape and give us an effective feed ban, one that keeps Canadian cattle, Canadian export markets and Canadian consumers safe.




http://cattletoday.com/forum/about17903 ... +loopholes

 

[S.R.R.]

Fact#1 Salvaged pet food, plate waste and poultry litter may contain prohibited material and are not approved for feeding to ruminants. It is illegal to feed prohibited material in Canada.

Fact#2 Salvaged pet food, plate waste and poultry litter may contain prohibited material and are not approved for feeding to ruminants. BUT in the USA pet food, plate waste and poultry litter are all legal cattle feed.

Now how can you talk your way into thinking that some how cattle in Canada are at a greater risk?

 

[Oldtimer]

Fact#1 Salvaged pet food, plate waste and poultry litter may contain prohibited material and are not approved for feeding to ruminants. It is illegal to feed prohibited material in Canada.

Fact#2 Salvaged pet food, plate waste and poultry litter may contain prohibited material and are not approved for feeding to ruminants. BUT in the USA pet food, plate waste and poultry litter are all legal cattle feed.

Now how can you talk your way into thinking that some how cattle in Canada are at a greater risk?

As long as you are mixing ruminant and nonruminant feed in the same plants for livestock you will apparently have cross contamination...Ruminant products need to removed from all livestock feed/ or they need to be required to be made, stored and fed in separate facilities....

Either that or the Paul Harvey announcer is right-- Canadian feed manufacturers and/or Canadian ranchers are cheating....

And since Canada has a much higher rate of infectivity (positives compared to cattle population) the risk is higher concerning Canadian cattle and beef.... Since we still have many feedban loopholes in our US feedban, we should not be importing beef or cattle from a BSE country which could expose our US cattle herd to more infectivity- or we will never get it under control.....

 

[frenchie]

And since Canada has a much higher rate of infectivity (positives compared to cattle population) the risk is higher concerning Canadian cattle and beef....

Really Ot you seem to forget that your B.S.E test has been proven to have failed at least once in the Texas cow incident.