USDA's Johanns Mad-Cow Curbs on Canada Beef May Be Lifted

[flounder]

USDA's Johanns Says Mad-Cow Curbs on Canada Beef May Be Lifted
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's fifth case of mad-cow disease won't stop the U.S. from expanding beef and cattle trade with its North American neighbor, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said.

Johanns, at a Washington news conference with his Canadian counterpart Chuck Strahl, said he is pushing for a rule to allow the U.S. to import cattle older than 30 months along with beef on bones. Johanns said he ``is very committed to getting it done'' even though a change won't occur this year because of recent Canadian cases of the disease, including one this month.

The U.S. banned Canadian cattle and beef in May 2003 after Canada's first mad-cow case. When the ban was eased in August 2003 to allow imports of boneless beef and cattle under 30 months of age, the Agriculture Department said it hoped to eventually end all restrictions. The U.S. only began importing younger Canadian cattle in July because of a court challenge.

Strahl, who took office in February, said he is proud of Canadian beef and expressed confidence in the ban Canada and the U.S. imposed in 1997 on certain feeding practices to stop the spread of mad-cow disease, which has a fatal human form. The latest infected animal, a six-year-old dairy cow from British Columbia, was born after the governments prohibited cattle feed enriched with ground-up cattle parts.

The Canadian minister said scientists have told him that ``from time to time'' an ``occasional animal will crop up'' with mad-cow disease, until the brain-wasting livestock illness is eliminated from North America.

Eight North American Cases

There have now been eight confirmed cases of mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in North America -- five in Canada and three in the U.S. One of the U.S. cases involved an animal born in Canada. For both countries, the discovery of the initial case prompted scores of trading partners to suspend beef imports.

The U.S. began accepting younger cattle from Canada in July, after a court found that the animals posed little danger of spreading BSE. Between July 18 and the end of 2005, U.S. cattle feedlots bought 210,814 young animals for fattening from Canadian ranchers, and U.S. processors purchased 310,241 head of cattle for slaughter, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. Live cattle trade is worth about C$1.26 billion a year, the USDA said.

The Bank of Montreal estimated in November 2004 that Canada's livestock industry had lost C$5 billion ($4.34 billion) because of mad-cow disease, due to lost exports and lower prices created by a glut of animals. Exports of live cattle, which totaled C$1.83 billion in 2002, fell to zero in 2004, according to Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Daniel Enoch in Washington at at [email protected].

Last Updated: April 20, 2006 14:24 EDT



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... fer=canada


:stop: BSE MRR POLICY :stop:

TSS

 

[Oldtimer]

4/20/2006 2:19:00 PM


US May Not Expand Canada Cattle Imports This Year



WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. may not be able to allow in older Canadian cattle this year as previously planned, because of delays stemming from new cases of mad-cow disease in Canada, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Thursday.



USDA had earlier hoped to finish by May a draft of a rule that would lift the U.S. ban on Canadian cattle over 30 months old and start it through the lengthy process of becoming law, but that has been delayed, Johanns said.



The USDA had slowed its rule-making to incorporate results from Canada's investigation into its fourth case of mad-cow disease, and now there are new delays from Canada's fifth case.



Canada found the fourth case of mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in January. The fifth was confirmed last Sunday.



Johanns, in a press conference Thursday with Canadian Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl, stressed he believes the U.S. will indeed eventually lift its ban on the older cattle as well as beef from older cattle.



"We here at USDA are very committed to this rule," Johanns said. "We're going to do everything we can to move through this rule-making process and make sure it meets all the requirements."



Johanns also noted concerns for potential litigation that might seek to bar the USDA from expanding cattle and beef imports from Canada.



The U.S. banned all Canadian cattle in May 2003 after Canada's first domestic case of BSE was found. The USDA eased that ban a few months later on some beef and, in July 2005, began allowing in younger cattle. Older cattle are believed to be at higher risk for BSE.



The USDA had first tried to lift its ban on younger Canadian cattle in March 2005, but the U.S. cattle group R-CALF United Stockgrowers succeeded in getting an injunction from a federal district court judge in Montana to stop that from happening. It wasn't until July 2005 that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the injunction.



R-CALF, reacting to the two latest cases of BSE found in Canada, is now calling once again for a halt to U.S. imports of Canadian cattle.



Part of the reason the USDA is eager to allow in the older Canadian cattle is that there are many cow-slaughter operations - plants that specialize in processing older beef and dairy cattle - in the U.S. that need the imports.



In 2003, about 250,000 head of older cows slaughtered in the U.S. came from Canada before the U.S. border was shut, according to Jim Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation.

 

[S.R.R.]

USDA's Johanns Says Mad-Cow Curbs on Canada Beef May Be Lifted
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's fifth case of mad-cow disease won't stop the U.S. from expanding beef and cattle trade with its North American neighbor, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said.

Johanns, at a Washington news conference with his Canadian counterpart Chuck Strahl, said he is pushing for a rule to allow the U.S. to import cattle older than 30 months along with beef on bones. Johanns said he ``is very committed to getting it done'' even though a change won't occur this year because of recent Canadian cases of the disease, including one this month.

The U.S. banned Canadian cattle and beef in May 2003 after Canada's first mad-cow case. When the ban was eased in August 2003 to allow imports of boneless beef and cattle under 30 months of age, the Agriculture Department said it hoped to eventually end all restrictions. The U.S. only began importing younger Canadian cattle in July because of a court challenge.

Strahl, who took office in February, said he is proud of Canadian beef and expressed confidence in the ban Canada and the U.S. imposed in 1997 on certain feeding practices to stop the spread of mad-cow disease, which has a fatal human form. The latest infected animal, a six-year-old dairy cow from British Columbia, was born after the governments prohibited cattle feed enriched with ground-up cattle parts.

The Canadian minister said scientists have told him that ``from time to time'' an ``occasional animal will crop up'' with mad-cow disease, until the brain-wasting livestock illness is eliminated from North America.

Eight North American Cases

There have now been eight confirmed cases of mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in North America -- five in Canada and three in the U.S. One of the U.S. cases involved an animal born in Canada. For both countries, the discovery of the initial case prompted scores of trading partners to suspend beef imports.

The U.S. began accepting younger cattle from Canada in July, after a court found that the animals posed little danger of spreading BSE. Between July 18 and the end of 2005, U.S. cattle feedlots bought 210,814 young animals for fattening from Canadian ranchers, and U.S. processors purchased 310,241 head of cattle for slaughter, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. Live cattle trade is worth about C$1.26 billion a year, the USDA said.

The Bank of Montreal estimated in November 2004 that Canada's livestock industry had lost C$5 billion ($4.34 billion) because of mad-cow disease, due to lost exports and lower prices created by a glut of animals. Exports of live cattle, which totaled C$1.83 billion in 2002, fell to zero in 2004, according to Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Daniel Enoch in Washington at at [email protected].

Last Updated: April 20, 2006 14:24 EDT



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... fer=canada


:stop: BSE MRR POLICY :stop:

TSS

I am glad to see some people still have their head on strait and have put this issue were it belongs! (the back burner.) Now we can get on with our lives.