Canada Announces BSE
(Continued from Page A 1)
the infected animal spent time on
those farms. All animals on these
farms will be depopulated and
tested for BSE, said NCBA.
USDA undersecretary Bill
Hawks has told a Senate appro
priations subcommittee hearing
that Canadian officials indicated
none of the quarantinedcattle
were ever in the U.S.
According to Canadian offi
cials, meat from the infected cow
did not enter the food supply.
The animal had been on the farm
in Alberta for three years. Al
though BSE has not been shown
to be transmitted among cows in
a herd, as a precaution the herd
in Alberta is being destroyed.
The USDA has stopped all cat
tle, beef, sheep, and goat imports
from Canada until further notice.
This includes all live animals and
all ruminant animal food prod
ucts.
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The USDA has also sent tech
nical team to Canada to assist in
the investigation.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Ann Veneman said Tuesday, “I
have spoken with Canada’s Agri
culture and Agri-Food Minister
Lyle Vanclief a short time ago
about Canada’s investigation and
feel that all appropriate measures
are being taken in what appears
to be an isolated case of BSE.
“Information suggests that risk
to human health and the possibil
ity of transmission to animals in
the United States is very low,”
Veneman said.
“In 1997, the Food and Drug
Administration prohibited the
use of most mammalian protein
in the manufacture of animal
feed intended for cows and other
ruminants to stop the way the
disease is thought to spread.”
Since 1989, the U.S. govern
ment has taken a series of pre
ventative actions to protect
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against BSE. This includes
USDA prohibitions on the import
of live ruminants, such as cattle,
sheep, goats and most ruminant
products from countries that
have or are considered to be at
risk for BSE.
To date, no case of BSE has
ever been found in the U.S., de
spite years of intensive testing for
the disease.
“We do not have any cases of
BSE in Pennsylvania or the Unit
ed States,” said Dr. John Enck,
Pennsylvania’ state veterinarian.
“We have been testing, and we
had enhanced our surveillances
last year,” he said. Also last year
“there were more than 20,000
head of cattle tested in the Unit
ed States and they were all nega
tive.”
In addition, “BSE is trans
mitted by eating the prions (dis
ease-causing protein particles)
which occur in the feed from con
taminated products,” said Dr.
John Enck, Pennsylvania’s state
veterinarian.
The animal must eat “ren-
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dered products that now, of
course, would be illegal to feed
and have been illegal since 1997
in the United States and in Cana
da to feed those particular
products to animals.
“It is not like a virus they
have to eat the prion in order to
get the disease,” said Enck.
Veterinary drugs are not made
from rendered cattle and there is
no evidence of any association of
veterinary drugs with BSE.
According to the NCBA, con
sumers should continue to eat
beef with confidence. The animal
in question did not enter the food
supply.
Americans can be confident in
the safety of U.S. beef for a num
ber of reasons, said the NCBA:
• The BSE agent is not found
in meat. It is found in central
nervous system tissue such as
brain and spinal cord.
• All U.S. cattle are inspected
by a veterinarian before going to
slaughter. Animals with any
signs of neurological disorder are
not permitted to enter the human
food chain and are tested for
BSE. These samples are sent
overnight to a federal laboratory,
and the average tum-around
time for the test is eight days.
• BSE affects older cattle, over
36 months of age. The vast ma
jority of the cattle going to mar
ket in the U.S. are less than 24
months old. BSE has never been
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 24, 2003-A3l
found in commercial cattle less
than 24 months of age.
• The U.S. began a surveil
lance program for BSE in 1990
and was the first country without
the disease within its borders to
test cattle for the disease.
The surveillance system targets
all cattle with any signs of neuro
logical disorder as well as those
over 30 months of age.® The
U.S. banned imports of cattle and
bovine products from countries
with BSE beginning in 1989.
• A multi-year risk analysis
conducted by Harvard University
reported “the U.S. is highly resis
tant to any introduction of BSE.”
• Some media reports are specu
lating a link between chronic
wasting disease in deer and BSE
in cattle. This is not the case,
according to the NCBA. Multiple
research projects indicate there is
no cross species transmission
under natural conditions. This
includes a 10-year trial at Colo
rado State University, now in its
sixth year, in which cattle are co
mingled in a secure area with
CWD-infected deer.
According to NCBA officials,
the U.S. has the safest food sup
ply of any country in the world.
Beef producers have enhanced
product safety in recent years
through checkoff-funded re
search and have specifically
funded research that strengthens
knowledge of BSE to help assure
the security of U.S. beef products.
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