Mad Cow Part 5: Latest case won’t affect US trade officials say
CHILLIWACK, B.C. — Tests show that a fifth case of mad cow disease has been discovered on a cattle ranch in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.
This marks the fifth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada since May 2003, when a single cow from Alberta diagnosed with the disease forced the U.S. to close its border to all Canadian cattle exports for two years. All three subsequent cases — including the second and third identified two weeks apart in December 2003 and January 2004 in two cows shipped to Washington State — were traced back to Alberta sites as well.
According to various news media, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had identified the B.C. dairy cow through a national BSE surveillance program, which has tested over 100,000 cows since the first 2003 BSE case.
that has shown the first sign of recovery in three years
The six-year old animal developed the disease after Canada’s feed ban took effect in 1997. The agency said no part of this animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.
There’s been no indication that this latest mad cow case could affect the U.S. decision last year to reopen the border to cows
older than 30 months of age.
However, current negotiations between the two countries on lifting the ban entirely for animals of all ages may be delayed until the latest investigation is complete, Ted Haney of the Canada Beef Export Federation told CTV News.
Officials o both sides of the border have said repeatedly that the U.S. opened the border accepting the fact that future BSE cases in either country would be probable.
Recent numbers show that that the Canadian beef industry is on a slight rebound for the first time since 2003. The national cattle herd has declined for the first time in three years.
Cattlemen had an estimated 14.8 million head on their farms as of January 1, 2006, a drop of about 233,000 head from the record 15.1 million head established a year earlier. However, the total was still over 1.3 million higher than levels as of January 1, 2003, before the original ban on Canadian cattle.
— with files from CTV News
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