A ruling from a Billings, Montana, courtroom that prevents Canada from exporting live animals to the United States indefinitely could result in lengthy court entanglements over what was supposed to be a matter of scientific debate.
U.S. district court judge Richard Cebull granted a preliminary injunction last week agreeing with a request from R-CALF to stop a March 7 scheduled border opening to Canadian cattle.
“I think the judge was offended by people running around saying, ‘there is no risk,’ ” said R-CALF president Leo McDonnell from his ranch at Columbus, Mont. “There is risk. How much we don’t know.”
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McDonnell said Canada has similar rules that reject cattle and beef from BSE infected countries. American cattle will not be allowed back into Canada until the end of March, following a ban placed in December 2003.
McDonnell said the injunction is a criticism of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for liberalizing trade rules too much and placing American consumers and cattle health at risk.
“I know your folks up there are angry at us, but this thing is not targeted at them,” he said. “It’s about making sure the U.S. standards are the same as the international community and that the U.S. doesn’t have standards lower than other countries,” he said.
In support of the R-CALF win, the American Senate passed a resolution March 3 against easing the border ban on Canadian cattle in a 52-46 vote. President George Bush said he would veto the resolution if it reaches his desk. It has not gone before the House of Representatives, which together with the Senate makes up the two houses of the U.S. Congress.
A motion by the American Meat Institute to open the border to all Canadian cattle and products of all ages was denied March 7 by U.S. District Court judge John Garrett Penn in Washington, D.C.
In announcing the decision on the R-CALF injunction, Cebull’s 30 page ruling agrees in large measure with
R-CALF complaints that the USDA disregarded the impact on human health by allowing in cattle. Cebull said the department’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service “appears to have applied the same arbitrary approach to a decision that subjects the entire U.S. beef industry to potentially catastrophic damages that presents a genuine risk of death for U.S. consumers.”
Cebull also indicated greater risk assessment was needed. He said Canada has not tested enough cattle and because four cases have turned up in a year and a half, it shows there is risk beyond what USDA describes is minimal.
If the border had reopened, Cattlefax estimated Canada would likely export a total of 600,000 fed steers and heifers in 2005 and all would go straight to slaughter. Feeder animals would be placed under restriction and would have to be identified as Canadian cattle all the way to slaughter to prevent mingling.
The Montana judge also said USDA should require labels for Canadian meat so consumers can choose. Meat mingled from the two countries could stigmatize American beef, particularly in markets like Japan and South Korea that remained closed to Canada and the U.S.
The judge also questioned the effectiveness of Canada’s BSE surveillance and feed ban.
He cited the world animal health organization rule that a country must have had a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban in place for eight years with no cases before re-entering the market. Canada’s ban is less than seven and the most recent case appeared in an animal born after the ban, showing the prohibition is not effective, he stated.
The USDA has recently completed a report on the Canadian program and it stated that the system works well.
R-CALF also submitted concerns about the breadth of the specified risk material removal program in Canada. Parts of the animal thought to be at greater risk for transmitting BSE, such as brain and spinal cord tissue, are removed and disposed of. Cebull agreed the ban does not go far enough and also said the USDA failed to conduct an environmental impact assessment. If two million head arrived, that would mean 35,000 round trips by truck, posing an environmental hazard.
R-CALF and the USDA were ordered to meet within 10 days of the injunction to find a proposed trial date.
