DENVER, Colo. Ñ If the shoe was on the other foot and the United States had multiple BSE cases, Canada would impose equally strict restrictions against the U.S., says a Montana rancher.
“You folks would be no different in what we’re doing today if we were the ones with BSE,” said Leo McDonnell, outgoing president of the Ranchers-Cattlemen’s Action Legal Fund.
“What other country has helped Canada more through its problem than the U.S.? We took a billion pounds of your beef in the last year. Who else did that?” he said in an interview at the R-CALF annual meeting in Denver Jan. 20-22.
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As more BSE cases appear in Canada, R-CALF argues that allowing Canadian live cattle and more beef products into the U.S. undermines what was a traditionally conservative, science-based BSE policy.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that would ease restrictions on cross-border cattle trade sacrifices safeguards that keep foreign animal disease out of the U.S. without sufficient risk analysis, McDonnell said.
Lowering standards jeopardizes America’s chances of regaining export markets, he said.
“There is no issue in this industry that is going to have a greater impact on the long-term survivability and profitability and the shape of your industry than trade liberalization,” McDonnell told about 200 attending the R-CALF annual meeting.
Recent information from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency about animal material showing up in vegetable-based feed samples is another concern. DNA tests should have been used to determine whether it was from cattle or something harmless like mice or insect material, he said.
R-CALF’s latest lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 against the USDA to stop the U.S. from opening its border in March to Canadian cattle and more beef, could cost up to $1 million.
Legal fees leave the membership-driven organization scrambling for private donations.
Bill Bullard, chief executive officer, said the injunction to keep bone-in product and ground beef out of the U.S. last year cost $400,000.
The organization had a deficit in 2004 so it is looking for more money this year to cover costs.
Revenue in 2004 reached $1.48 million, but expenses came to $1.5 million, leaving a deficit of $66,000.
Expenses included $439,000 in legal fees, $125,000 in expert fees such as the contracting of scientists to evaluate BSE risk and another $212,000 on trade-related activities.
