The discovery of Canada’s third domestic case of BSE last week has Canadian government and cattle industry leaders scrambling to control the damage as American critics demand that the proposed March 7 border opening be put on hold.
Federal agriculture minister Andy Mitchell ordered a quick review of Canada’s feed controls to make sure they are working and he invited foreign experts to come to Canada to take part, even as political critics in Canada began to ask pointed questions about whether the Canadian Food Inspection Agency mishandled implementation of the 1997 ban on using ruminant protein in ruminant feed.
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Innisfail rancher Wilhelm Vohs, who owned the latest case, which was confirmed Jan. 11, said he suspects the source was a grain supplement he purchased months after the feed ban took effect. The latest case was a six-year-old cow, the first incident in an animal born after the ban.
To reassure jittery potential buyers, Mitchell flies to Mexico City this week to try to convince the Mexicans that Canada’s regulatory system is sound. He will travel to Washington soon.
Meanwhile, chief CFIA veterinarian Brian Evans spent two days in Washington making the case for the Canadian system and beef sector leaders huddled in Ottawa for two days discussing strategy.
“There is no doubt this has made more difficult an already very delicate situation,” Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Stan Eby said in a Jan. 14 interview.
“I don’t think this should affect the border opening but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Mitchell said he has been assured the U.S. government still wants to open the border March 7 to animals younger than 30 months. “Our regulatory system is strong and the appearance of some additional cases of BSE, while not welcome, is not unexpected,” he said.
In Canada, critics including opposition MPs and the National Farmers Union said the government’s response to the BSE crisis has been too cautious. They want a complete ban on feeding animal protein to animals and a sharp increase in BSE testing.
“The minister is scrambling to prove that the status quo is good enough,” said NDP agriculture critic Charlie Angus. “It is not.”
Conservative Party critic Diane Finley asked why the CFIA had not ordered a recall of feed when it announced its 1997 ban.
And Consumers Association of Canada president Bruce Cran from Vancouver said the country’s largest consumer lobby will call this month for 100 percent testing of slaughtered animals for BSE. He accused the government and the CFIA of bungling the issue and ignoring legitimate consumer fears.
In the United States, opponents of the border opening treated the news from Canada like a 20-ounce steak at a barbecue. They feasted.
R-CALF, which already had filed a court challenge to the proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the second confirmed Alberta case in two weeks was all the evidence needed to keep the border closed. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, traditionally in favour of a border opening, appeared to be backing away.
On Jan. 17, South Dakota Democratic senator Tim Johnson said he will demand when the Senate reconvenes that the border not be opened until country-of-origin labelling is mandatory. It is supposed to take effect under the farm bill by September 2006.
“With two Canadian cases of mad cow in as many weeks, we need COOL to protect consumer confidence in beef,” he said in a statement issued from his Sioux Falls, S.D., office. “Anything less is reckless.”
Meanwhile, the CFIA reported last week that the investigation into the third BSE case confirmed Jan. 2 was making progress, although there was an American connection there as well.
Nine animals from the infected cow’s herd that were born in the same season were slaughtered and tested without trace of BSE. However, three were shipped to the U.S. and authorities there were alerted.
The agency said it had identified and would test 22 animals from the herd of the latest case that were born in the same season.
