EDMONTON – Canadian cattle producers will no longer be allowed to ship live cattle or embryos to the European Union as it attempts to contain mad cow disease.
But some cattle producers say it’s little more than a tariff to prevent the export of cattle.
“It’s a non-tariff trade barrier, that’s what it is,” said Bob Prestage with Canada Livestock Services, an animal export company.
Prestage was hoping the regulation would be lifted, but at a meeting during Farmfair, he was told it wasn’t likely the regulations would be changed.
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“Twenty minutes ago we were told it’s not going to happen,” said Prestage, adding that there were several European farmers at Farmfair who had planned to export embryos to restock their cattle herds decimated by foot-and-mouth disease.
“At the present time any that aren’t in Europe, they’re not going to be getting there.”
The tariff seemed to catch everyone off guard, said Larry Delver, the import-export veterinary program specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The regulation came into effect Oct. 1 and Delver first heard about it on Oct. 12.
At an Austrian meeting of veterinarians he attended 10 days later, most of the European vets had not heard of the regulation change either, he said.
Under the new regulation all countries outside the European Union, except those that have a global bovine spongiform encephalopathy rating of level one, can no longer export live cattle or bovine embryos to the EU, unless they can certify there are regulations in place banning feeding of mammalian protein to ruminants.
Only Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and a few other countries will still be able to export to Europe.
Canada isn’t a level one because it imported cattle from the United Kingdom during the 1980s. In 1993 all those animals were destroyed, but some of the offspring may have ended up in a rendering plant, with the resulting protein fed to animals.
Since 1997, Canada has not allowed ruminant protein from cattle or sheep to be fed to other ruminants. But mammalian protein from horses and pigs is still allowed as an alternative protein source for pigs and chickens.
“We cannot certify that these things are kept out of the market,” said Delver. He said the Europeans are worried some pig feed may get mixed with cattle feed at feed mills.
Canada has already asked for an exemption to the ruling because there is “scant” possibility of BSE in Canada, but was turned down by the commission in Brussels, which speaks for the EU.
Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said Canada is appealing its risk category.
“With the cattle we’re producing, and with the type of bans we have on the feeding of ruminants and the vast majority of mammalian tissue, it is adequate to ensure the safety of our product,” said Laycraft.
The European regulations are not based on science, but on trying to regain public confidence in meat, he said.
“We feel we are meeting or exceeding international standards. We also believe we should be a risk category one. That’s where our attention is squarely on.”
But a group of Irish cattle producers at Farmfair said they don’t want any doubts that animals exported from Canada are safe.
“All consumers have to be 100 percent happy Canada is not feeding mammalian byproducts,” said Gerry Smyth, a cattle importer.
He and his group already had their tickets when they heard about the ban. Consumer confidence in the safety of meat has plummeted since the BSE scare in Europe when millions of animals were slaughtered and some people died from a brain wasting disease thought to result from eating meat infected with BSE.
Last year one-third of the Republic of Ireland’s safe meat was thrown in dumpsters after consumer demand dropped.
“You have no idea of the strength of consumer pressure,” said Joe Tighe, member of an Irish Angus producer group.
“Generally speaking, consumers don’t like to see animals fed to animals.”
Tighe said once fears are allayed, he hopes the borders will reopen.
“We would like to see it sorted out. It’s a useful source of genetics.”
Donald Biggar, a Shorthorn breeder from Scotland, was at Farmfair looking at Shorthorn cattle to restock his operation after his animals were killed when foot-and-mouth was discovered on his farm.
Biggar acted quickly and organized 200 embryos to be flushed from Alberta cattle for his Scottish farm. The final 20 are still in Canada and will not be shipped.
“I suppose we’re lucky,” said Biggar, who plans to lobby European government officials to loosen the regulations to help breeders like him restock their farms.
Delver said there are three things Canada can do to change the ruling:
- Apply to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.
- Change Canada’s legislation and put a complete ban on feeding animal protein. With thousands of animals moving between Canada and the United States, American regulations would also have to be changed.
- Work toward being placed in a level one category.
“It’s going to take a lot of work and table thumping in Brussels,” he said. “It’s up to us to show it’s safe to export our products.”
Delver said there is hope embryos may be removed from the restricted list once a veterinary research paper is peer reviewed, published and accepted. The research shows embryos from BSE-infected cattle do not transmit BSE to their offspring or recipients.
In the study, embryos from cattle with BSE were placed in cattle that were not exposed to BSE. When the animals reached seven years of age, they were destroyed and tested for BSE. All were negative.
The regulations still allow semen to be exported to Europe. It’s scientifically accepted that BSE cannot be transmitted through semen.
