RECENT statements by a member of the U.S. cattle group called R-CALF should give the cattle industry pause.
Leo McDonnell, immediate past-president of the Ranchers-Cattlemen’s Action Legal Fund, said Canada would have reacted just as the United States has done were the shoe on the other foot regarding cases of BSE.
“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?”
We agree with little that R-CALF asserts about beef safety and cattle export issues, but there is some merit in McDonnell’s comments.
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It’s fair to say Canada would have reacted similarly to a case of BSE in the U.S. by immediately closing the border to U.S. imports of cattle and beef. After that, it likely would have been a matter of employing risk analysis and health and safety protocols to determine a reopening of partial or full beef and cattle trade.
It may please us now to think that Canada would have more readily acknowledged the integration of the two countries’ cattle industries, but it’s impossible to say in hindsight.
And yes, if Canadian cattle prices experienced an increase similar to those enjoyed by U.S. cattle producers when the border closed, there would have been factions here pushing to keep American cattle out, as R-CALF is doing in the current scenario.
Although the border has been closed far too long, seemingly for political reasons, the U.S. initially took a reasonable approach to Canadian beef imports. Mexico, Canada’s other partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement, has been an ally virtually from the beginning of the BSE crisis.
Compare the trading relationship of these countries with the European BSE experience Ñ extensive border closure to all manner of cattle and beef, massive devastation in the British cattle industry and loss of consumer confidence Ñ and the North American situation does not appear nearly so damaged or dire.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding firm in its plans to reopen the border March 7 to Canadian cattle younger than 30 months. This, despite pressure being exerted to the contrary by R-CALF and various politicians.
In doing so, the U.S. is employing a policy that will serve it well if and when BSE is reported on the south side of the 49th parallel. It may finally be treating Canada as it hopes to be treated when the disease makes its almost inevitable appearance.
The world understands much more about BSE now and more is being learned all the time. Among the new knowledge is the realization that BSE and its human equivalent do not appear to be the massive health threats they were once thought to be.
We must still take steps to eradicate this disease, and it is likely the U.S. will be a full partner in that effort.
