Off topic : Moo ! / more mad cow disease in Canada ...........................
Sun Jan 2, 2005 07:48 PM ET
Canada Confirms Second Mad Cow Case
By Roberta Rampton
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A final laboratory test has confirmed an Alberta dairy cow had mad cow disease, the second case Canada has found in its herd, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Sunday.
Veterinary officials said on Thursday that preliminary tests had been positive for the brain-wasting mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
"Confirming BSE in this animal is not unexpected," the agency said in a news release, noting it was born before feed rules designed to stop the spread of the disease.
The United States, Canada's largest export market, announced last week it would begin to accept imports of young, live cattle thought to be at low risk for the disease from March 7, and U.S. officials said on Thursday there were no plans to change that, despite the preliminary positive test.
The animal did not enter the human food or animal feed supply and there was no risk to the public.
Canada's first home-grown case of mad cow disease was found in May 2003 and cost export-dependent farmers an estimated C$5 billion ($4.2 billion) as trade partners closed their borders to Canadian beef and cattle.
The first U.S. case, found in Washington state in December 2003, also affected a cow that had been born in Canada.
The most recent afflicted animal was born in October 1996, an industry source told Reuters.
"You've now got a grouping of three animals born very close together in time," the source said, adding the agency was investigating whether the animals shared a common contaminated feed source.
The agency said it would brief reporters on Monday at 11 a.m. EST on its investigation, which has already traced the cow to the Alberta farm where it was born.
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