Canada responds to lightening fast US claim that tainted beef came from there: 'It's a horror story'
Lisa Schmidt
Calgary Herald; With files from Edmonton Journal and Herald news services
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Didsbury-area dairy farmer Andres Voegeli says the possibility a Holstein with mad cow disease in the U.S. came from Alberta threatens to further cripple the industry. "If milk sales goes down, it will make an immediate and severe impact," he said.
The Canadian cattle industry was dealt another devastating blow Saturday after U.S. officials said a Holstein with mad cow disease in Washington state was likely imported from a farm north of Edmonton.
But Canadian officials took issue with the announcement, calling it "premature" and urged U.S. officials to exhaust all leads in their investigation before jumping to conclusions.
"We understand the pressures that can be placed on an investigation to come to a conclusion in light of the impacts of such a finding," Brian Evans, Canada's chief veterinarian said at an Ottawa news conference.
"But, nevertheless, we also feel that it's imperative that all the evidence be weighed and verified before anyone jumps to any predetermination at this point in time."
Evans, who only received the news a few minutes prior to the U.S. announcement, also said federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller spoke Saturday with his U.S. counterpart, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, urging more investigation.
Canada will work with U.S. to definitively trace the animal and its herdmates, as well as feed sources, Evans said. CFIA has also sent officials to Washington state, where the case was discovered Tuesday.
Evans said there was nothing to indicate a link between the herd which produced the first case of mad cow and the herd which the USDA has identified as the source of the second case.
"I don't think anyone should look at this as tarnishing Canada as a mad cow haven," he added.
Ranchers in Alberta said Saturday they were hopeful consumer confidence would remain high, but were bracing for further setbacks.
"It's going to be a horror story one way or another -- there's no question," said Mac MacLean, who runs a 16,000-head feedlot operation near Lethbridge.
"Nobody wants this," said MacLean. "Anyone who says they're not concerned isn't being honest. But truly what the public has to know is that there's not one person in North America that has died of this disease."
Cattle buyer Will Irvine says this is the worst possible news for a shattered industry.
"If this cow is proven to come out of Canada, we're toast," said Irvine of the Calgary Stockyards.
"Where are we going to go? Our only hope up to now was that we could pick up some of the markets the U.S. exported to," he said.
"Without that, we're ruined. This industry will not survive."
Evans said records show the ear tag belonged to a 61/2-year-old Holstein cow from a former dairy operation near Edmonton, and was part of a herd of 74 animals that were exported through Idaho in August 2001. The herd no longer exists and Evans would not identify the owner because the information had not been verified.
U.S. officials originally said the diseased dairy cow detected at a Yakima, Wash., slaughterhouse was 4 1/2 years old.
The age is significant because Canada and the U.S. have banned feed that's likely the source of infection since 1997.
DNA testing will be used to determine the birth herd. Results are in the next couple of days.
U.S. officials said they continue to pursue other leads on the cow's origin, but said the Canadian line of inquiry was the "most likely."
"We're talking about very preliminary information," said Ron DeHaven, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary officer, in a conference call from Washington, D.C.
"(But) this does seem to be the likely source of the animal."
If true, the revelation will deal another heavy blow to an industry still trying to recover from the discovery of a lone case of mad cow on a northern Alberta farm in May.
"You don't like to hear this, but there is nothing much you can do about it," said Terry Flaman, president of the Alberta Holstein Association, who said many dairy industry groups were waiting for more details before commenting further.
"Certainly this feels like a setback," added Arno Doerksen, chairman of the Alberta Beef Producers.
Alberta Agriculture Minister Shirley McClellan conceded the news "is not good" for beef producers.
"There are a lot of questions that aren't answered as far as we're concerned as to the origin of the animal," she said.
"And our priority has to be to get those questions answered."
Canada's cattle industry suffered a $1.9-billion hit after more than 30 countries closed their borders to Canadian beef after the discovery of the brain-wasting disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE.
The U.S. has since lifted the ban on some beef products and has proposed resuming imports of Canadian cattle under 30 months of age, at low risk of carrying the disease.
USDA spokeswoman Julie Quick said the department would take another look at its proposal in light of the U.S. mad cow outbreak.
But U.S. cattle groups are already asking the USDA to keep the border closed.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said it will request an "indefinite extension" of the final comments regarding the opening of the Canadian border to live animal trade until the U.S. mad cow investigation is complete.
Evans said Canada has not received any indication of changes to that process and plans to make its own submission before the end of the comment period, which is scheduled to close Jan. 5.
Canadian cattle producers were hopeful the U.S. would fully open its border to cattle in the new year.
More than two dozen countries, including Japan, South Korea and Mexico -- the biggest U.S. beef export markets -- have closed their borders to U.S. beef since the case was confirmed this week. Canada has imposed a partial ban, allowing low risk meat and cattle.
"There are probably producers out there that don't have quite enough holiday spirit to have a really charitable approach to the U.S. right now," said Ben Thorlakson, chairman of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
"But Canada did make the decision to allow U.S. beef to continue to flow into Canada and that's the kind of treatment that we're hoping other countries would show us."
Agriculture economist John Cranfield said the second coming of BSE in Canada could make 2004 a worse year for the industry than 2003.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was closed Saturday, but cattle prices fell the maximum amount allowed in both trading days since the news broke. That trend is expected to continue next week.
"When that price starts to fall, the price in Canada will start to fall," Cranfield said.
"I think the next year is going to be rough."
lschmidt@theherald.canwest.com |
