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Farm and ranch groups are battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture over beef shipments from Canada. Again, it’s about mad cow disease, a mysterious disease carried by livestock for which there is no known cure. There have been nine confirmed cases of mad cow disease in Canada. The disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. Shipment of older cows that might carry the disease will be allowed without inspection, according to the proposal by the USDA. The open border policy would begin Nov. 19, unless Congress intervenes. The National Farmer’s Union notes that in January, Canada’s ninth BSE-positive case was discovered. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund is also outraged. “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently concluded that Canadian cattle are 26 times more likely to test positive for BSE than U.S. cattle,” said R-CALF USA President Max Thornsberry, who is also a Missouri veterinarian. The USDA said "that it’s an integral part of the agency’s efforts to promote fair trade practices,” Thornsberry said. “It is not the USDA’s job to improve trade relations, because there already are federal agencies for that – the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department. The USDA is supposed to look out for the welfare of the U.S. livestock industry.” The USDA rule would: · Allow importation of all live Canadian cattle born after March 1, 1999, regardless of the intended use of the cattle, e.g., breeding, feeding, or slaughter. · Allow importation of beef, beef products, and beef byproducts, including whole or half carcasses, offal, tallow, and gelatin derived from Canadian OTM cattle. · Allow importation of bovine blood and blood products derived from Canadian cattle of any age. · Allow importation of casings and the part of the small intestine from Canadian cattle of any age and from sheep that were less than 12 months of age at slaughter. BSE is a brain wasting disease. It is believed to be carried in the bones, nerves, brains and other possible "specified risk materials" of cattle. Scientists suspect that it is transmitted by eating the risk materials. “The USDA could not be operating more irresponsibly or carelessly with the health and safety of our cattle industry and our consumers as it is in this rule,” said R-CALF USA Chairman Bill Bullard. R-CALF is asking Congress to block the open border policy. If that fails, the group could go to court, which they also did two years ago. In that case, a federal court blocked the USDA plans to allow suspect cattle from Canada for a year, until the decision was overturned on appeal. In a Sept. 21 letter to members of the House and the Senate, the NFU expressed strong opposition to the rule and urged Congress to rescind it.
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