Sludge Watch ==> Canadian Mad Cow Shows Inadequacy of US and Cdn BSE Testing Criteria

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

CFIA report conflicts with USDA position on BSE
By media release
Sep 3, 2006


Billings, Mont. - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued last 
week the conclusive report on its epidemiological investigation of a 
50-month old dairy cow diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) 
on July 13, 2006, a report that revealed information previously not 
documented. This animal was born almost five years after Canada implemented 
its 1997 feed ban on feeding ruminant meat-and-bone meal (MBM) materials 
back to ruminants.

According to the report the cow did not express symptoms of BSE and died 
from an unrelated disease. Yet, the cow was detected with a rapid BSE test 
perhaps eight months before the Canadian testing program would have targeted 
the animal for BSE testing. The report stated, "The normal disease course to 
expression of clinical signs in this animal would be expected to have 
included an additional three to six months of incubation followed by an 
additional one to two months of clinical expression prior to being 
recognized as symptomatic of BSE and targeted for testing."

"The revelation that a rapid BSE test can detect infected animals up to 
eight months before the animal would fit the criteria for targeted testing 
is not only new news, but groundbreaking news," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill 
Bullard.

"This 50 month old Canadian cow would have been only 15 months old when the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reopened the Canadian border to 
imports of Canadian beef in August 2003," he emphasized. "Because scientists 
believe that BSE-positive cattle are most likely infected during their first 
year of life, this means that the beef from this cow - an animal which was 
incubating the BSE agent - was eligible for export to the United States from 
August 2003 through January 2005.

"USDA has consistently taken the position that BSE testing can only detect 
infectivity two months to three months before an animal begins to exhibit 
clinical symptoms of the disease," Bullard said. "In fact, USDA cited its 
inability to detect BSE more than two months to three months before an 
infected animal would exhibit symptoms as support for its position that BSE 
testing is not a food safety issue. USDA stated that 'currently available 
postmortem tests, although useful for disease surveillance (i.e., in 
determining the rate of disease in the cattle population), are not 
appropriate as food safety indicators. We know that the earliest point at 
which current testing methods can detect a positive case of BSE is 2 to 3 
months before the animal begins to demonstrate clinical signs.'

"This development means BSE can indeed be detected through additional 
testing, long before symptoms begin to appear," Bullard continued. "This 
would suggest that Canada - if it would dramatically increase BSE testing of 
its cattle herd - could detect the disease in animals that are not yet 
exhibiting clinical symptoms, but are destined for the human food chain."

The CFIA report did not definitely identify the source of contamination, but 
it did conclude that feed contaminated through cross contamination with 
prohibited material likely was the source of the disease. The report stated 
that one of the rendering plants implicated in this particular investigation 
also has been implicated in previous Canadian BSE investigations. Production 
records at a second facility in question were incomplete and did not allow 
for the desired level of certainty. Additionally, the report stated, 
"Because of incomplete or absent documentation, the possibility of 
cross-contamination during transportation being a contributing factor could 
not be ruled out."

Although Canada announced on June 26 that it was tightening its feed ban 
requirements to ban potentially harmful cattle tissues from all animal 
feeds, a step that would minimize the possibility of cross contamination, 
the new regulations are not scheduled to take effect until July 12, 2007.

"Back in 2003, USDA's BSE experts and an international team of scientists 
recommended that both Canada and the U.S. enhance their respective feed 
systems to protect against the additional infectivity pathways of 
cross-contamination and inadvertent feeding of ruminant materials to 
cattle," Bullard commented. "BSE experts have long identified these two 
situations as likely routes of transmission of the disease.

"There is no way to know how widespread this problem is in Alberta, but we 
do know that Alberta is a hot spot for BSE infectivity, and most of the 
Canadian cattle exported to the U.S. arrive here from Alberta," Bullard 
noted. "Interestingly, the CFIA report acknowledges this case is consistent 
with the previously identified geographic cluster for the disease, which is 
Alberta.

"Because of Canada's continuing BSE problems and its decision to postpone 
for another year regulations to improve its feed ban, there is a very 
definite possibility that the U.S. has a good chance of importing live 
Canadian cattle that already are incubating BSE, but showing no symptoms of 
the disease," Bullard noted. "Another concern is that just last Thursday, 
USDA announced that cutbacks to our domestic BSE surveillance program would 
take effect Aug. 27.

"In July 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended 
strengthening our domestic feed ban, but no action has yet been taken," 
Bullard he said. "Most recently, FDA officials said they were still 
reviewing the 800-plus comments on the rule and had not yet reached any 
decisions on the matter.

"R-CALF USA also is disappointed that CFIA's report revealed that Canada has 
discontinued its practice of testing for BSE in herd cohort animals, or 
herdmates, of infected cattle," Bullard concluded. "This is inconsistent 
with the recommendations of the OIE, which specifically recommends the 
testing of cattle which have consumed potentially contaminated feedstuffs 
from countries not free from BSE.  There simply is too little known about 
Canada's BSE problem for Canada not to have tested animals that are believed 
to have consumed the same contaminated feed as this diseased cow."

R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of 
America) is a national, non-profit organization and is dedicated to ensuring 
the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. 
R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on both domestic 
and international trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 
states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or 
feedlot owners. R-CALF USA has more than 60 affiliate organizations and 
various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, 
visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
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