Tests Show U.S. Mad Cow Was Canadian-Born

[Guest guest]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews & storyID=4083428

 

Tests Show U.S. Mad Cow Was Canadian-Born

Tue January 06, 2004 06:38 PM ET

 

function photoPopup(photoUrl) { photoPopupWindow =

window.open(photoUrl, " photoPopup " , " width=540,height=525,toolbar=no,status=no,res\

izable=no,scrollbars=yes " ); photoPopupWindow.focus();} By Randy Fabi and Richard

Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - DNA test results show the first U.S. animal infected with

mad cow was born in Canada, U.S. and Canadian officials said on Tuesday, a link

that could allow the United States to still claim to be free of the

brain-wasting ailment.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has sought to reassure dozens of trading

partners that U.S. meat is safe and they should lift bans on U.S. beef exports.

U.S. beef exports total about $3.2 billion a year.

A USDA delegation was in Mexico City on Tuesday to try to convince agriculture

officials there that the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was an isolated

incident. Mexico is the second-biggest buyer of U.S. beef.

DNA testing, done separately by Canada and the United States, was part of a

broad investigation into how a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state was

infected with the disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The 6-year-old cow was diagnosed on Dec. 23.

" We now have DNA evidence that allows us to verify with a high degree of

certainty the BSE positive cow found in the state of Washington originated from

a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada, " said Ron DeHaven, USDA's chief veterinarian.

With the confirmation, two cases of the disease have been found in cows from

Alberta. The first was reported on May 20 and triggered the same sweeping trade

bans on beef exports that met the U.S. announcement of mad cow.

U.S. scientists matched the DNA of the infected cow found in Washington state

with a DNA sample from a Canadian bull thought to have sired the cow. Canada's

chief veterinarian, Brian Evans, said Canadian DNA tests showed the same result.

Import certificates show the infected cow was shipped from Canada to Washington

state in September 2001, along with 80 or 81 others. Another batch of 17 cattle

from the same Canadian farm was shipped across the border later, officials said.

Investigators are trying to pinpoint the location of all the animals, as well as

the source of livestock feed given to the infected cow when she was young.

Contaminated feed is the most likely way that both Canadian-born animals

contracted the disease. But it remains far from certain the two animals --

living on separate Alberta farms -- shared the same feed source, officials said.

" We have not at this point got sufficient evidence to make any definitive feed

link between the two farms, " Evans said. " They did not buy from a common feed

mill. They did not have similar type rations on their farms. "

The Washington state cow's birthplace is also important for trade reasons.

Standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health say a nation can be

classified as provisionally free of mad cow when the disease is found in

imported cattle and authorities are diligent in rooting it out and in

maintaining safeguards.

Some consumer groups have said that approach would jeopardize the

administration's credibility.

U.S. trade officials are trying to persuade major importers such as Japan, South

Korea and Mexico that new safeguards will prevent any other cases of mad cow

disease.

" Right now, the primary issue is to define if a single animal can be enough to

qualify the country as being infected, " Javier Trujillo, in charge of the

Mexican agriculture ministry's animal health division, told Reuters.

U.S. cattle futures fell on Tuesday after Japanese officials said new U.S.

safeguards did not go far enough.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei indicated to reporters in Tokyo

that he wants the United States to conduct the same kind of tests as Japan,

which tests all slaughtered cattle for mad cow disease.

Japan's trade minister will visit Washington on Thursday to discuss the

situation. Tokyo is also sending a delegation to Australia, which is eager to

sell more beef.

People who eat infected cattle can develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,

which has killed more than 130.

 

 

 

© Copyright Reuters var year = new Date()

document.write(year.getFullYear()); 2004. All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

Hotjobs: Enter the " Signing Bonus " Sweepstakes