US rules out Canadian beef ban after mad cow discovery

January 24, 2006

Jan 23 2:28 PM US/Eastern

The US government ruled out re-imposing a ban on Canadian beef imports

after a new case of mad cow disease was detected north of the border.

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said he had spoken to his

Canadian counterpart, Andy Mitchell, following the confirmation late

Sunday of Canada's fourth recorded case of bovine spongiform

encephalopathy, or BSE.

" I assured him that based on the information he supplied, I

anticipate no change in the status of beef or live cattle imports to

the US from Canada under our established agreement, " Johanns said in a

statement.

" As I've said many times, our beef trade decisions follow

internationally accepted guidelines that are based in science, " he said.

The United States has had two confirmed cases of BSE. The first was

discovered late in 2003 in a cow that had been imported from Alberta,

Canada, in the same region where the latest case was discovered.

The United States reopened its border with Canada to young cattle in

July after imposing a ban in late 2003.

The Canadian and US cattle industries were once heavily intertwined.

The United States took some 80 percent of Canadian beef exports before

the ban was imposed.

The new case of BSE in Canada comes as the United States battles to

get Japan, formerly the US industry's biggest market, to reopen its

market to US beef.

Having banned both US and Canadian beef in late 2003, Japan's

government dropped the prohibition last month under strict guidelines.

Those guidelines were breached last week when a veal shipment sent

from New York to Tokyo's Narita airport was found to contain risky

spinal material, triggering a fresh ban on US beef.

The US government complains that Japan's guidelines breach

international scientific standards.

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