BSE NEWSPAPER STORY LINKS

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Also Known as 'Mad Cow Disease'

5/02/07: Updated Page Latest Information News Release

Links:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
BSE Info CDC USDA FAS

DairyLine Archives:

2/25/05- For a copy of the Canadian feed ban assessment, the final rule, and other documents pertaining to BSE, visit the APHIS BSE website at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html

TAHC web site, with link to the USDA, is: http://www.tahc.state.tx.us

8/30/05: Investigation Results of Texas Cow That Tested Positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Aug. 30, 2005 7/04/05: State-Federal Team Responds to Texas BSE Case Texas Animal Health Commission 6/30/05: Cattle Industry Awaits Fallout Over Mad Cow 6/30/05: Fact Sheet 6/30/05: Transcript of USDA News Conference 6/30/05: Statement by USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford
5/17/05:	USDA Announces BSE Roundtable Discussion
4/18/05:	Team of experts on BSE will travel to South Korea and Japan
02/25/05:	Will the Border Be Reopened to Canadian Beef and Cattle on March 7th?
12/02/04:	When Will the Border Re-Open to Canadian Beef?
11/25/04:	Tests Show No Mad Cow
11/23/04:	Statement by John Clifford, Deputy Administrator- Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service
11/19/04-	Chronology-Mad cow disease in the United States Reuters

Final USDA BSE Update (2/09/04) Technical Briefing
USDA:BSE Information and Resources
NFU's BSE page

Additional BSE Information and Resources
Additional Protection Measures to Guard Against BSE

If you have any questions regarding euthanizing a downer, go to the website: http://www.aabp.org/euth.pdf

More Archived BSE News

Archived Dairy News Archived Dairy News Links Latest Dairy News

CATTLE INDUSTRY AWAITS FALLOUT OVER MAD COW
(June 30, 2005) The discovery of a second cow in the U.S. with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as Mad Cow Disease, has garnered a lot of attention this week. National Milk’s Chris Galen reported told DairyLine that there hasn’t been much of an impact yet on the beef or dairy markets but warned that, if consumer confidence begins to wane, then beef prices could be impacted, which affects dairy producers as well.

"If or until that happens," Galen said, "The biggest impacts are going to be on a policy front." The Agriculture Department has already taken a fair amount of flack over its testing protocols, he said, and "Will have to be more rigorous in the types of tests they use to confirm whether suspect cows have BSE or not."

Another impact to dairy producers, according to Galen, are some of the feeding restrictions which the Food and Drug Administration has been talking about but haven’t finalized. The biggest one, Galen said, is the use of blood meal in calf replacer milk formulas. It’s been talked about for some time, he said, but it still isn’t illegal and other practices like feeding plate waste from restaurants or poultry liter will get another look and any potential "lose ends" will be dealt with to prevent the transmission of BSE throughout the food supply.

Longer term, particularly if they have trouble finding where this animal is from, where its birth herd was and where its other herd mates are, Galen predicts the USDA will look at some kind of mandatory animal identification system. Again, the USDA has been talking about this, Galen concluded, but he believes there’ll be more pressure for a more proactive ID system and sooner.

WILL THE BORDER BE REOPENED TO CANADIAN BEEF AND CATTLE ON MARCH 7TH?
(February 25, 2005) The USDA’s plan to relax the Canadian beef and cattle import ban is just days away, however opposition is growing on Capitol Hill and in the courts.

You'll recall that it was originally announced that the border would reopen to live slaughter cattle under 30 months of age, as well as to beef from cattle of all ages, effective March 7, however the Agriculture Department modified that plan following the discovery of two additional cases of BSE in Canada in January.

Dairy Profit Weekly editor, Dave Natzke, reported in today's DairyLine broadcast that, under the revised plan, the USDA will still allow imports of young slaughter cattle, but it limits beef imports to meat from cattle less than 30 months of age.

Opposition has grown since and several pieces of legislation have been offered in both houses of Congress, including bills that prohibit imports of all slaughter cattle until a mandatory country of origin labeling law is in place. You’ll recall that a voluntary version has been delayed until the fall of 2006.

Natzke also reported that a district court in Billings, Montana will hear a lawsuit March 2, brought by a beef producers' organization and attorney generals from several states, seeking to continue the current ban, but the American Meat Institute, an organization of beef processors, wants beef and cattle import bans lifted, and that case will be heard in a District of Columbia Court also on March 2.

While much of the controversy has centered on beef, U.S. and Canadian dairy producers are also impacted by the ban. Without access to the U.S. market, Statistics Canada estimates that the number of dairy cows and replacements on Canadian farms continues to grow and both are up 1 percent from a year ago.

Canada ranks behind California and Wisconsin as a supplier of dairy cows and replacement heifers , according to Natzke, however, prior to the ban, trade specialists estimate that as many as 75,000-80,000 dairy replacement heifers were imported by U.S. producers annually. The importation of replacement cattle, beef or dairy, is still not allowed, and Natzke emphasized that there has been no formal discussion as to when those imports will resume.

Statistics Canada estimates that 1.1 million milk cows were in Canadian herds as of January 1, 2005 , up about 8,000 or 1 percent from a year earlier. Dairy replacements, heifers one year of age or older, were estimated at 523,000, up about 3,000 head or 6 percent from January 1, 2004 .

WHEN WILL THE BORDER RE-OPEN TO CANADIAN BEEF?
(December 2, 2004) Farmers on both sides of the U.S. Canada border listened carefully to President Bush this week who was in Canada to do some fence mending. They wanted to know if the border will reopen to Canadian beef. National Milk’s Chris Galen, said in Thursday’s DairyLine that it will be a two-step process, beginning with beef cuts and live cattle destined for slaughter. Bush said the process has to first work through the U.S. bureaucracy. Live dairy replacement animals will likely follow, according to Galen, but not for a period of additional months possibly six or more.

TESTS SHOW NO MAD COW
(November 25, 2004) Americans had something extra to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. The Agriculture Department reported that an animal suspected of having Mad Cow Disease or BSE did not. A rapid screen test used as part of the enhanced BSE surveillance program had led officials to believe the U.S. may have a second case on its hands. The animal had not entered the food chain and the USDA assured consumers of the safety of the US . Beef supply but it still raised issues.

National Milk’s Chris Galen said in Thursday’s DairyLine broadcast that the all clear announcement actually came as a surprise because the rapid screen test came back what is termed, “inconclusive,” twice. In reality, Galen said, that meant it was “tentatively positive,” but another more accurate screening test was run, with a second the following week and they both came back negative.

I asked him what effect this would have had, if the tests were positive for BSE, on the fact that Japan has agreed to reopen its borders to U.S. beef again since the last discovery. Galen said it’s hard to say because a lot depends on context. If it had been positive, Galen said, people would have focused on how old the animal was and whether it was another Canadian cow import. That is information that the USDA will not release now, because it’s a mute point, he said.

What it does do, he said, is raise questions over the accuracy and sensitivity of the tests that the USDA is using as well as the information protocol. He reminded us that we had a couple of false positive cases earlier this year and after that, the USDA said it would only release information after two of those tests came back positive or inconclusive.

That was the case with this latest incident, he said, and “Even though they were trying to minimize disruption of the cattle markets, it happened anyway,” so he predicts calls for USDA not releasing any information about suspect cases until they are confirmed positive by “the gold standard test.” If that was the procedure this time, “We never would have heard about this situation to begin with.”

Statement by John Clifford, Deputy Administrator- Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service

November 23, 2004 "The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, has determined that the inconclusive screening test sample reported on Nov. 18 has tested negative for BSE upon confirmatory testing.

"The Nov. 18 sample is the first that has tested inconclusive under an APHIS protocol announced in August that calls for public reporting of screening results only after two reactive screens. NVSL used the immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, an internationally-recognized gold standard test for BSE, and received a negative result on Nov. 22. Because the Nov. 18 screening test results were reactive in both the first and second screens, NVSL scientists made the recommendation to run the IHC test a second time. On Nov. 23 they reported the second IHC test was negative. Negative results from both IHC tests makes us confident that the animal in question is indeed negative for BSE.

"APHIS began an enhanced surveillance program on June 1 and to date has tested over 121,000 samples for BSE. Screening tests are designed to be extremely sensitive and false positives are not unexpected. APHIS has reported three inconclusives including the Nov. 18 sample and all have tested negative on confirmatory testing."

More Archived BSE News

WILL JAPAN RE-OPEN BEEF MARKET TO U.S.?
(April 16, 2004) It’s been four months since its discovery in Washington State and much of the debate the past month or so has been related to border wars and trade, primarily the export of U.S. beef products to Japan; and the import of beef products and cattle into the U.S. from Canada.

In his weekly Friday DairyLine program, Dairy Profit Weekly Editor, Dave Natzke, reported that Japan is one of about 60 countries that have some form of ban on U.S. beef, and the Japanese government has demanded that the U.S. test all slaughter cattle for BSE before its border will be opened.

Vice-President Dick Cheney, on an eight-day tour of Asia, said Japanese officials invited U.S. experts to restart talks next week on possibly reopening their market, according to Natzke. Prior to the ban, Japan purchased about a third of all U.S. beef exports, and the Japanese market is valued at about $1 billion a year.

Meanwhile, USDA just wrapped up a public comment period to gather input on whether the U.S. should reopen its borders to some Canadian live slaughter cattle and beef imports. Natzke reiterated National Milk’s advocacy for additional safeguards before allowing Canadian cattle back into the U.S.

He reported on National Milk’s call for a national livestock identification and tracking system and a stipulation that all female animals under 30 months of age, including dairy heifers, be spayed before entering the U.S.

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, has threatened to sue the USDA if the borders are reopened, according to Natzke, and the National Farmers Union has stated that the American border should remain closed until mandatory country-of-origin food labeling is fully implemented.

USDA has also been taking comments on a federal ban on so-called "downer" cattle from the human food chain. A bill introduced in Congress would exclude any animals that suffer broken legs or other injuries not related to disease from the ban. Injured animals would be tested and their carcasses held out of the food system until test results showed the animals were BSE negative, he said.

DISCOVERY OF MAD COW IN U.S. WILL SPAWN SEVERAL CHANGES
(February 19, 2004) The Agriculture Department has formally ended its investigation of America’s first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease even though not all of the so-called animals of interest have been located.

National Milk’s Chris Galen predicted that the incident will result in the establishment of some kind of animal ID system in the U.S. and he said the need was amply illustrated by the fact that only a third of those 80 animals that came down from Canada have been found. 50 plus of those cows have never been traced, he said, even though they’ve been trying for two months

Changes in rendering practices are another result, he said, as well as changes in feeding practices. The Food and Drug Administration wants to end the practice of blood meal feeding to young cattle and that will impact the dairy industry, he said. The cessation of processing of downer cows will also affect dairy and beef producers, Galen said, but the key concern here is surveillance. If you don’t bring those cows to slaughtering plants, asked Galen, how do you make certain that At-risk-populations like downers get tested for BSE.

"Hopefully," Galen said, "This is just an erratic case that came down from Canada and will be the only time that we ever have to worry about Mad Cow Disease again in this country." Unfortunately, a new form of BSE has turned up in Italy as well as France and Japan. (See our website for details)

Galen said there’s a lot we don’t know about BSE and its origins but both of the Canadian cases appear to be related to some bad feed from Alberta and "As long as we can make clear that that was the origin of the infected animals and the infectious feed we should have no trouble in this country although there is going to be an ongoing struggle to reopen our (beef) export markets. Hopefully, we’ll start with Mexico and go from there."

Top

Latest Dairy News