Econ101 said:
This report is blaming the reason on no age verified cattle for Japan. Party line propaganda.
The real reason is that the USDA can't be trusted by Japan and wants to run the kind of policy (failed policy) that it wants to push on our trading partners.
Not putting the blame where it belongs means we won't be smart enough to fix the problem.
Cattlemen should be mad at this failed policy of the USDA and their bureaucracy. Too bad the courts have given them "deference". Not everyone is drinking their cool aid.
I see the Judiciary committee isn't going to give the administration "deference" and is going to require the truth by issuing subpoenas.
Econ101 said:
This report is blaming the reason on no age verified cattle for Japan. Party line propaganda.
The real reason is that the USDA can't be trusted by Japan and wants to run the kind of policy (failed policy) that it wants to push on our trading partners.
Not putting the blame where it belongs means we won't be smart enough to fix the problem.
Cattlemen should be mad at this failed policy of the USDA and their bureaucracy. Too bad the courts have given them "deference". Not everyone is drinking their cool aid.
I see the Judiciary committee isn't going to give the administration "deference" and is going to require the truth by issuing subpoenas.
Japan
Livestock and Products
Semiannual Report
2007
Report Highlights: Japan currently only allows U.S. beef from animals aged 20
months or younger, which severely limits trade. While the Japanese market was
partially re-opened in July 2006, imports of U.S. beef only reached 10,458 MT in
2006, a fraction of historic levels. 2007 U.S. beef sales to Japan are forecast at
57,000 MT, primarily due to a limited supply of age-qualified animals in the United
States. However, this forecast is highly dependent on policy developments. High
beef prices in general will dampen consumption. Pork imports are forecast down
2% to 1.12 million MT in 2007. Increased enforcement of the so called ‘gate price’
system of collecting import duties will continue to limit imports of frozen pork for
processing. The Untied States is expected to continue doing a brisk trade in
seasoned ground pork for sausages, which falls outside of the ‘gate price’ duty
system.
snip...
Beef Section
2007 Japan Beef Market Outlook
For Policy Reasons, Imports of U.S. Beef to Stay Low in 2007
Post estimates Japan’s total beef imports in 2007 will be around 720,000 MT, up by 4% from
last year. CY 2007 U.S. beef sales to Japan are forecast up at 57,000 MT.
Japan currently only allows U.S. beef from animals aged 20 months or younger. One large
factor in the 2007 import estimate is the ability of the U.S. beef industry to supply cattle that
qualify under USDA’s EV program, which is used to identify animals that meet the Japanese
age restrictions. Currently, a minority of the cattle slaughtered in the United States qualify
under this program. The Japanese policy is not based on sound science and is not consistent
with international standards. If Japan were to adopt international standards in 2007, it would
greatly increase the exportable supply of U.S. beef and would contribute to the United States
regaining its historic market share. In May 2007, the OIE (the World Organization for Animal
Health) is expected to adopt a new classification for BSE risk in the Untied States. Because
the OIE is a recognized standard setting body in the WTO, this change may play a key role in
normalizing the beef trade with Japan.
snip...
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200703/146280444.pdf
China, Peoples Republic of
Livestock and Products
Semi-Annual Report
2007
snip...
Executive Summary
Total U.S. pork and pork product exports to China via direct shipments and Hong Kong
transshipments (i.e., muscle meat, variety meal, offals and processed meat) reached $94
million (CIF) in CY 2006, an 11 percent decrease from last year due to higher export prices.
In 2006, the average CIF unit price for U.S. direct pork shipments to China increased by 15
percent. U.S. pork exports to China have been interrupted by China’s “0” tolerance standard
on ractopamine. Two major U.S. exporting plants are suspended by China due to
ractopamine detections at the beginning of 2006. Demand for U.S. beef remains strong in
China, but trade resumption during 2007 remains uncertain. As evidence of the sales
potential, the trade believes the annual flow of U.S. beef into China through “indirect
channels” is probably equal to or greater than the pre-BSE ban 2003 import levels. China
and the United States continue discussions on the range of beef products and on China’s
quarantine import conditions. See CH6074 (dated September 7, 2006) for more background
on the U.S.-China beef negotiations that took place during May to July 2006.
snip...
China’s beef production in 2007 is forecast to increase by 5 percent to 7.9 MMT driven by
strong domestic demand and lagging supplies. China’s beef imports are forecast to remain
flat in 2007 due to China’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-related restrictions.
China’s beef exports in 2007 are forecast to increase by 3 percent to 102,000 MT. U.S.,
Canadian and Brazilian export recovering in world market may shrink China’s export share.
China’s pork production in 2007 is forecast to increase by 4 percent to 54.4 MMT due to slow
slaughter. China’s pork imports are forecast to increase by 4 percent, not only because of
slow domestic slaughter, but also because of stronger RMB against U.S. Dollars.
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200703/146280511.pdf
THE USDA JUNE 2004 ENHANCED BSE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM WAS TERRIBLY FLAWED ;
CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier
this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to
them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest
case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at
least a decade.
The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA
officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.
These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a
picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is
thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they
consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal,
incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated
with the mad cow pathogen.
"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of
other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the
National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System
Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press
International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer
that."
Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow
cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the
United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before
one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow
that initially tested positive.
USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven
months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.
"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005
suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r
CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ...
Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central
Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room
4A-05, ...
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm
PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM
"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."
OR, what the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG found ;
Audit Report
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program – Phase II
and
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III
Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006
Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle Still Remain
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf
EXPORTATION AND IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS:
BSE; MRR AND IMPORTATION OF COMMODITIES, 65758-65759 [E6-19042]
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Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518