well, sandhusker i guess the bookmakers, statiticians, etc. better talk to the oie:
=DJ Panel Recommends US, Canada Get Favorable BSE Rating
5:43 PM, February 27, 2007
By Bill Tomson
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A panel for the World Organization for Animal Health
has recommended to its 167 member countries that the U.S. and Canada be given a
favorable rating on "mad cow" disease safety, a designation both countries
want to spur beef and cattle trade, according to U.S. and Canadian officials.
The organization, known internationally by its French Acronym OIE, is
proposing both countries get a "controlled" risk rating for their handling of
the cattle disease that can be passed to humans through consumption of tainted
meat.
The OIE will meet in May for its annual general session and members will vote
to approve or disapprove rating categories being proposed for several
countries, including the U.S. and Canada.
There are three possible categories and "negligible" status is considered the
best. That rating is reserved for countries with the smallest risk for "mad
cow" disease, known scientifically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Next best, and the rating U.S. government officials have privately said they
are expecting, is a "controlled" rating. That is the category being proposed by
the OIE Scientific Commission for the U.S. and Canada, government and industry
officials said this week. The third rating is "undetermined."
The officials asked not to be named in this story due to the sensitive nature
of the issue ahead of the OIE vote in May.
A Canadian government official expressed pleasure in the "preliminary" rating
of "controlled" status and called it a positive step.
That commission, after reviewing member country submissions and developing
rating proposals, distributed some copies in February. OIE member countries
will have until the May OIE meeting to review the recommendations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent the U.S. submission to the OIE last
October.
The organization, on its Web site, says: "OIE standards are recognized by the
World Trade Organization as reference (for) international sanitary rules."
Ron DeHaven, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, was unavailable for immediate comment, but he previously told Dow
Jones Newswires in a December interview that the U.S. would be satisfied with a
"controlled" risk designation.
DeHaven said in December the primary difference between "controlled" and
"negligible" is that with a "controlled" status countries must have
comprehensive surveillance and safeguard measures in place. He said the U.S.
already has established those measures.
An internationally approved favorable BSE-risk status for the U.S. is what is
needed to convince countries around the world that they should drop barriers to
U.S. beef, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President Jay Truitt said
Tuesday.
Many foreign markets have at least partially re-opened to U.S. beef since BSE
was first found there more than three years ago, but there are still plenty of
barriers to trade. Truitt named Japan as an example. Japan maintains
trade-restricting regulations that allow in only beef from very young cattle
from a select number of U.S. production facilities.
"This is about the final chapter on BSE," Truitt said. "This should remove
all the rest of the excuses from other countries that trade (beef) with the
United States."
-By Bill Tomson; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-646-0088;
[email protected].
(END) Dow Jones Newswires