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Ranchers.net

Alberta cow tests positive for mad cow: CTV News
Updated Mon. Jan. 23 2006 9:53 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A cow in Alberta has tested positive for mad cow disease, but officials do not believe parts of the cow were processed for consumption, CTV News has learned.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. ET.

On Sunday, The Canadian Press reported that federal agriculture inspectors had sent a "suspicious sample" to a Winnipeg lab for further testing.

"We have an ongoing testing program for BSE and that means from time to time we undertake confirmatory tests when we come up with a suspicious sample," Mark Van Dusen told CP.

If confirmed by the CFIA, it will be a devastating blow for the Canadian cattle industry, which had just rebounded from a previous case of BSE in Alberta in 2003.

A two-year ban on Canadian beef cost the industry an estimated $7 billion.

But things had started looking up. American reopened its borders to Canadian cattle in July, and Japan -- one of Canada's largest markets -- followed in December.

Mad cow disease, also known as BSE bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a degenerative nerve disease in cattle. It has been linked to the fatal nerve disorder in humans, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
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