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BSE testing could have paid off.....

Mike

Well-known member
Voluntary BSE Testing Could Have Covered Its Costs
The loss of export markets alone due to BSE cost the U.S. beef industry $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion in 2004, a Kansas State University (KSU) study commissioned by the Kansas Department of Ag reports. The study, released yesterday and entitled "The Economic Impact of BSE on the U.S. Beef Industry," also concludes that voluntary BSE testing, which USDA has staunchly disallowed, could have been a paying proposition for the industry (see the Kansas City Star article at http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11514980.htm).

The study conducted by KSU economists James Mintert, Sean Fox and Ted Schroeder, looked at regulator costs, losses and consumer reactions after the Dec. 23, 2003, discovery of BSE in a lone Washington dairy cow. The researchers say it would have cost $640 million to test all cattle harvested in the U.S. in 2004, disregarding the costs of equipping processing plants for the testing.

But the regaining of just 25% of the Pacific Rim export markets by testing 75% of U.S. cattle harvested would have been a breakeven. And if the U.S. could regain half those markets by testing just 25% of its cattle harvest, the U.S. beef industry would have been up by almost $750 million, making an additional $22.84/head.
-- Joe Roybal

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/agec2/MF2678.pdf
 
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