• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

R-CALF on Argentina

Sandhusker

Well-known member
USDA Should Withdraw Proposed Rule on

Meat Imports from Argentina’s Patagonia South Region



Washington, D.C. – Today, R-CALF USA submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that request the agency to withdraw – for several reasons – its proposed rule on meat imports from Argentina’s Patagonia South region. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 5, 2007, and would – for the first time – recognize the disease status of a subregion of a country and allow fresh and frozen meat from the region to be exported to the United States. This pending change would declare that particular portion of Argentina as free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).



“First, the introduction of FMD to the United States would impose enormous costs totaling tens of billions of dollars on the U.S. livestock and meat industries, so any changes at all to import standards regarding FMD must be undertaken with the greatest caution,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the organization’s Animal Health Committee.



“Second, even if FMD is not introduced into the U.S. as a result of recognizing sub-national regions, the practice may create conflicts with trading partners and impede U.S. exports of livestock and meat products,” he continued.



“Third, the risk assessment upon which this proposed rule is based is outdated and fails to take into account the fact that Argentina had its first outbreak of FMD since 2003 in February 2006,” Thornsberry noted. “The outbreak occurred only 25 kilometers from the Paraguayan border, and the Argentine government believes the most likely cause of the outbreak was the introduction of the FMD virus from abroad.



“Fourth, U.S. import safeguards for FMD have not been tested with respect to a sub-national zone within a country, and the proposed safeguards fail to account for the fact that the World Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE’s) eligibility criteria for FMD-free zones are more lax than the criteria for FMD-free countries,” he emphasized. “The proposed regulatory safeguards do not appear to compensate for this discrepancy.



“In this case, given the recent FMD outbreak in Argentina and the failure of the risk analysis to take this outbreak into account – as well as the lack of compensating safeguards in proposed regulations to account for the differences in OIE rules regarding FMD-free zones – R-CALF USA urges that the proposed rule be withdrawn because of our concern that the recognition of sub-national regions as FMD-free poses unacceptable risks to the U.S. cattle herd and U.S. farmers and ranchers,” Thornsberry concluded.



Note: To view USDA’s risk assessment – completed in June 2005 – please visit the “Animal Health” link at www.r-calfusa.com, where R-CALF USA’s formal comments also will be posted, as well as the January 5, 2007, Federal Register Notice filed by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). To view the R-CALF USA news release on this topic dated Jan. 10, 2006, visit the “News Releases” link at www.r-calfusa.
 
Top