Subject: BSE CASE CONFIRMED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Date: May 2, 2007 at 2:25 pm PST
BSE CASE CONFIRMED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
OTTAWA, May 2, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has
confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a
mature dairy cow from British Columbia. The animal's carcass is under CFIA
control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems.
Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal (66 months)
falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada and is
consistent with the recognized average incubation period of the disease.
This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of
infective material, most likely during its first year of life.
An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is
underway to identify the animal’s herdmates at the time of birth and the
pathways by which it might have become infected. All findings will be
publicly released once the investigation concludes.
Canada has a suite of robust BSE control measures which exceeds the
recommended international standards. Assessment of Canada’s programs by the
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has resulted in a recommendation
for recognition as a controlled risk country. The OIE categorization process
is based on an evaluation of the comprehensive set of risk mitigation
measures implemented by a given country.
Canada has taken all necessary measures to achieve the eventual elimination
of BSE from the national cattle herd. The enhanced feed ban, which comes
into effect on July 12, 2007, will prevent more than 99 percent of potential
BSE infectivity from entering the Canadian feed system. The CFIA expects to
detect a small number of cases over the next 10 years as Canada progresses
towards its goal of eliminating the disease from the national cattle heard.
The British Columbia animal was identified at the farm level by the national
surveillance program, which has detected all cases found in Canada. The
program targets cattle most at risk and has tested about 160,000 animals
since 2003. The surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of
BSE in Canada.
It is not unexpected to find BSE-infected animals born after the feed ban.
This has proven to be the case in most other countries with targeted
surveillance programs, similar to that in Canada.
-30-
For information:
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: 613-228-6682
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2007/20070502e.shtml
Amazing what you will find when you look. a far cry from the USA;
[Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of
Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf
THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT ***
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/02n0273/02n-0273-EC244-Attach-1.pdf
Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION]
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt
Docket Management Docket: 02N-0273 - Substances Prohibited From Use in
Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed
Comment Number: EC -10
Accepted - Volume 2
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be07.html
PART 2
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be09.html
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
TSS
Date: May 2, 2007 at 2:25 pm PST
BSE CASE CONFIRMED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
OTTAWA, May 2, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has
confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a
mature dairy cow from British Columbia. The animal's carcass is under CFIA
control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems.
Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal (66 months)
falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada and is
consistent with the recognized average incubation period of the disease.
This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of
infective material, most likely during its first year of life.
An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is
underway to identify the animal’s herdmates at the time of birth and the
pathways by which it might have become infected. All findings will be
publicly released once the investigation concludes.
Canada has a suite of robust BSE control measures which exceeds the
recommended international standards. Assessment of Canada’s programs by the
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has resulted in a recommendation
for recognition as a controlled risk country. The OIE categorization process
is based on an evaluation of the comprehensive set of risk mitigation
measures implemented by a given country.
Canada has taken all necessary measures to achieve the eventual elimination
of BSE from the national cattle herd. The enhanced feed ban, which comes
into effect on July 12, 2007, will prevent more than 99 percent of potential
BSE infectivity from entering the Canadian feed system. The CFIA expects to
detect a small number of cases over the next 10 years as Canada progresses
towards its goal of eliminating the disease from the national cattle heard.
The British Columbia animal was identified at the farm level by the national
surveillance program, which has detected all cases found in Canada. The
program targets cattle most at risk and has tested about 160,000 animals
since 2003. The surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of
BSE in Canada.
It is not unexpected to find BSE-infected animals born after the feed ban.
This has proven to be the case in most other countries with targeted
surveillance programs, similar to that in Canada.
-30-
For information:
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: 613-228-6682
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2007/20070502e.shtml
Amazing what you will find when you look. a far cry from the USA;
[Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of
Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf
THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT ***
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/02n0273/02n-0273-EC244-Attach-1.pdf
Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION]
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt
Docket Management Docket: 02N-0273 - Substances Prohibited From Use in
Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed
Comment Number: EC -10
Accepted - Volume 2
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be07.html
PART 2
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be09.html
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
TSS