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Ranchers.net

5/31/2006, 9:55 AM CDT


The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) last week voted unanimously to revise the three definitions of risk categories for countries affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Those categories are negligible, controlled, and undetermined.

Before the definition change, a country with a case of BSE had to wait seven years from the date of the last discovery of the disease to be eligible for the "negligible risk" classification given to countries with the least amount of risk.

Now, the date of birth of the diseased animal, rather than the date of discovery, is the determining factor. Countries with adequate testing programs with no cases in cattle born in the past 11 years are eligible for negligible risk status, provided there is no evidence the disease has been recycling in the feed supplies in those countries.

With the old guidelines in place, the U.S. would have had to wait until 2013 to be classified as negligible risk, following the March 2006 discovery of a BSE-infected cow in Alabama. But since that cow was born an estimated 10 years prior to the discovery of the disease, that waiting period is cut significantly.

"Scientists have determined that BSE is caused by feeding contaminated animal-based feed to cattle, and that cattle are most likely to become infected with BSE during the first year of their lives, so using the infected animal's birth date as a reference point allows countries to determine how recently contaminated feed may have been circulating within their feed system," Bill Bullard, CEO of Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA), in a statement. "OIE's decision also allows countries to determine how effective their feed bans have been in arresting the spread of BSE within their borders."

Bullard noted that although the disease may have been prevalent in the U.S. prior to the 1997 feed ban, the fact that there have been no cases detected in cattle born after that ban suggests the U.S. has "effectively halted the continued recycling of the BSE agent."

The risk in Canada, however, may be higher, Bullard said. Of the six BSE cases detected there since 2004, three were born after the 1997 feed ban implemented in that country. "Canada will have to wait until the year 2011 before OIE would even consider placing that country in the negligible-risk category," he said.

Because of that delay in classification change, Bullard says the U.S. should rethink its trading position with Canada. "The U.S. is presently accepting Canadian beef products and cattle into the United States that U.S. export customers will not accept," he said.

"The U.S. also is allowing in imports of Canadian cattle that are eventually made into ground beef. It is clear, that for more than two years,
this practice has complicated the reopening of U.S. export markets and is hurting the financial viability of the U.S. cattle industry."
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