Another Mad Cow in U.S.

[Pam R]

We have no BEEF against Canadians raising beef, but don't turn this into the return of Prohibition---liquor being produced in Canada for the explicit  purpose of being smuggled into the States.

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But shouldn't the Americans be concerned that the rest of the world does to them as they have done to the Canadians? (I'm assuming that the US is still exporting beef?)

And don't forget, closing the border means the beef stops both ways. My uncle was a cattle broker for decades. He's in Canada but spent years and years on the road going to places like North and South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, etc. buying beef.

This may be small stuff to some, but a company like Costco - that sells Sinai Beef hot dogs in all of their stores across the country had to stop bringing them in - what does that do to Sinai, an American Company?

A few cases of Mad Cow has rippling effects.

[jayt90]

Do you really want the whole thing in a nutshell? The American processors -or prostitutes, as they are known by American Beef Raisers---made on average 400 to 600 more dollars by obtaining Canadian cattle, trucking them into the U.S., while not paying the fucking enormous taxes we do. Will we keep fighting opening the border...yep, pard. We have no BEEF against Canadians raising beef, but don't turn this into the return of Prohibition---liquor being produced in Canada for the explicit  purpose of being smuggled into the States.

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The beef has not been smuggled, that is such a strong wording, so that Cargill et al can save a few dollars. It is blocked at the border, which is a free trade area (FTA) because a judge in Montana wanted to hear the U.S. ranchers' reasons for keeping Canadian beef out.

The U.S. government wants Canadian beef to re-enter, so that packing plants can work productively, and also to demonstrate to offshore importers, such as Japan, that U.S. and Canadian beef undergo similar testing.

The Montana case will continue, in mid July, but the ranchers who brought it can no longer say that U.S. beef is pure, and free from BSE, and the plants should be protected from the Canadian product. If the judge has heard the current news, he or she can raise the issue.

The U.S. animal with BSE came from Texas, the heartland of American beef.

The three earlier cases from Canada, or Canadian animals shipped to the U.S., were all traced back to feed supplied using animal parts from a single rendering plant, several years ago, in Alberta.

There was a suppressed case of BSE in a dairy cow in New England a few months ago. The experience in the U.K. suggests that dairy herds are more likely to get BSE than beef herds.

When the U.S. court cases to keep Can. beef out resume, I'll have more to report.

[jayt90]

The U.S.D.A. announced yesterday that 29 offspring or relatives of the mad cow, in Texas, were slaughtered as a precaution, and the feed suppliers of these animals, plus the original cow, were being examined. The item, on CBC-1 radio, also noted that the mad cow was 12 years old. This is quite old for a beef cow, from Texas, so it may have been used as a breeder.

In a related news item, the Globe and Mail reports toady that New Zealand is set to allow imports of Canadian beef, formerly banned because of BSE. It is the 15th nation to re-accept Canadian beef.

I wonder who the other 14 are, and what countries are restricting U.S. beef (I have heard that Japan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are in that group.)

[Pan]

I didn't think BSE was hereditary.

[TPO]

The issue, for me anyway, is that CJD takes years to develop. If there are problems now, we won't know the damage they caused for a decade or more. Ten years from now we might have countless people suffering from CJD, or we might find out the Alzheimer's disease actually is a direct result from the years we fed dead cows to our beef cattle.

Still, I am not going to stop eating steaks over a concern of what might happen in the future. But after reading Fast Food Nation, I did start avoiding hamburgers from restaurants (especially fast food restaurants). Since commercial hamburger can contain bits of a hundred cows but a piece of chuck can only come from one, I buy the chuck and grind it myself. IMO this makes a safer and tastier burger.

I was in Canada when the mad cow disease was found. The US banned Canadian beef, and upon returning to the US the Border Patrol searched our cooler and quizzed us about whether or not we had any Canadian beef in the car. Fast forward to the US finding evidence of mad cow, government representatives plead for other countries not to stop accepting their beef and proclaim that one cow doesn't mean anything. I guess when the shoe is on your own foot, the whole scenario changes.

[pam claughton]

"I thus repeat my question: What is all the noise and fear about?"

It's a very real fear, on an issue that has been swept under the carpet, with very little media attention. I started a thread on this a few months back, with links to some interesting articles showing that unlike what you hear in the news, BSE does NOT just reside in the central nervous system. It has been found in the muscle.

The muscle is what we eat. This concerns me. Especially because the level of testing has not increased, it has decreased. Why? Well, if they test less cows, then their odds of finding BSE also decreases. If they don't find it, it doesn't exist ANYWHERE, right?

Right(insert heavy sarcasm). The really scary thing is that unlike e.coli which shows itself immediately, and is usually not life-threatening, there are cures. BSE has no cure. And it does not show symptoms on average for 5 or even 10 years.

We could have MANY cases of BSE in this country. NOW. We just don't know it yet.

Some wonder if people that have been diagnosed with Alzheimers, may actually have BSE. Since they are not tested for it, we'll probably never know. But it is something to consider.

And really, like tobacco, it is just not in this country's interest financially now to rock the boat. Beef is a huge industry. Increased testing could result in things they'd rather we not know about, and sales would dive. Not good for the economy.

So, what's the solution? I love beef, and am not about to give it up. But, I will go out of my way to buy organic.

BSE is believed to have entered our food chain via animals being fed feed with animal by-products, in other words, rendered cows, some sick with BSE. Supposedly, this practice was banned.

But, it's a lot cheaper to serve cattle feed with by-products. So, I suspect that there are a good number who 'bend the rules' and still do it, in order to keep prices down and profits up.

But, we may be the ones paying the price.

:) Pam

Edited July 10, 2005 by pam claughton (log)

[jayt90]

I didn't think BSE was hereditary.

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[/quoteThe 29 slaughtered animals would have shared the same food sources.

The cases in Canada, and the animal in the U.S. born in Alberta, were all consumers of feed from the same rendering plant, in Alberta.

[Pam R]

CBC Radio 1 (and website) today:

The American border is "immediately" open to Canadian cattle following a court decision that overturned a temporary injunction banning their importation because of fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.

You can read the whole thing here .

Something tells me it's not over yet...

Edited July 15, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[Jensen]

Some wonder if people that have been diagnosed with Alzheimers, may actually have BSE. Since they are not tested for it, we'll probably never know. But it is something to consider.

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Just a minor quibble...only cows get BSE. People get vCJD from eating BSE-infected beef.

And yes, I agree that there is a possibility that Alzheimers or like conditions may be ultimately attributable to vCJD.

[peppyre]

CBC Radio 1 (and website) today:

The American border is "immediately" open to Canadian cattle following a court decision that overturned a temporary injunction banning their importation because of fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.

You can read the whole thing here .

Something tells me it's not over yet...

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No it's not. I heard on the news this morning that there is another hearing on July 27 and the American producers want to close the border to Canadian beef permanently. While this is good news for my family today, I think the damage has already been done and I don't know if the ranch will recover.

[Pan]

CBC Radio 1 (and website) today:

The American border is "immediately" open to Canadian cattle following a court decision that overturned a temporary injunction banning their importation because of fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.

You can read the whole thing here .

Something tells me it's not over yet...

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No it's not. I heard on the news this morning that there is another hearing on July 27 and the American producers want to close the border to Canadian beef permanently. While this is good news for my family today, I think the damage has already been done and I don't know if the ranch will recover.

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Seems to me, they're acting crazy on both sides of the border. Since both countries have had mad cows, both countries should agree to open their borders to free trade in beef permanently, barring a true emergency, and should establish and maintain a uniform inspection standard and stop pretending the problem is in the other country. What's NAFTA useful for, if not something like that? I admit to being very puzzled by the plain fact that the "North American Free Trade Association" is nothing of the kind. Wasn't the elimination of disputes over agricultural products one of the reasons NAFTA was pushed through over strong opposition in all three member countries?

[Pam R]

According to the front page of today's Winnipeg Free Press the first load of live Manitoba cattle crossed the border to the US yesterday.

Things are not back to the way they once were ... but it's a good sign. Hopefully other countries will allow live cattle in again.

Edited July 22, 2005 by Pam R (log)