Klein urges calm while origin of BSE-infected Washington cow verified

JUDY MONCHUK
Canadian Press
Monday, December 29, 2003

CALGARY (CP) - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein says the North American cattle
industry is so integrated that it really doesn't matter if the latest
animal to test positive for mad cow disease is from this Prairie province.

"An American bull sniffing a Canadian cow doesn't ask for that cow's
national identity," Klein said Monday in his first comments since U.S.
officials pointed to Alberta as the likely source of the infected dairy cow
found in Washington state.

Klein said the cow may have been infected by contaminated feed that could
have come from the U.S. or Canada and that Alberta will do everything
possible to assist in tracking that down. Late Monday, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture said it was tracing the origins of eight other dairy cattle
imported from Canada. All are believed to have been born prior to August
1997, when safety measures were imposed on cattle feed.

And the outlook for Canada's embattled beef industry was bleak as live
cattle futures in the United States fell Monday by the maximum allowable
amount for the third straight day. Alberta Agriculture Minister Shirley
McClellan was terse when asked to assess the situation. "Beef futures
in the U.S. dropped the limit for three days - I would say that's
worse," McClellan told reporters in Edmonton, her voice rising.
"Until the investigation is complete and until all of the questions
are answered, it's worse. That's the short answer."

Alberta, home to more than half of Canada's 13.5 million cattle, has taken
the hardest hit since bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the scientific name
for mad cow disease, was discovered in a northern Alberta breeder cow in
May. Klein conceded that the beef industry has been further damaged by the
latest case. He said if necessary, Alberta would provide more financial aid
to ranchers above the $400 million the province has already pledged,
although he offered no details.

Cattle buyers say one silver lining is that Canadian livestock auctions are
in the middle of an annual two-week holiday break and will not reopen until
at least Monday - halting any further collapse of cattle prices. "It
gives us all a little breathing room," said Graham Friesen of Airdrie,
Alta., who purchases more than 10,000 cattle a year for feedlots and
ranchers across Western Canada. "I'm glad there (are) no sales this
week," said Friesen. "It gives us all a chance to figure out what
our business plan is going to be for this coming year."

Another positive is that none of Canada's export customers have banned
Canadian beef like they did in May, said Ted Haney of the Canada Beef
Export Federation. "Nobody has announced any suspensions in trade of
Canadian beef, and they could have," said Haney, noting that other
countries including Mexico have suspended trade in U.S. beef. "We
believe that the fundamental philosophy of a science-based approach to
re-establishing access for Canadian beef has been accepted: that Canada
presents minimal risk for BSE."

Klein said it's important that international protocols on limiting the
spread of BSE be updated to reflect 21st-century science. That process,
underway at the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, is
expected to be complete by May. "Isolated cases need not lead to
worldwide panic," the premier said.

Klein expressed frustration with American officials for their
pronouncements that have yet to be proven, but said he didn't want to get
involved in a finger-pointing exercise. He appealed for cooler heads to
prevail until results of DNA tests on the infected animal are complete,
which could be another week. Once the origin of the cow is confirmed, the
next step is to trace its feed, the most probable source of infection.
However, Canadian officials have not yet determined the source of infection
for the first cow that was infected with the brain-wasting disease.

The premier criticized U.S. news media coverage of the story since Dec. 23,
noting that the world needs to know there is virtually no risk to human
health from BSE-infected cattle. "To my knowledge, there has never
been a single case in North America of the human version of BSE. But there
have been a lot of accidents, a lot of people have died of cancer, kidney
failure or liver disease," he said.

Canada's beef industry has lost more than $1.9 billion in exports alone
since May, when more than 30 countries slammed their borders on Canadian
beef. Those restrictions have only recently been partially lifted, mostly
on cuts of boneless beef from animals less than 30 months old, which are
believed to be at low risk of contracting the disease. Klein said
suggestions that markets could again be shut were premature and
speculative.

American beef producers are lobbying to keep the U.S. border closed to live
Canadian cattle until it's determined where the Washington state animal
originated and how it got the disease. But Jay Truitt of the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association says that doesn't mean an indefinite extension
of the review period on opening the border to live cattle under 30 months.
"We don't need to learn more about the Canadian system - we understand
(their) operating principles," Truitt said from Washington, adding his
group wants to ensure the USDA develops a better system of tracking live
cattle in the United States. "The beef system in North America is
integrated in a lot of ways and we have to figure out how we do it that
lets everybody operate."




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