30 months or 23 months

[cowman]

These so-called OIE rules are a little bizarre. Not about food safety at all. I mean if the animal is tested there can be no question about its safety, right? So the only really safe meat is tested meat.
If we went to a 100% test we still couldn't sell our meat? While the US, Australia, New Zealand could continue to sell their untested product? This goes beyond common sense and enters the realm of out and out insanity!
Why would the US and Oceania want to get the rules changed? Out of deep concern for Canada? Or maybe they've had a few cases too, but were smart enough to cover it up? Do you really trust the US? Or the kangaroo exporters?
Put aside for one minute our need to export. Consider our best custmer...which is not the US but the Canadian consumer! Do we owe them a safe product? The safest product in the world? Personally I'm not to keen on eating mad cow!
Maybe we need to reconsider our whole industry. Do we need to have an industry based on exports or one that serves the domestic market? I do realize that without an export market a lot of producers have to go. We might have to go back to the numbers we had before every man and his dog piled into cows! Is the money so good in cows that we couldn't get 25% of producers to quit with a bit of incentive? Take a look around your neighborhood...in ten years most of our producers will be senior citizens! Might be the kindest thing to move them out now?

[rsomer]

cowman: Very thought provoking comments. Do we owe Canadians the safest product in the world? I think we already provide them that. Remember Canada does test for BSE on an ongoing basis. As long as you are eating Canadian cow your risk of contracting BSE is very, very, very low.

A short while ago a man died of CJD (not new variant CJD which is linked to BSE in cattle) in eastern Canada. Although the cause was not pinpointed, it seemed likely he may have contracted the disease as a result of an operation in a hospital. Should we now test every human who donates organs for CJD before allowing the use of medical transplants? Or blood donations? Just step this way sir and we will take a sample of your brain to make sure the blood is safe, better safe than sorry. I don’t think so. After all we know we have TSE’s in the human population in this country as well as the bovine population. Did the news of this mans death frighten people away from hospitals, I don’t believe so. They trust the science. Obviously no blood or organs from this poor man would have been used for any medical purpose. Likewise with the positive BSE cow, she was destroyed. There is always an element of risk but people really need to accept that no 100% guarantees can ever be offered. And we are testing all the time.

We will in cooperation with our trading partners develop appropriate rules for BSE prevention between our countries. That is being done right now even if it slower than we would like. And we will accept product from other countries based on those rules as well as export our product. Those rules will be based on science not media hyperbole or consumer paranoia. The consumer is not always right believe it or not. With food safety as with our Canadian medical system the consumer would continue to demand more and more of the system as long as they perceive they don’t have to pay for it. Science can objectively evaluate the risks, costs, benefits and will determine appropriate testing protocols to ensure a reasonable level of food safety for our consumers, domestic and international. The science says we are presently testing above the required levels. That has to be good enough.

[cowman]

Well I have to disagree with you. The customer is ALWAYS right or he won't be your customer. No one holds a gun to his head and demands he eat beef. We've lost major market share to poultry in the last several years and if the customer gets the idea in his head that beef is not safe, he can buy chicken instead. Or better yet go vegetarian!
What happens when the next BSE animal turns up? Do we dazzle them with more BS? How long can that go on...2 cows 5cows?
It's like the hormone thing in Europe. Science says it's safe, the people don't believe it! So you either produce hormone free beef or you don't sell it. Very simple. And are these people just paranoid ignorant consumers? How many times has the science proven to be a joke? How many times has it been manipulated? People don't trust the so-called "science" anymore...and with good reason.
Personally I don't think beef with hormones is safe! I used to use hormones but I didn't like how it was turning my steers into bodybuilders and my heifers into sex maniacs! I just feel that can't be a good thing. And while I'm on my rant how about systematic parasite killers? You know Ivomec, Grubex types of products. Do you ever get a little leery of those? Now they say they are 100% safe but then they said that about DDT and the estrogen thing for women.
Now I'm not 100% against pesticides but I am against the use of them when there isn't a problem. We don't need to have every animal treated with a systematic?

[rsomer]

Exactly so, we don’t need to have every animal treated with a systemic, and Canada doesn’t need to have every cow tested for BSE.

You raise a good point about the science saying hormones, systemics, pesticides being safe and yet questions remain. Science can be occasionally wrong but if not science, then what? Do we believe the media, or American politicians, maybe the Ladies Home Journal? Science, even if imperfect, is the most objective determinant of food safety we have.

Whether to test or not to test is a difficult issue. You mentioned Europe. The risk of BSE in Europe is much, much higher. The United Kingdom has had 147,071 positive BSE tests up to the end of 2002. For darn sure they should be testing each and every animal. On the other hand we have two positive tests during the same period of time, and one of those was imported from Britain.

Japan is testing all their cows. But lets look at the facts. Japan’s cattle herd is about 1/3 the size of ours. Japan did not ban feeding of animal protein to ruminants. Japan has had eight positives. That would be comparable to 24 positives in Canada. And for the last 5-6 years Canada had banned feeding ruminant protein which is thought to be the cause of spread of BSE. The risk of incidence of BSE in Canada is dramatically less than in Japan. Just because it may be appropriate for Japan to test every cow doesn’t mean the same is necessary for the Canadian product.

If we assume the customer is always right and we test every cow and we find a positive, then what? Will the consumer reaction be Canadian beef is really safe because another positive animal was tested and prevented from entering the food chain or will the consumer reaction be that Canadian beef is infected with BSE and they should be eating chicken instead. Will the U.S. reaction to another BSE positive be that the Canadians are doing such a great job of testing we should allow beef from animals over 30 months into the U.S. too or will the American reaction be to completely shut down the borders to all Canadian beef and cattle just like last time. Maybe the customer is always right but their reaction to BSE positive tests can be very wrong, whether that customer is the Canadian housewife or the Americans south of the border.

Canadians are testing for BSE all the time. And we are removing all Specified Risk Materials from all animals. That probably does more to ensure the safety of our product than tests. I do think our situation is very different from Britain and Japan, a different response is appropriate. Testing every cow won’t help us move beef into the U.S., in fact it would hurt trade relations with the U.S. at a time we need to be harmonizing trade between our two countries.

Yes, there is an argument to test each and every cow but the risk of BSE in our cow herd is very, very, low. I read an article today by John Schmidt, erstwhile Calgary Hearld columnist and present day agricultural reporter. John Schmidt used the term "alleged case of BSE" to refer to the cause of our present crisis. I think he is right, it was just one animal and there are questions about whether or not it really did have BSE. It is too soon to throw the baby out with the bath water and test every cow for BSE based on what happened on May 20.

[cowman]

Whoa! What is this "alleged BSE"? I thought this was a sure thing! Didn't they confirm it was in fact BSE? Wasn't it tested at two labs and was a definitely positive?
I've never heard this "alleged thing" before. I wonder if John Schmidt has anything to back this up?

[rsomer]

Preliminary tests performed at a Alberta provincial laboratory and at the CFIA's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg were unable to rule out BSE but there was no positive test within Canada. The CFIA sent specimens to the World Reference Laboratory at Weybridge, United Kingdom, where one person made a subjective evaluation of the sample which verified the presence of BSE. It was pointed out to me that a subjective evaluation such as this should never have been made by one person but by a panel of three qualified individuals and as such the positive determination is open to question. I understand all the BSE tests can give false positives although some tests are considered highly accurate. Don’t know what information John Schmidt has but there were allegations that there was no DNA link established between the subject cow and the actual sample that was tested in Britain.

It would seem reasonable to assume that once the source herd was established and the other animals in that herd that had consumed the same feed were tested and were found negative then either the positive test cow had acquired BSE by some other means than by consuming contaminated feed or else the positive test was inaccurate.

[cowman]

Well I did not know any of that! Thanks once again for educating me.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories but sometimes I get an uneasy feeling about this whole thing!
Lets see: A newly arrived American farmer. Suggestions that the cow might have originated in the US. And now a shaky test? Only one animal showing up.
An American administration bent on protectionalism and not above playing dirty tricks.
Do you think I am just paranoid? How did our federal government never ask some tough questions in regards to some of this stuff?

[rsomer]

It makes good coffee shop gossip doesn’t it. Bottom line though, if we are going to accept all the negative test results as accurate then we are stuck to accept the one positive test as accurate too. But realizing it was just one positive, alleged or not, helps to put the whole thing in perspective. A reasoned, measured response to the one positive BSE test is what is called for.

Along the lines of a measured response, I found a link to the proposal that is to go before the OIE for a new trade response to isolated BSE positives. It is marked confidential - not for distribution but it is on the web. Entitled "A Reorientation of Standards Development for International Trade - A Discussion Paper" part of the Discussion Document on New Approaches to Dealing with BSE and Global Trade, it describes a reasoned response to a positive test for those countries where the incidence of BSE is less than 1 per 1 million head of cattle. Interesting reading. It points out that at this time no country is considered free of BSE because the required 8 years since a ban on feeding animal protein to ruminants was put in place has not yet passed. At best countries are provisionally free. The Discussion Paper suggests a new Country Status called "Minimal Isolated Occurrence". It is suggested this new approach to animal health could be applied to diseases other than BSE, I see this as changing the ability of countries with FMD such as Argentina to trade globally. Certainly would open the borders to our Canadian product.

The link is: http://www.animalhealth.ca/DiscussionPaperBSE.pdf

A year ago I was 100% in favour of more testing for BSE and would have supported testing of all older animals. I may have even written some letters to the editor on the subject. But I was basing that on the response we got to the first BSE positive of the imported British cow. The response we got this last time would suggest the 3S approach is the way to go. Hopefully the suggestions in the Discussion Paper are considered carefully and implemented quickly. Then Canadians and their NAFTA trading partners can revisit their testing protocols for BSE to ensure that a more than adequate level of testing is being done to ensure the highest possible level of food safety.

[rsomer]

Just a comment on paranoid. I like to not think of myself as paranoid, preferring the phrase "thinking out of the box" instead. Works for me! :-)

[cowman]

I suspect the old 3S approach is the unofficial policy of the US government, not only on BSE but on a lot of things including SARS and Gulf War Syndrome. After all in America you can't let things like health and safety get in the way of corporate profits! Somewhere along the line we need to realize that MONEY is not the most important thing in the world! I believe the American capitalistic system has gone too far and needs to be reigned in.
Our governments need to stand up for the common man and not the financial overlords. Isn't it supposed to be government for the people? All the people? Not just the super rich?
Now I'm no socialist but I do believe in everyone getting a fair kick at the can and the chance to have a decent life. All a government can do is make sure that everyone gets that chance and as far as I can see they are failing to do that.
Our meat inspection agency did the right thing and now we are paying for it! But I for one applaud what they did! And I am proud that Van clief is standing firm on the blue tongue thing even though it might keep the border closed to Canadian beef. It shows that we haven't sunk to the level of the USA. There once was a time when I believed we should join the USA, but now I realize just how far they have slipped morally and I want no part of them! They are beginning to rot from within.