WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department has asked Harvard University for help in determining whether resuming all imports of Canadian live cattle and beef products would increase the risk of spreading mad cow disease, a Harvard official said on Monday.
The USDA is reviewing more than 3,000 comments submitted by industry, consumer groups and ranchers on whether to lift all trade restrictions against Canada, which reported its first native case of mad cow disease one year ago.
Before the case of mad cow disease, Canada produced about 1.2 million tonnes of beef each year and exported roughly one-third of it in the form of live cattle to the United States.
The USDA "asked us to take a look at some of the comments that they got on their proposed rule for allowing beef in from Canada," said George Gray, director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.
A USDA spokesman had no immediate comment.
Last August, the USDA agreed to resume shipments of a large amount of boneless beef from Canada from animals under 30 months old. That beef is thought to be the least risky in carrying mad cow disease.
In 2001, Gray was the main author of a Harvard risk analysis that said mad cow disease was highly unlikely to occur in the United States. But if it did, the federal government had implemented enough safeguards to ensure that mad cow disease did not become widespread, the report concluded.
Gray said the USDA did not ask Harvard to prepare another risk analysis of the nation's vulnerability to the brain-wasting disease. A cattle group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, has threatened to file a lawsuit against the USDA if it eases the ban on Canadian beef without first conducting a new risk analysis.
"The most important factor that would be discovered in the risk assessment is 'What is the prevalence of BSE in Canada?'" said Bill Bullard, the cattle group's chief executive officer.
Last month, R-CALF won a federal court order in Montana stopping the USDA from allowing the resumption of some imports of ground beef and bone-in beef from Canadian cattle.
Canada has pressed the USDA to fully reopen the border, noting that the United States discovered its own case of mad cow disease in late December.
The USDA is reviewing more than 3,000 comments submitted by industry, consumer groups and ranchers on whether to lift all trade restrictions against Canada, which reported its first native case of mad cow disease one year ago.
Before the case of mad cow disease, Canada produced about 1.2 million tonnes of beef each year and exported roughly one-third of it in the form of live cattle to the United States.
The USDA "asked us to take a look at some of the comments that they got on their proposed rule for allowing beef in from Canada," said George Gray, director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.
A USDA spokesman had no immediate comment.
Last August, the USDA agreed to resume shipments of a large amount of boneless beef from Canada from animals under 30 months old. That beef is thought to be the least risky in carrying mad cow disease.
In 2001, Gray was the main author of a Harvard risk analysis that said mad cow disease was highly unlikely to occur in the United States. But if it did, the federal government had implemented enough safeguards to ensure that mad cow disease did not become widespread, the report concluded.
Gray said the USDA did not ask Harvard to prepare another risk analysis of the nation's vulnerability to the brain-wasting disease. A cattle group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, has threatened to file a lawsuit against the USDA if it eases the ban on Canadian beef without first conducting a new risk analysis.
"The most important factor that would be discovered in the risk assessment is 'What is the prevalence of BSE in Canada?'" said Bill Bullard, the cattle group's chief executive officer.
Last month, R-CALF won a federal court order in Montana stopping the USDA from allowing the resumption of some imports of ground beef and bone-in beef from Canadian cattle.
Canada has pressed the USDA to fully reopen the border, noting that the United States discovered its own case of mad cow disease in late December.
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