New Japanese Beef Proposal

[jensend]

so we'll go down with the ship just to show the rest of the world we're stupid.

[farmers_son]

No we stand with the rest of the world to show Japan they are wrong and that science has to be the arbitrator in world trade. Once that is established with Japan, the U.S. is next.

[farmers_son]

You mean stand with the USDA. The rest of the world is using BSE testing as a marketing tool. Read the Alberta Beef Magazine September addition. Proof of BSE testing is written on MacDonalds place mats in some countries.

I am not positive on total numbers, but percentage wise Canada and the US are about the same in terms of numbers tested for survailance, HOWEVER, Canada tests only 4D cattle, and the USA is not held to 4D's. This is because Canada is the source of the US cow, according to OIE.

[jensend]

farmers_son - you forget we are a bse nation. the united states is not abiding by oie guidelines so why should the japanese? in every negotiation usually both parties have to give up something they want. the other bse nations have a much stricter testing regimen than what the usa, and by extension canada, is willing to perform. some canadians need to remember we have had a homegrown case of bse and even if the science is undetermined we are going to have to perform to a certain standard to regain markets. you are reminiscent of rsomer in that you always seem to come up with 'you can't get there from here' whenever a solution is proposed.

[kato]

Science has never had anything to do with protectionist behaviour. If it isn't BSE testing, it will be something else. It's just a fact of life. If the intention is to keep trade out by throwing up barriers, then there will be new barriers all the time.

We will never know how much business we may have had in Europe if we had given up implants. Maybe we would have had a lot, maybe nothing.

What happens if Australia finds one? I know they don't test, but that may not always be the case. If Japan wants to get cranky with them, they could insist on them testing too. It just takes some political will in Japan to make it an issue. Maybe they aren't happy with another sort of trade with Australia, and use BSE testing as leverage. It can happen.

What we have to decide is if we want to be in the international trade business or not. We see how the game is played, and if we want in, then we play the game along with everyone else. Face it, we are not big enough to force anyone to change rules just for us, or because it is 'right'.

Either that or we sit in our little corner and feel sorry for ourselves.

[farmers_son]

I meant stand with the rest of the worlds major exporting countries. Of the worlds key beef net exporters, Brazil, Australia , New Zealand and Canada, we already test the most. The EU is considered a beef exporter but like the U.S. is a net importer of beef. The U.S. remains the worlds largest importer of beef while Brazil is expected to pass Australia as the largest exporter. Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and for that matter the South America countries do not test any significant numbers for BSE.

Brazil’s 2004 exports are forecast to be 1.4 million tonnes, Australia 1.3 million tonnes, Canada third in the world at .565 million tonnes, New Zealand a close fourth at .56 million tonnes. The U.S. is well down the list at .195 million tonnes projected exports for 2004. The EU with its extensive testing program will export only .36 million tonnes, mostly to Russia which will buy anything cheap. Certainly no EU exports to Japan.

http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp/circular/2004/04-03LP/Beefoverview.pdf

[cakadu]

It could very well be that Australian beef gets into Japan because they haven't had a case of BSE that they know of - YET.

On the other hand, Australia has been more than willing to give the Japanese what they want in terms of product versus someone like Canada having gone in and tell them what they need to buy. Big difference which has produced results for the Australians.

If you want to bring in the trade aspect, yes, Australia does do a fair bit of trade with Japan, but an awful lot of Australians go to Singapore to buy goods as well.

[jensend]

i guess since the eu is a net importer the japanese market is of no interest to them since it wants high end cuts and the russians will take what the europeans don't want. that would be the more likely reason for no european exports to japan than any particular distrust of the european product. seems to me the japanese (and others) market would be of vital interest to us. the usa doesn't want us out of step with them because if we do move on our own it will probably give us an advantage. this 'sound science' absurdity is getting more ludicrous every day. if so much is known why haven't the projected numbers of vcjd materialized? the japanese may be the intelligent ones for demanding testing when there is not enough known about this disease or condition. we are allowing ourselves to be held back. i also believe we are suffering unnecessary expense by losing byproduct value which would recover at least part of the cost of testing. the large packers don't want their production methods disturbed and that is the biggest impetus behind the dispute between n. america and japan.