American group wins injunction to keep border closed to cattle
Last Updated Mar 2 2005 01:13 PM CST
CBC News
BILLINGS, MONTANA – The American rancher lobby group R-CALF has won a preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. government from reopening the border to live Canadian cattle.
The judge, who said he would give his reasons Thursday, told the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) they should apply for a permanent injunction.
R-CALF had argued that the border reopening – scheduled for Monday – would cause financial harm to U.S. producers, and that Canada doesn't properly test its animals for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
CBC INDEPTH: Mad cow disease
R-CALF succeeded last year in obtaining an injunction to halt a U.S. Department of Agriculture decision to allow additional cuts of meat from Canada, argued in front of the same judge.
The U.S. closed its border to Canadian beef and cattle in May 2003, after the first case of BSE in a Canadian-born animal was confirmed. It resumed the shipment of some cuts of beef that August.
And two months ago, the USDA announced that it would begin allowing live cattle under the age of 30 months across the border beginning March 7. The USDA said it recognized Canada as a "minimal-risk region" for BSE, in part because of measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
After the announcement, two more cases of BSE were confirmed in Alberta animals, but the USDA said it had expected to see other cases and they fell within the minimal risk definition. A Canadian-born dairy cow that had been shipped to the U.S. in 2001 tested positive for BSE in December 2003. That led to Japan halting imports of U.S. beef.
R-CALF will also argue that allowing Canadian cattle into the U.S. will impact American exports to foreign markets.
In its economic argument, R-CALF said if the border reopens, Canada will ship two million animals south in the first 12 months.
R-CALF says it will cost the American cattle industry – which was been reaping high prices for their animals since the border closed – up to $3 billion if it reopens.
Canadian officials say before the border closed in 2003, Canada shipped about 900,000 animals a year to the U.S. And with new rules imposed by the USDA regarding whether cattle will be allowed in, the animals will have to travel directly to slaughter, or to a feedlot on the way to slaughter
Last Updated Mar 2 2005 01:13 PM CST
CBC News
BILLINGS, MONTANA – The American rancher lobby group R-CALF has won a preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. government from reopening the border to live Canadian cattle.
The judge, who said he would give his reasons Thursday, told the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) they should apply for a permanent injunction.
R-CALF had argued that the border reopening – scheduled for Monday – would cause financial harm to U.S. producers, and that Canada doesn't properly test its animals for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
CBC INDEPTH: Mad cow disease
R-CALF succeeded last year in obtaining an injunction to halt a U.S. Department of Agriculture decision to allow additional cuts of meat from Canada, argued in front of the same judge.
The U.S. closed its border to Canadian beef and cattle in May 2003, after the first case of BSE in a Canadian-born animal was confirmed. It resumed the shipment of some cuts of beef that August.
And two months ago, the USDA announced that it would begin allowing live cattle under the age of 30 months across the border beginning March 7. The USDA said it recognized Canada as a "minimal-risk region" for BSE, in part because of measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
After the announcement, two more cases of BSE were confirmed in Alberta animals, but the USDA said it had expected to see other cases and they fell within the minimal risk definition. A Canadian-born dairy cow that had been shipped to the U.S. in 2001 tested positive for BSE in December 2003. That led to Japan halting imports of U.S. beef.
R-CALF will also argue that allowing Canadian cattle into the U.S. will impact American exports to foreign markets.
In its economic argument, R-CALF said if the border reopens, Canada will ship two million animals south in the first 12 months.
R-CALF says it will cost the American cattle industry – which was been reaping high prices for their animals since the border closed – up to $3 billion if it reopens.
Canadian officials say before the border closed in 2003, Canada shipped about 900,000 animals a year to the U.S. And with new rules imposed by the USDA regarding whether cattle will be allowed in, the animals will have to travel directly to slaughter, or to a feedlot on the way to slaughter
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