Phyllis Fong - Super Hero

[farmers_son]

Phyllis who? Phyllis Fong is the Inspector General of the USDA who got the USDA to retest that BSE positive cow that was being covered up to hide the fact that the U.S. has BSE too.

This lady should be regarded as a super hero by Canadian producers who were being unfairly painted as the ones in North America who have BSE.

If you think the BSE positive test of the Texas cow will help open the border to our live cattle, greatly reduce the chances of us loosing our boxed beef trade, improve the chances of at least cow beef entering the U.S. not to mention live cows born after the feed ban then you have Phyllis Fong to thank. Crime fighter extraordinaire, protector of the innocent, defender of right.

Maybe we could give her an honourary Canadian citizenship. To me, she sounds like she has a lot of Canadian values, a true kindred spirit. Dare I say it, Phyllis Fong for Prime Minister?

There is a little bio about Ms. Fong at:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1RD?printable=true&contentidonly=true&contenti d=OC/OC_USDANews_Vol63_No4_Article7.xml

[grassfarmer]

I'll reserve judgement until we see how this plays out. Have you heard if they have tracked this cows herd of origin yet - could it possibly be tracked to Mexico? That would serve a purpose too or am I just being too cynical?

[JD4ME]

I've heard it was a hereford beef cow. HMMMMMMMM those herefords came from england originally didn't they????
Eventually everyone in the industry is going to have to admit that BSE is a low low level naturally occuring condition, remove the srms. Test the suspect animals to make sure it is remaining at a minimal incidence. Stop animal protein feeding to livestock.
And we can all get back to business.

[dalek]

If it turns out to be American-born, we may have to offer her asylum. She'll be persona non grata in the US.

[farmers_son]

I have pasted a link to a letter that a group called the Consumers Union sent to the USDA questioning the results of the testing done in 2004 on this cow.

See: http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/USDA.pdf

In response, the USDA sent a three-page letter refusing to take further action.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) then requested the further tests which resulted in the announcement of a positive BSE cow in the United States.

This Texas cow had tested positive twice using the Bio Rad rapid tests. There was only a 1 in 100,000 chance that a cow would then test negative using the IHC test. Now that this cow has tested positive a third time, using the Western blot test it would seem there is very, very, little chance this cow does not have BSE.

However, the USDA has not officially deemed the case a positive even though it has tested positive with an OIE approved conclusive test, saying that more tests will need to be conducted and it will also have to hear back from experts at the laboratory in Weybridge before reaching a final conclusion.

Weybridge received the samples last Thursday. On the prior occasions when a sample from a Canadian cow was sent to Weybridge, the announcement of positive BSE cow was made two days later. In the matter of the December 23, 2003 Washington Holstein the announcement was made on Christmas Day, December 25. It would not seem as if the weekend would have been expected to make a difference if they can work on Christmas.

[cowman]

I read in the paper where a USDA spokesman stated the cow was a "weak positive"! Now I wonder...what the hell is a "weak positive"? Are we going to now have different levels of BSE cows? If a cow is a "weak positive" does that make her safer than a regular positive?

[cowman]

I am still not convinced that she won't be linked to Canada somehow. Maybe the announcement will come on July 1 !!!!!

Sorry for being cynical this AM.

[kato]

I think if she was going to be linked to Canada it would have happened back when she had the first presumptive positive result.

I would bet the result will be this Friday or on July 1st... after markets close. If the result comes during a business day, you can be sure it will be negative.

[SASH]

My bet would be this Friday. They delayed delivering the sample until Thursday last week. If it comes back negative, it will be highly suspect by all the US trading partners. I think someone threatened to blow the whistle and the USDA set the timing of the announcement to help open the border but I guess we'll see.

[grassfarmer]

"A weak positive" Cowman? It means she could barely stagger from the truck to the kill floor.

[farmers_son]

That is pretty funny, had a good laugh over that one. For sure the best description of weak positive I have come across yet.

[cakadu]

Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humour grassfarmer. How is that collarbone healing?

[grassfarmer]

Yeah, the pain in the chest has gone - to be replaced by the pain in the butt of inconvenience.
The realisation that it will be a lost summer in terms of non essential work countered by the realisation of just how fragile life is and how quickly your reality can change.