Ladies and gentlemen (you too, Randy),
Here is a copy of today's press release in the BSE class action. Round one goes to the cattle producers. For the full text of Justice Winkler's decision please go to www.bseclassaction.ca where you will find it under Court Decisions.
Toronto, January 9th, 2006:
In reasons released late Thursday, January 5th, 2006 Toronto Regional Senior Justice Warren Winkler ruled that the mad cow class action involving approximately 100,000 Canadian cattle farmers against the Federal Government and Ridley Inc. will continue.
The class action lawsuit alleges that the BSE crisis, the closing of the U.S. and other international borders to Canadian cattle and beef, and the loss of billions of dollars by the Canadian cattle industry, was the result of gross incompetence on the part of the Canadian government and negligence on the part of feed manufacturer Ridley Inc. The damages claimed are in excess of 20 billion dollars.
Justice Winkler dismissed a motion brought by lawyers acting on behalf of the federal government and Ridley Inc. (Canada) to strike out the cattle farmers’ claim. The motion to dismiss the claim against Ridley Corporation Limited (Australia) was granted.
BSE is an incurable neurological disease of cattle that is transmitted when healthy cattle eat the remains of infected cattle or other ruminants (cud chewers). The claim alleges that the federal government was negligent in enacting, or failing to enact in a timely fashion, regulations with respect to permissible ingredients in cattle feed. It is also alleged that Ridley Inc. was negligent as a result of its continued inclusion of ruminant meat and bonemeal in cattle feed sold in Canada, despite the knowledge that ruminant meat and bonemeal use in cattle feed could cause BSE in Canadian cattle and that Ridley Inc. knew or ought to have known that a diagnosis of BSE would result in a ban on the importation of Canadian cattle and beef products into the United States and elsewhere.
Following a serious outbreak of “mad cow disease” in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, the Canadian government responded in 1990 by banning the importation of live cattle from the UK and Ireland and placing the cattle that had been imported since 1982 in a monitoring program. When one of the monitored cattle from the UK in Alberta tested positive for BSE in December, 1993 the government took stock. They discovered that at least 80 of the original 191 cattle imported from the UK and Ireland since 1982 may have entered the Canadian animal feed system through rendering after slaughter or death from some other cause. In early 1994 the government ordered the remainder of the original 191 cattle then in Canada to be exported or destroyed. What the government did not do, however, was immediately ban the use of ruminant tissues in cattle feed, an action that the lawsuit alleges would have prevented the BSE crisis.
On May 17, 1994 the government’s own internal risk assessment on past importations of cattle from the UK concluded that “the probability of entry of BSE infected cattle through the 1982-89 importation of 183 cattle from the U.K. appears to be very high” and that “further cases of BSE would likely prompt a trade embargo against Canadian exports of cattle, beef and dairy products for an indefinite period of time”. The assessment identified potential losses to cattle producers amounting to billions of dollars. The government finally enacted a ruminant feed ban which came into effect in October 1997, in response to recommendations by the World Health Organization and a similar ban in the United States which became effective in August 1997.
There were no further cases of BSE in Canada from 1993 until May of 2003, five and one half years after the ban was introduced, when the first case of BSE in a Canadian-born cow was diagnosed. Following this discovery, the United States, Mexico and Japan immediately closed their borders to Canadian beef and live cattle. The infected cow was born in Saskatchewan in the spring of 1997. The federal government identified the most likely source of BSE for the infected cow as being a product known as Feed-Rite Calf-Glow produced at the Feed-Rite mill in St. Paul, Alberta, that contained ruminant meat and bonemeal contaminated with the BSE prion. Feed-Rite was the predecessor company to Ridley Inc.
Cameron Pallett, legal counsel for the Ontario Plaintiff commented, “One can only wonder why, once the federal government determined that more than 80 British cattle had been ground up and turned into cattle feed, it took them until August of 1997 to enact a feed ban. Why did it take almost four years to act when the government knew that even a single case of BSE in the Canadian herd would cause untold suffering and potential destruction to the livelihoods of thousands of hardworking Canadian families? Had they acted prudently and in a timely manner this would never have happened.”
Although findings of liability against the federal government and Ridley Inc. remain to be made, Mr. Pallett and his colleagues find this a positive development for cattle producers and urge them to visit the BSE class action web site for more information: www.bseclassaction.ca.
All the best.
Here is a copy of today's press release in the BSE class action. Round one goes to the cattle producers. For the full text of Justice Winkler's decision please go to www.bseclassaction.ca where you will find it under Court Decisions.
Toronto, January 9th, 2006:
In reasons released late Thursday, January 5th, 2006 Toronto Regional Senior Justice Warren Winkler ruled that the mad cow class action involving approximately 100,000 Canadian cattle farmers against the Federal Government and Ridley Inc. will continue.
The class action lawsuit alleges that the BSE crisis, the closing of the U.S. and other international borders to Canadian cattle and beef, and the loss of billions of dollars by the Canadian cattle industry, was the result of gross incompetence on the part of the Canadian government and negligence on the part of feed manufacturer Ridley Inc. The damages claimed are in excess of 20 billion dollars.
Justice Winkler dismissed a motion brought by lawyers acting on behalf of the federal government and Ridley Inc. (Canada) to strike out the cattle farmers’ claim. The motion to dismiss the claim against Ridley Corporation Limited (Australia) was granted.
BSE is an incurable neurological disease of cattle that is transmitted when healthy cattle eat the remains of infected cattle or other ruminants (cud chewers). The claim alleges that the federal government was negligent in enacting, or failing to enact in a timely fashion, regulations with respect to permissible ingredients in cattle feed. It is also alleged that Ridley Inc. was negligent as a result of its continued inclusion of ruminant meat and bonemeal in cattle feed sold in Canada, despite the knowledge that ruminant meat and bonemeal use in cattle feed could cause BSE in Canadian cattle and that Ridley Inc. knew or ought to have known that a diagnosis of BSE would result in a ban on the importation of Canadian cattle and beef products into the United States and elsewhere.
Following a serious outbreak of “mad cow disease” in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, the Canadian government responded in 1990 by banning the importation of live cattle from the UK and Ireland and placing the cattle that had been imported since 1982 in a monitoring program. When one of the monitored cattle from the UK in Alberta tested positive for BSE in December, 1993 the government took stock. They discovered that at least 80 of the original 191 cattle imported from the UK and Ireland since 1982 may have entered the Canadian animal feed system through rendering after slaughter or death from some other cause. In early 1994 the government ordered the remainder of the original 191 cattle then in Canada to be exported or destroyed. What the government did not do, however, was immediately ban the use of ruminant tissues in cattle feed, an action that the lawsuit alleges would have prevented the BSE crisis.
On May 17, 1994 the government’s own internal risk assessment on past importations of cattle from the UK concluded that “the probability of entry of BSE infected cattle through the 1982-89 importation of 183 cattle from the U.K. appears to be very high” and that “further cases of BSE would likely prompt a trade embargo against Canadian exports of cattle, beef and dairy products for an indefinite period of time”. The assessment identified potential losses to cattle producers amounting to billions of dollars. The government finally enacted a ruminant feed ban which came into effect in October 1997, in response to recommendations by the World Health Organization and a similar ban in the United States which became effective in August 1997.
There were no further cases of BSE in Canada from 1993 until May of 2003, five and one half years after the ban was introduced, when the first case of BSE in a Canadian-born cow was diagnosed. Following this discovery, the United States, Mexico and Japan immediately closed their borders to Canadian beef and live cattle. The infected cow was born in Saskatchewan in the spring of 1997. The federal government identified the most likely source of BSE for the infected cow as being a product known as Feed-Rite Calf-Glow produced at the Feed-Rite mill in St. Paul, Alberta, that contained ruminant meat and bonemeal contaminated with the BSE prion. Feed-Rite was the predecessor company to Ridley Inc.
Cameron Pallett, legal counsel for the Ontario Plaintiff commented, “One can only wonder why, once the federal government determined that more than 80 British cattle had been ground up and turned into cattle feed, it took them until August of 1997 to enact a feed ban. Why did it take almost four years to act when the government knew that even a single case of BSE in the Canadian herd would cause untold suffering and potential destruction to the livelihoods of thousands of hardworking Canadian families? Had they acted prudently and in a timely manner this would never have happened.”
Although findings of liability against the federal government and Ridley Inc. remain to be made, Mr. Pallett and his colleagues find this a positive development for cattle producers and urge them to visit the BSE class action web site for more information: www.bseclassaction.ca.
All the best.
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