USDA Investigating Condemned Texas Cow

USDA Investigating Condemned Texas Cow
Sat 1 May, 2004 00:00

By Bob Burgdorfer and Richard Cowan

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not test a head of cattle in Texas that displayed central nervous symptoms even though such symptoms could be associated with mad cow disease, USDA officials said on Friday.

The department is collecting information on the Texas animal, USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said on Friday, emphasizing there is no evidence yet that the animal may have had mad cow disease.

U.S. cattle futures fell early on Friday on a trading floor rumor that an animal in south-central Texas was being tested for mad cow disease.

"We do know that the animal was condemned and it didn't go into the meat supply," Harrison said.

Harrison added that early indications were that there "were not any samples taken" from the animal. Asked whether any tissue samples, such as from the animal's brain, were still available for testing, Harrison said, "I do not know."


....

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5005946§ion=news

Martin finds U.S. response on beef encouraging

When it comes to the beef of the talks, the two leaders said they discussed re-opening the U.S. border to live cattle. Washington closed the border hours after Ottawa announced a single case of mad cow in Alberta last May.

When Bush was pressed on when he would agree to reopen the border to live cattle, he said: "As soon as possible. My administration is committed to a policy of free trade when it comes to beef."

Martin said, "we're very optimistic" about the cattle trade issue.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1083325882544_40/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

When Bush was pressed on when he would agree to reopen the border to live cattle, he said: "As soon as possible. My administration is committed to a policy of free trade when it comes to beef."

Except when it's comming in to America I guess...


Of course, he doesn't mention his policy on free trade of other things.

:toast:

(that's twice I got to say that--someone always beats me to it).

Something up with this--trust the commodities traders. Actually it amazes me in general how effectively the BSE issue has been buried.

The trade loss must be huge, the health risk continues and is much worse than most people realize--and practically nothing is being done about it.

The MSNBC story (it was handy) came out a couple of days back, was about the USDA announcing their "get tough" policy and a online database. They identified 12 places that violated the rules (9 of which, it turns out, produce or handle feed for other cows--no one reported that at all).

What's the enforcement? A warning letter and another visit in six months.

... (from a longer article on FDA actions or lack thereof)

Progress in Japan talks
At the same time, U.S. officials were trying to reverse bans on American beef. A USDA official said Tuesday that Japan might lift its ban on U.S. beef by the fall, after progress in recent talks.

Tokyo has banned all American beef since the first U.S. mad cow case was found last December, and wants all beef destined for Japan be tested for the disease.

After returning from weekend talks in Tokyo, J.B. Penn, undersecretary for foreign agricultural services, said the two nations would set up a technical working group to examine their different approaches to handling BSE.

Japan tests every cow destined for human consumption; the United States tests a tiny fraction of its herd. No other country has testing as universal as Japan's, but many test up to half the cattle they slaughter. Though U.S. officials now plan to test about 200,000 cows in the next 18 months, they insist broader tests aren't scientifically justified on more of the 37 million cows slaughtered each year.

Prior to the December ban, Japan was America’s most lucrative beef buyer -- a fact that has hit home for some packers of premium beef, a few of whom want to test all their beef. Yet the USDA recently rejected a proposal by one small packer, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, to do universal testing at its Kansas plant.

....

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4846765/

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/040430/w043094.html

USDA spokesman Ed Loyd said Friday he didn't have confirmation on why the cow was killed Wednesday and added it wasn't immediately clear if a tissue sample had been taken for a test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. "Clearly, there was some indication that there was a problem with this animal," Loyd said.

"We cannot jump to the conclusion that it has BSE. That's why there's testing done."

"We have no reason to believe this situation is at all unusual," Loyd said.

If you don't test them, like magic, there is no problem.

Or so the thinking goes.

I'd bet that's what is being encouraged. Suspicious cow? Kill it/let it die before it gets tested.

"Please don't kill me, Mister Bush."

"Oh! awright Bushie, I'll get 'em myself! I swear, you can be so dramatic! Well, you just lie there until you get over your lil' tantrum - "