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Canada's Partial Ban On Us Beef


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Now, see, why didn't we simply close the border completely, the way they did to us 8 months ago?

The top three importers of American beef already have, and it would go a long way to easing the anti-American sentiment among cattle ranchers in Canada, to see the all-powerful U.S. economy fall victim to their own histeria.

Nobody believed us when we claimed virtually no chance of contaminated beef in the market, and we've been essentially cut off from the world market for months now. Why shouldn't the same happen to others, even if that other IS the mighty US?

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I suggest the impact on the Canadian industry will be positive. Any way you figure it, we benefit:

If the world market decides American beef is too risky, they need to find their supply elsewhere. The Canadian cattle industry will be there to catch the crumbs of a sudden switch of suppliers, from American to whereever, even if we aren't at the forefront.

The other possibility is that the world market will decide American beef is safe. Now, I know that reason and logic do not play a huge role in the markets, but if American beef, with a single case of BSE, is safe after 2 weeks, does it not stand to reason that Canadian beef, with a single case, EIGHT MONTHS AGO, would also be safe?

Either way, the Canadian beef industry should come out ahead.

Also, consumers may see a slight increase in price in the short term, but the market will stabilize as the initial shock factor wears off.

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Candian beef exports are about $5.7 billion and US beef exports a tiny $2.5 billion. So the harm for the US industry will be minimal the gains by Cdn beef farmers marginal.

As well news reports claim the cow was Canadian. So Canada could face repercussions if true.

Before Canadians get too caught up in their nationalistic flag waving, they should remember that:

-20 nations embargoed Cdn beef not just the US

-Canada embargoed Japanese and Finnish beef for 2 years on little evidence that either country had a mad cow problem.

What goes around comes around......

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Candian beef exports are about $5.7 billion and US beef exports a tiny $2.5 billion. So the harm for the US industry will be minimal the gains by Cdn beef farmers marginal.

As well news reports claim the cow was Canadian. So Canada could face repercussions if true.

Before Canadians get too caught up in their nationalistic flag waving, they should remember that:

-20 nations embargoed Cdn beef not just the US

-Canada embargoed Japanese and Finnish beef for 2 years on little evidence that either country had a mad cow problem.

What goes around comes around......

Exactly Craig, but we seem to only get the information that the media wants to give us. What goes around, DOES come around.

Pathetic left-wing....

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The National Post has a story today about the Mad Cow Crisis, and it is disturbing in the way in which it is presented:

'Cow came from Canada' (in large print and bold type)

U.S. farmers: Community closes ranks: Suspicion will remain until cow's origin is determined

Jim Farrell

CanWest News Service

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...11-218b99ada4d7

What are the people at CanWest News Service trying to do here?

The reason it is misleading is that there is no indication that the cow in question came from Canada.

The following Reuters article explains why in a statement from Canada's chief veterinary officer Brian Evans:

"Canada's mad cow was a Black Angus and the U.S. mad cow is believed to be a purebred Holstein and they are two distinct breeds'

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23332422.htm

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U.S. farmers: Community closes ranks: Suspicion will remain until cow's origin is determined

 

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/.../BNStory/Front/

Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinarian for the Agriculture Department, said Canadian officials have provided records that indicate the animal was one of a herd of 74 cattle that were shipped from Alberta, Canada, into this country at Eastport, Idaho.
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I heard this on a news program, can't remember which one (US Media I know for sure), but they said that the public should not be concerned about eating beef because mad cow is only present in the brain and spinal cord. They said that the portions of the animal that are normally eaten by people are not infected.

Any more info on this? How did the people in the UK get infected?

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Yep i posted on the 26th that it came from Canada - i had to listen to my socialist family state at Xmas that, ' it looks good on them' - them being the US. Such puerile comments i see and hear all the time - as if health safety is a game - 'they were mean to us, so we must be mean to them.' When i pointed out to the familial boneheads that 20 countries also banned Cdn beef in 2001 and that Canada banned Japanese and Finnish beef on no evidence at all of Mad cow, the place was quiet.

Beating chests like monkeys is only emotionally satisfying.....not intellectually.

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Just read today (CNN.com, nytimes.com) that the Americans think it's a POSSIBILITY that the cow came from Canada... but the media has jumped on the blame Canada bandwagon way too fast.

-The US mad cow was beleived to be 4 to 4 1/2 years old... the cow that supposedly came from Canada would be 6....

-in the American version of the story, the cow had 3 calves... Canadian sources say the cow that the US matched it to only had two calves...

Obviously, there are two versions here... and the US has yet to prove that they are the same cow. If both sides are correct in their numbers, the American story doesn't hold water. I will laugh if it turns out that these are two separate cows... And the US, once again, will have to eat its words concerning another disproven accusation. (Think WMD in Iraq... uranium from Africa...)

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Cameron:

The way humans can get infected is because other beef-based products (salami, some sausages, other sandwich-type meats) use the brain and spinal cord. Processing plants end up using just about every part of a cow in the end. You're probably safe eating regular ground beef, but you can't be sure of the part of the body that other products come from.

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Are we having a rush to judgment here?

I don't know, and at his point, no one knows for sure about the origins of the diseased cow in Washington State.

Where are our investigative journalists when we need them? They are out there and I hope they're on top of this pressing situation, which is quickly turning into a major crisis for Canada.

What are the facts so far:

1 - We have a Nobel Prize winner in the US that has been worried for some time now about American inspections in their beef industry, and not being listened to by the USDA.

2- How did this story get going about where the infected cow came from? Who actually started it? Who reported it first?

3 - There is an apparent age difference, and a breed difference between the respective animals. What is this all about?

4 - If the USDA was really co-operating with their Canadian counterparts, why were they holding a press cconference before discussing the situation ahead of time with Brian Evans?

5 - Who is going to do the DNA testing? What is going to be compared to what? At which lab will the testing be done? How will the public be assured that the results won't be tampered with? Will there be international peer review of the BSE tests to ensure credibility?

Some recent articles follow:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/27/Evans271203

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/weekinre...&partner=GOOGLE

http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/ar..._13891777.shtml

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease....id=104-12242003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,1227...1113337,00.html

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/.../BNStory/Front/

http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968793972154

http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...d=1072526412637

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...nm/madcow_dc_56

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/12.../298203-cp.html

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...th_031227193124

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aploca...ad%20Cow%20Wash

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-a...afp/516706.html

http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?i...E6-486B47FBD496

It sounds quite convenient for a $175 billion industry in the US to find a scapegoat.

Anything is possible.

Follow the money, folks.

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Follow the money indeed. The cow is certainly Canadian and what makes me laugh are the little nationalist minds in this country that delighted when the mad cow problem was uncovered in the US.

Such simpletons.

The US asked Britain for help in analysing and confirming the mad cow case not Canada.

This says a number of things:

1. Canadian expertise in such matters is not highly regarded.

2. Canadian beef processes and quality are not trustworthy.

3. The Americans realised rather early that the Canadians would do everything to deny that the cow came from Alberta and would bastardise any testing if they had to.

The Cdns are still denying that the cow is from Alta - big surprise !!

Yes follow the money indeed. Follow the Canadian self interest in denying the obvious and remaining active in a market of people that they apparently loathe.

Follow the money - right to Canadian smugness, immaturity and irresponsibility. Canada - home of SARS and Mad Cow. But it is perfect as everyone knows.

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Where's the proof?

Dr. Brian Evans, chief veterinary officer of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, says USDA comments are premature, with so many unanswered questions.

Quote

Evans said that his department is still helping the U.S. with the investigation on several points including:

working to determine where the cow came from, verifying

information through several sources

using DNA testing to confirm lineage

verifying feed sources for the animal

Evans said he hopes the U.S. will submit to a full international peer review of its BSE investigation, as Canada did earlier this year with its lone case of mad cow, discovered on an Alberta farm back in the spring.

"We expect the U.S. to hold to the same standards as we did in May of this year," Evans said.

Unquote

- from the CTV website Dec 28

This crisis has now even become part of the US presidential election race.

The following is from a Howard Dean, Democratic presidential candidate, and former governor of Vermont, press conference, held last Friday.

Quote

The former governor, whose state has a large dairy cow population, said the Bush administration failed to aggressively set up a tracking system that would allow the government to quickly track the origins of the sick cow, quarantine other animals it came in contact with and assure the marketplace the rest of the meat supply is safe.

Unquote

- from Capital Hill Blue

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publ...icle_3796.shtml

Less than 24 hours after Dean's attack on the president, concerning BSE, the USDA, stated they had received some new information late at night, held a press conference on Saturday morning, and suggested that this particular animal, with the mad cow disease, came from Canada.

The USDA provided Dr Evans with so little advance notice of the press conference that he missed the first part of it.

I'm sure anyone involved in the meat industry, in both Canada and the US, and across the planet for that matter, whether they be producer or consumer, is concerned.

I like my American neighbours, but that is not the issue here.

Are some of my American friends having a rush to judgement here, eh?

And what do our Canadian governments say about all this?

Here's hoping some good investigative reporters are digging into this!

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Maplesyrup,

I posted earlier that the USDA is conducting DNA tests ...isn't that what you want? Why the ongoing anti-American rant?

As for Dean - he's a clown. Who cares what he says except for his wife and mother? Dean is fast becoming the laughing stock of the USA. Pointing the finger at Bush for agricultural mis-steps[duh...Dr. Dean...err president Bush is in a war, so he's a bit pre-occupied] isn't going to get him much traction except maybe with CBC'er news viewers who need their nightly shot of anti-Americanism. Dean's got major problems with his mouth and the words that frequently come out to bite him...

Dean mis-speaks AGAIN ...like Confederate flags and pickup trucks wasn't bad enough

And instead of getting worked up about the USA, shouldn't you be slightly worried that "mad cow" disease is still in the Canadian food chain???

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Brian Evans, chief veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said there are serious discrepancies concerning the infected animal:
American officials originally said the cow was 4 1/2 years old. But the ear tag identification linking the cow to an Alberta herd is for an animal born in April, 1997 — making it 6 1/2 years old. The age is important. Feed containing animal parts and believed to be a source of infection was banned in 1997.
Canadian records show the cow had two calves before it was exported. U.S. documents classified the animal as a heifer — a cow that has never borne calves.
Evans said there is no connection between the infected Holstein and the Black Angus cow in northern Alberta which was found to have the brain-wasting disease in May.

The above quotes are from today's Toronto Star.

I can't imagine how anyone could be happy about this situation.

The Brisih probably have the most expertise with BSE, as they are they ones that have had the biggest problems with the disease.

What is important however, is to focus on the facts, and once we know the details, to work together to ensure that the BSE problem gets resolved.

Let's not not lose track of what we need to find out according to Dr Evans:

1 determine where the cow came from by verifying

information through several sources.

2 use DNA testing to confirm lineage.

3 verify feed sources for the animal.

Where the animal came by itself does not necessarily resolve the issue. I'm not suggesting anything, but what if the animal in question did come from Canada, and was healthy when it left Canada, and its feed was contaminated after it left Canada? It seems there are a lot of possibilities to be eleiminated before we have concrete answers.

That's why I'm asking:

Have some people rushed to judgement here, eh?

Canadians and Americans need to be working together, as I'm sure they are, to resolve this serious problem.

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The important items on the BSV case in the US are the following:

1. Puerile attitudes of most Canadians who were glad that the US now has BSV problems. This insufferable ignorance severely damages relationships.

2. The Fact that the US asks the British labs for help not the Canadian is a very important and telling sign - NOT picked up or reported by the Cdn media -why ? It speaks volumes about the 'expertise' and regulations that Canada supposedly has.

3. That if found true that the cow was from Can., then it demonstates a rather shocking level of incompetence on the part of Canadian authorities.

4. The U.S. isn't likely to lift its ban on imports of live Canadian cattle anytime soon. Cdn ranchers must now find a way to stay afloat without the buyer that accounts for about 80% of Canada's exported beef, a portion valued at 1.8 billion Canadian dollars (US$1.38 billion) a year. The U.S. annually imports some C$3.6 billion in beef and cattle from Canada.

If the Cow is from Canada - then the entire episode is another sad sorry example of Canadian adolescence and incompetence.

Maybe the French will buy our beef ? Or the UNO ?

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1.  Puerile attitudes of most Canadians who were glad that the US now has BSV problems.

I suppose you know this for a fact.

2.  The Fact that the US asks the British labs for help not the Canadian is a very important and telling sign - NOT picked up or reported by the Cdn media -why ?  It speaks volumes about the 'expertise' and regulations that Canada supposedly has.

Yes it is a telling sign that Canada hasn't had a huge problem with BSE in the past. I don't recall Canada asking the US for help when we had that outbreak in May. If I recall correctly we also asked the Brits for help on that issue. Going to a third, uninvolved party is only common sense, especially when that third party has a lot of experience on the issue at hand. To read anything into that is moronic.

3.  That if found true that the cow was from Can., then it demonstates a rather shocking level of incompetence on the part of Canadian authorities.

If it did come from Canada that doesn't mean it was infected in Canada. How does the cow coming from Canada have anything to do with the incompetece of Canadian authorities? Please explain that.

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BSE and SARS - since the US did not experience these outbreaks of course Canada is superior !

What you miss - and your name says it all - are the major points i mentioned which in good Cdn fashion you don't refute just ignore with the 'we are perfect premise...'

Here is a nother one for u - IF the cow was Cdn - and probably it was - the US has now suffered a ban from more than 20 trading partners valued at $3 billion US annually.

Nice one. Due to improper procedures and the inability of various levels of gov't agencies and regulators who suck off the public teat in Canada to do a JOB - the US will suffer an economic shock.

Thankfully the stock markets are unaffected.

Rah Rah Rah !!!! I am sure the CBC will have 'probing' analysis that will support the we are great hypothesis, facts notwithstanding.

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