Maverick
01-07-2005, 05:40 PM
BSE could have entered human food chain, officials say
Last Updated Fri, 07 Jan 2005 16:17:10 EST
CBC News
OTTAWA - Federal officials say cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy – known as mad cow disease – may have been eaten by humans, but stressed the chance of contracting a potentially fatal illness is extremely low.
* INDEPTH: Mad Cow Disease
Dr. Gary Little
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it's tracking 141 cattle from the Alberta farm that raised Canada's second confirmed case of BSE.
* FROM JAN. 3, 2005: Canada has another confirmed case of mad cow disease
Some of these cows may have been made into animal or human food, said an agency spokesman, Dr. Gary Little.
"At least a small number of them have been slaughtered and have entered the human-food system, potentially," Little told a news conference in Ottawa.
He and other officials downplayed the risk to consumers, even though BSE can cause the human disease of Creutzfeldt-Jakob that killed at least 40 people in Britain in the 1990s.
Both Little and Dr. Paul Mayers, of Health Canada's Food Directorate, repeatedly said the risk that an animal carried the infection into the human food chain is "very low."
"We can't say that would be a zero risk event because zero risk doesn't exist," said Mayers.
Little said investigators from his agency have quarantined nine dairy cattle born on the farm a year before and a year after the infected animal was delivered in October 1996. They plan to begin killing and testing the animals for BSE next week.
They're tracking a total of 93 dairy and 48 beef cattle from the farm to see whether the animals could have been exposed.
Canada's feed ban works, Little says
The news may bolster the arguments of several U.S. politicians, who on Thursday unsuccessfully pressed their government to delay reopening its border on March 7 to young Canadian cattle and beef.
Canadians have been banned from exporting live cattle to the U.S. since May 2003. (file photo)
They cited reports from U.S. regulators and Little's agency that suggested Canadian companies flouted a 1997 ban on feeding animal remains to cows, thought to be the primary way that BSE is spread.
The National Post newspaper reported Friday that Canadian Food Inspection Agency tests have discovered that four brands of feed likely included parts from cattle or other ruminants.
Little, a veterinarian for the federal agency, defended Canada's testing regime on Friday. "We have every confidence in our feed ban system and the systems that we have in place."
Probe into 2nd case moving faster
He said the probe into the country's second BSE case is much faster than the one after the first case was discovered on an Alberta farm in 2003, because investigators knew the animal's birthplace and could track its movements without casting a wide net.
Officials confirmed the case on Jan. 3, just days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would lift the 19-month ban that has devastated Canada's cattle industry.
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.
The USDA considers risk of acquiring BSE from infected beef to be minimal? What a Joke!
Last Updated Fri, 07 Jan 2005 16:17:10 EST
CBC News
OTTAWA - Federal officials say cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy – known as mad cow disease – may have been eaten by humans, but stressed the chance of contracting a potentially fatal illness is extremely low.
* INDEPTH: Mad Cow Disease
Dr. Gary Little
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it's tracking 141 cattle from the Alberta farm that raised Canada's second confirmed case of BSE.
* FROM JAN. 3, 2005: Canada has another confirmed case of mad cow disease
Some of these cows may have been made into animal or human food, said an agency spokesman, Dr. Gary Little.
"At least a small number of them have been slaughtered and have entered the human-food system, potentially," Little told a news conference in Ottawa.
He and other officials downplayed the risk to consumers, even though BSE can cause the human disease of Creutzfeldt-Jakob that killed at least 40 people in Britain in the 1990s.
Both Little and Dr. Paul Mayers, of Health Canada's Food Directorate, repeatedly said the risk that an animal carried the infection into the human food chain is "very low."
"We can't say that would be a zero risk event because zero risk doesn't exist," said Mayers.
Little said investigators from his agency have quarantined nine dairy cattle born on the farm a year before and a year after the infected animal was delivered in October 1996. They plan to begin killing and testing the animals for BSE next week.
They're tracking a total of 93 dairy and 48 beef cattle from the farm to see whether the animals could have been exposed.
Canada's feed ban works, Little says
The news may bolster the arguments of several U.S. politicians, who on Thursday unsuccessfully pressed their government to delay reopening its border on March 7 to young Canadian cattle and beef.
Canadians have been banned from exporting live cattle to the U.S. since May 2003. (file photo)
They cited reports from U.S. regulators and Little's agency that suggested Canadian companies flouted a 1997 ban on feeding animal remains to cows, thought to be the primary way that BSE is spread.
The National Post newspaper reported Friday that Canadian Food Inspection Agency tests have discovered that four brands of feed likely included parts from cattle or other ruminants.
Little, a veterinarian for the federal agency, defended Canada's testing regime on Friday. "We have every confidence in our feed ban system and the systems that we have in place."
Probe into 2nd case moving faster
He said the probe into the country's second BSE case is much faster than the one after the first case was discovered on an Alberta farm in 2003, because investigators knew the animal's birthplace and could track its movements without casting a wide net.
Officials confirmed the case on Jan. 3, just days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would lift the 19-month ban that has devastated Canada's cattle industry.
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.
The USDA considers risk of acquiring BSE from infected beef to be minimal? What a Joke!