By ALLISON LAWLOR
Globe and Mail Thursday,
Jul. 3, 2003
A small possibility exists that the single case of mad-cow disease in Alberta originated in cattle imported from the United States five years ago,the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday.
The agency, in a final report on its mad-cow investigation, notes a large 1998 shipment of 25,000 pregnant cows from the United States, who had been born before it became illegal to feed them material derived from dead cattle.
A ban on feeding ruminants such as cattle and sheep feed derived from other ruminants was established in 1997.
"Canada cannot, to date, exclude the possibility that the index case itself derived through this huge, unique importation," the scientific report says.
Because the cows were brought in before the start of the Canadian Cattle Identification Program, those cattle lost their identification as U.S. imports.
The report says 70 to 80 per cent of those cattle were Black Angus, the same breed as the northern Alberta cow that later developed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad-cow disease. The cows have long since integrated into the Canadian cattle population and entered the feed chain.
"What we've tried to do with this investigation is be as thorough as we possibly can and that means looking at all the possibilities," Gary Little, a senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told globeandmail.com on Thursday.
But Mr. Little said the possibility that the cow originated in the United States was small.
"Certainly this is one of the possibilities we have to recognize that but certainly it is a very remote possibility and there is no evidence to suggest that this animal was in fact imported."
Based on the evidence to date, officials "have every reason to believe that this animal [the Alberta cow discovered to have mad-cow disease] was born on a Saskatchewan farm," Dr. Little said, but added that it is difficult to say that with absolute certainty.
"There remains a small possibility that this animal could have roots through an import stream or perhaps born from an animal that was imported," he said.
The single infected cow caused the United States and other countries close their borders to Canadian beef in May.
U.S. officials have known about the possible American connection for some time, Dr. Little said.
The report also underlines the extent to which the Canadian and American cattle industries are integrated, he said, adding that similar risk factors for mad-cow disease exist in both countries.
The federal agency all but ruled out the possibility of the mad-cow infection arising from wild or domestic elk herds.
A similar ailment, called chronic wasting disease, has appeared in elk and deer in both Saskatchewan and Alberta, but no link with BSE was found.
The possibility that they might transmit the disease directly to intensively commingling cattle has been explored, with negative results to date in protracted studies in the U.S.
The report also rules out the possibility the single Alberta case arose spontaneously.
Most importantly, through their investigation Canadian investigators found only the single case of mad-cow disease in Canada, Dr. Little.
Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the 92,000-member Canadian Cattlemen's Association, hopes the report will speed up the lifting of banned imports of Canadian beef and live cattle.
"I think it [the CFIA report] proved that Canada has if not the best, one of the best surveillance and inspection systems in the world... There was one cow with BSE, she was found and kept out of the food chain. I am confident that was the only cow and they proved it," Mr. Laycraft told globeandmail.com on Thursday.
"Scientifically, we have done everything to show that BSE is not in our Canadian herd and if come common sense and science really prevailed the borders would open tomorrow."
The United States and several other countries banned imports of Canadian beef and live cattle (as well as sheep and goat imports) after BSE was discovered in the single Alberta cow.
The ban is reported to be costing producers between $10-million and $20-million a day in losses, and many of them face bankruptcy. Ottawa has offered a compensation package of $190-million.
Canada exports most of its beef to the United States.
Japan, which has also banned Canadian beef imports, recently notified the United States that it wants its beef to be labelled and certified as wholly American. This has slowed down any opening up of the U.S. border to Canadian beef.
With reports from Canadian Press