posted on January 9, 2005 12:01:32 PM new
I c&p'd the whole thing because the incubation period for this disease is up to 20 years!!!
Canada tracing 141 animals born on mad cow farm
08 Jan 2005 00:28:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds U.S. Agriculture Department comment, paragraphs 14-15)
OTTAWA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Canada is tracing a total of 141 beef and dairy cattle that may have eaten contaminated feed a decade ago, in an investigation into its second home-grown case of mad cow disease, officials said on Friday
The cattle were born between 1995 and 1997 on the same farm in the province of Alberta as the diseased cow, confirmed to have brain-wasting bovine spongiform encephalopathy earlier this week.
Preliminary findings show at least one of the cows may have been exported to the United States, where it was slaughtered.
"These animals do present at least a theoretical risk and it is for that reason that we are actively tracing them," said Gary Little, a senior veterinarian at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Canada conducted similar investigations after it found its first home-grown case of the disease in May 2003, and after a U.S. case found in December 2003 was traced back to an Alberta farm.
Bans on Canadian cattle and beef since the first case have cost farmers an estimated C$5 billion ($4 billion).
Canadian farmers have said they hope this latest case does not affect a U.S. plan to resume imports of young live cattle starting on March 7.
Top U.S. officials, including Mike Johanns, the Bush administration's nominee for agriculture secretary, have said the new case won't affect the plan. But U.S. rancher activists have threatened legal action. Congress must approve the plan, and some members have said they oppose it.
PROBE UNLIKELY TO TURN UP NEW CASES-CFIA
The chances the investigation will find another cow from the same farm with mad cow disease are small, Little said, because cases are not usually found in clusters.
"Experiences with BSE throughout the world have shown that finding multiple cases of BSE in a single birth cohort is rare," he said.
Canadian officials said they assume most of the animals were slaughtered at a young age, before they could incubate the disease, which can take as long as eight years to develop in countries like Canada, where it is a rare finding.
"Given the age of the infected animal, it is likely that some of (the 141) will have died. Others may have been slaughtered," Little said.
He added he could not estimate how many animals ended up in the United States, but said the U.S. Department of Agriculture had sent an inspector to help with the probe.
The USDA said at least one herdmate of the infected cow was imported into the United States.
"The preliminary investigation has shown that one of these birth cohorts was imported into the United States in February 2002 for immediate slaughter," said Ron DeHaven, administrator of USDA's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service.
The fate of 38 related dairy cows is of particular interest, officials said. One of them was tested in November for the disease after it became sick and could not get up, Little said, but it was negative.
He said officials had pinpointed nine of the remaining cows, which will be killed next week to test for the disease.
Of the 28 remaining animals, some may have been slaughtered and entered the human food supply, but Little and a top official from the federal health department stressed that the risk of contracting the human form of mad cow disease from the meat was very low.
Canada is also trying to find out more about the source of infection, believed to be contaminated feed.
"This work involves difficult reconstruction of fragmented information," Little said, noting the investigation may not be able to conclusively established how the cow got the disease.
Two calves born recently to the diseased animal both died of natural causes, he told a news conference.
