Canada Angry as U.S. officials claim BSE-infected cow came from Alberta

[kskiska]

Canadian officials have accused their American counterparts of jumping the gun in announcing at the weekend that an animal found suffering from BSE on a farm in Washington state had necessarily entered the United States from Canada.

Tensions between the two countries grew when it was revealed that Canada had been given just one minute's warning before American officials held a news conference on Saturday asserting that a ranch in Alberta had been the source of the infected cow.

Dr Ron DeHaven, the US Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, said Canadian records indicated the sick Holstein was among 74 cattle shipped from Alberta, Canada, into the US in August 2001. The announcement last week of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the US led to a freezing of 90 per cent of America's beef export markets.

The suggestion that the cow came from Alberta, instead of from a herd in the US, cheered the American beef industry. The National Cattlemen's Association said it should be enough to allow other nations to reverse their ban on American beef.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=476681&host=3&dir=70

[HEyHEY]

1. You know what ..... I hope it did come from Canada...

At least then I'll have the satisfaction in knowing we fucked over a major US industry. Call it "Softwood revenge"

Obviously I'm not being serious.

[scsifreak]

11. Remember the last time Canada was blamed?

Remember how they pointed the finger at Canada during that last Great Blackout?

The cow may have been born in Canada, but was it infected when it crossed the border?

[LeftistGorilla]

12. Cummon Hey Hey....

When it doubt....
Blame Canada...

[Military Brat]

2. I hope the nations that have banned the beef aren't as stupid

as the Cattlemen's Association thinks they are.

Go, bush. Make Canada hate us, too.

:wtf:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Are the cattlemen stupid

the cow in Canda, with BSE earlier this year came from Siux Falls ND.

Now I know Geography is not their strong point, but when exactly did North Dakota become a Canadian Province?

[JailForBush]

5. Is there really a "Siux Falls," North Dakota?

There's a Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Stand corrected, worst even

when did South Dakota become a Canadian Province with
North Dakota in between

[GRClarkesq]

4. I did not think the origin of the cow was in dispute

but where the cow contracted mad cow, which noone seems to know. I dont think anyone said they know cow was infected when it came from Canada.

[Shadder]

6. One would think

that they would have had in place then some sort of a program that would have inspected every cow before it came into the county, no matter where it came from. Guess that would be asking too much, huh?

[GRClarkesq]

8. My understanding is that only 30k cows

are tested out of all the million processed each year. Some TV talking head stated the test costs $30 a cow, and there is the real issue. Someone is worried they will not be able to pass all of that cost to the consumer.

[NickB79]

13. You need to test brain or spinal material

So you can't test living animals for BSE without killing them.

[pinto]

9. kick, the feed's the key....n/t

[jonoboy]

7. it will still be Hillary's fault, no matter what

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. They also hastily blamed Canada for the power outage.

And they were wrong. So who knows if the U.S. government announcement has any credibility.

[daleo]

15. Globe and Mail said it was probably U.S. protein supplement

Canada's national newspaper says that even if the cow was Canadian (still some doubt), the Alberta feed mill in the area would have gotten its protein supplement from a U.S. source. If so, then infected supplement surely found its way to U.S. cows as well (it's unlikely that this supplement would have only been for export).

"The feed mill is tracing its records for exposure to potentially deadly U.S. feed, as well as trying to determine whether its production line was properly cleaned before ruminant feed hit the line." (Dec 29, 2003 Globe and Mail)

One suspects that there are still a few twists and turns to come.

[cliss]

16. I smell lies

and sweaty armpits.

I just checked on Yahoo! News, and there's an article that says
<snip>

"More significantly, both cows were born before the United States and Canada began banning from use in cattle feed brain and spinal cord tissue that is the primary means by which the ailment is transmitted. The ban, which took effect in August 1997, prohibits feeding the cattle protein to cattle, sheep and goats".

And further down,

"The infected Canadian cow was between 6 and 8 years old".

Now, The Oregonian newspaper from Dec. 28 says the cow is 4 years old. By saying that the cow is 6 years old, they don't have to take the blame for feeding the cow beef protein which was banned in 1997. See? They're wiggling out of it.

This is a BIG LIE, just like the Bush Aircraft carrier lie. I love it when we can nail them on stuff like this. I call it the "quickie", meaning we don't have to wait months for the truth to come out. It only takes a day or two.