NEWS: Mad Cow in Alberta was born in 2002 - Organic ConsumersOrganization

[Guest guest]

The cow in Alberta was born after the feed ban went into effect, and is

the youngest cow so far to be confirmed for mad cow disease in Canada.

 

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hkdd

 

http://organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm#articles

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1070.cfm

 

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*Another Mad Cow Suspected in Canada*

 

*Mad cow suspected in Alberta dairy cow

By Mike Sadava, CanWest News Service

Edmonton Journal, July 11, 2006

Straight to the Source

<http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=d87ce7b2-4072-4e7a-a3

2b-9cbc7abca3b8&k=55170>Mad

cow suspected in Alberta dairy cow

 

 

*

 

EDMONTON - Another suspected case of mad cow disease has surfaced, this

time in a young dairy cow on a farm near Edmonton.

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is conducting tests to confirm

whether the 50-month-old dairy cow, the youngest so far detected since

the first case turned up in 2003, had bovine spongiform encephalopathy

(BSE) when it died.

 

The cow, which was pregnant at the time, was a downer, which meant it

couldn't stand without assistance, and it later died on the farm. A

private veterinarian sent samples to the provincial laboratory, where

screening tests could not rule out BSE, and samples were sent to the

CFIA laboratory in Winnipeg.

 

If the case is confirmed, it would be the seventh in Canada and the

fifth in Alberta. It's also the second Canadian case in the past week -

tests confirmed BSE in a 15-year-old Manitoba cow on July 4.

 

The Alberta cow was born in 2002, five years after a ban on feeding

cattle parts such as brains and organs to other ruminants - considered

to pose the greatest threat of spreading BSE - went into effect in 1997

 

Dr. George Luterbach, senior veterinarian with the CFIA, said the fact

that occasional cases are appearing is not surprising, and not a bad

reflection on the effectiveness on the feed ban.

 

''I think in all countries that have had BSE in the world, they have

found some cases after the feed ban. I guess the most logical

explanation is there is some contamination that remained within their

feed systems for a period of time.

 

''That said, Canada has tested 115,000 of the highest risk animals and

we have had six cases over the last three-year period.''

 

The fact that this case has been detected shows the effectiveness of the

BSE surveillance program, he said.

 

The farm and all of the animals on it have been quarantined, and CFIA

officials are going through feed records to see if the affected cow was

part of a ''cluster'' of cattle that ate feed that went through a mill

in the Edmonton area. Luterbach would not say where the farm is located,

and he did not know how many cattle are located there.

 

While feed containing cattle parts has been banned for cattle, feed for

hogs and chickens still contains the parts, which are called specified

risk materials (SRMs). A total ban on ruminant feed was approved last

month, but won't go into effect for a year.

 

Dr. Gerald Ollis, chief veterinarian for Alberta Agriculture, said

cross-contamination can occur when handling or transport systems for

feed are used for both cattle and other types of feed.

 

''It only takes a milligram of contaminated feed to cause BSE in these

animals,'' Ollis said. ''That was not known when the

ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban was implemented in 1997.''

 

Rob McNabb, a senior manager with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association,

said he didn't expect this to affect trade with the United States, which

since the beginning of the year has allowed Canada to export cattle

under 30 months.

 

The U.S. had imposed a temporary ban on Canadian cattle after the first

BSE case showed up in 2003.