Now R-Calf has come out with it's take on the situation and I share parts of it here.
Latest BSE Case Shows Canadian BSE Problem Worse Than First Thought
The Canadian government confirmed another positive case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on July 4, 2006. Canada’s total reported BSE cases now number eight – one detected in a cow imported from Great Britain in 1993 and seven detected in native-born Canadian cattle.
“It is clear that Canada’s BSE problem is making it more difficult for U.S. beef to get back into the markets of South Korea and Japan,” said R-CALF USA President Chuck Kiker. “We need to be able to differentiate high-quality U.S. beef from Canadian beef to gain full resumption of U.S. exports. I hope that President Bush will ask the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make this important policy change. I also ask the President to urge Canadian Prime Minister Harper to increase BSE testing and take other mitigation measures to get this problem under control,” Kiker continued.
South Korea recently informed the U.S. that it was delaying the resumption of imports of U.S. beef because it was concerned that the U.S. was commingling Canadian beef with U.S. beef.
I've talked about the South Korea situation and Canada so I won't belabor the point here. American producers are being screwed over by the USDA in favor of Canadian producers for no apparent reason other than to benefit the Meat Packers. This just again shows that to be happening.
The press release also talks about the prevalence of BSE in the Canadian herd and gives numbers. The numbers get a little mind numbing after a while but it brings up the point I have wondered about for a while. Why is the prevalence of BSE so much higher in Canadian cattle than American cattle? The Canadians have a lot smaller herd size yet they have more cases than the US. What is the cause of the difference? I wish somebody could answer this question for my idle curiosity but I haven't been able to find the information.
I do worry about the prevalence of BSE in the Canadian herd causing problems for Americans via our export market since the USDA lets Canadian cattle in willy nilly to co-mingle with the American herd but there doesn't be much i can appear to do about the situation. All American consumers care about is the price of beef and letting Canadian cattle in helps hold the price of beef down for the consumer so the Government condones the whole situation.
I've asked both of Montana's Senate candidates, Conrad Burns and Jon Tester, about there thoughts on Canadian cattle, Bse and our cattle export markets and both have not responded to the question at all. Typical politicians, ask a tough question and they ignore or duck the question. That tells me that they both don't care about Montana, or US, cattlemen. It doesn't leave me much option when the election comes. Typical.
Common sense is judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire nation, or the entire human race. Giambattista Vico
--Benjamin Franklin
Whoa there. No threat ever intended. I don’t believe for a minute either that you have a dumb cowboy hat. I also don’t believe for a minute that our southerly neighbors have declared every B.S.E. animal that was discovered either. Shoot, then shovel then shut up about it were some advice given by a disgruntled politician that was butting his head against a wall up here. Do you believe Mexico, Central and South America is without B.S.E.? Do you even believe that is the issue. If the politicians would get out of the pockets of the three big packing plants and quit trying to have total control of the producer exporting beef wouldn’t even be an issue. Since our first case up here our government has pushed to control us with CCIA tags trying to peddle the message that this will open borders and every year they want more information but………….until the U.S. does this very stupidity they will never open the pacific rim borders. It isn’t about Canadian beef it’s about packer house control. You probably notice that since this crap has happened a lot of the smaller packers in your country are no longer with us. Who did that? Us Canadians? I meant no offense to you, this is just as frustrating for us as it is for you. I actually quite enjoy your blog particularly the pictures. We probably have similar politics as well!