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What went wrong in Canada?While the fact that Canada has found another case of BSE is not surprising, what is troubling is the age of the cow. The six-year-old cow, was born three years after the feed ban should have been implemented. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association claims that almost every country with BSE and a feed ban has seen cases after the introduction of a feed ban. But many of those can be explained away by saying hold-over feed was consumed. In the most recent case in Canada, the animal in question was born three years after the feed ban was instated. She couldn't have eaten three-year-old feed left over from before the ban. Either the feed ban was not followed in Canada, or this latest case was a spontaneous one--not caused by consuming infected feed. It seems likely that someone, somewhere in Canada was not complying with the feed ban. To state it simply, the feed ban was not working. Is it working now? The Canadian government says it is. The United States sent an inspection team in February of 2005 finding that the Canadians are in compliance. But this most recent case calls those statements into question. We know what is working: The battery of safety precautions that have kept cattle with BSE out of the food supply in both Canada and the United States. There have been no threats to the safety of Canadian or American beef. Inspections and procedures have meant that cattle that were found to have BSE have remained out of the food supply. That is essential to maintain consumer confidence. In response to the latest BSE case, the Canadian government announced an enhanced feed ban to accelerate the eradication of BSE. The move is a good sign, but it must be enforced and followed to be effective. If it isn't, we could be discussing the same issues six years from now. Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171 ext. 1806 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com. Date: 4/19/06
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