Canada promises 'solid case' for ending U.S. ban on its beef

TORONTO -- Canada will present a "very solid case" for ending a U.S. ban on Canadian beef imports once testing is completed on herds linked to the lone case so far of mad cow disease, an official said Tuesday.

The closing of the U.S. market, which buys more than 70 percent of Canada's exported beef products, has halted most sales and slowed production in an industry worth $22 billion to the Canadian economy.

Farmers say they are trying to wait out the bans imposed by the United States and other countries since the announcement May 20 that one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, had been detected in Alberta.

Agriculture and health authorities insist the risk to the public is minimal, as the infected cow was kept out of the food chain.

Canadian authorities have slaughtered almost 400 cattle and sent the animals' brains for testing in an effort to pinpoint the source of North America's first outbreak of mad cow disease in a decade.

Brian Evans, chief veterinary official of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Tuesday that all 192 animals in the most recent herd of the infected cow had tested negative for BSE. The tests included initial rapid exams and additional testing that took longer to complete, he said.

Investigators also were testing other herds from the infected cow's life, including one of 49 animals from Saskatchewan where the ted cow is believed to have lived for four years.

If DNA testing can determine where the infected cow was born, investigators would be able to focus on what feed it received, Evans said. Cattle feed from animal sources contaminated with BSE is considered the most likely cause of the infection, and officials want to trace all sources of feed that the cow received throughout its life.

When the testing is completed, Evans said, the results should convince U.S. counterparts following the investigation to lift the ban on Canadian beef products.

"I think we're putting together a very solid case that will satisfy any regulatory authority around the world," he said.

All cattle killed for testing so far come from five of the 17 farms or feed lots quarantined in the investigation. All are linked to the infected cow, which was slaughtered in January, or its calves.

So far, officials cannot say with certainty which farm the cow was born on and whether it is 6 or 8 years old. Canada banned the use of ruminant animal-based feed for cattle in 1997, meaning the infected cow could have eaten infected food before the ban took effect.

Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in Britain in 1986 and is thought to have spread through cow feed made with protein and bone meal from mammals.

The human form of BSE is the fatal brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which causes paralysis and death. Scientists believe people get the human form of the disease by eating processed meat products from infected animals. More than 130 people have died of the disease, mostly in Britain.

Since the announcement of the BSE case in Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Barbados banned all beef imports from Canada.

The only previous case of BSE in North America was in 1993, involving a bull imported from Britain. The animal and its herd were slaughtered, but no trade bans resulted.

Some U.S. legislators have said the ban on Canadian beef imports should remain in place until Canada improves its monitoring and testing of livestock. Canadian officials have said they would consider whatever changes were needed to restore confidence in their beef industry.

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On the Net:

Canadian Food Inspection Agency: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: http://www.iatp.org/

(tsc)