Canada says it will keep border open to U.S. beef despite mad cow worries

TORONTO -- Canada, which two years ago was prohibited from exporting its cattle to the United States after a mad cow scare, has no intention of closing its borders to U.S. beef after Washington announced that a cow tested positive there, Canada's agriculture minister said.

The comments from Canadian Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell came as Taiwan reimposed the ban on U.S. beef that it lifted just two months ago. Also, a Japanese government food safety panel expressed concern Saturday about the second confirmed American case, raising speculation that Tokyo may delay a planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.

The U.S. ban on Canadian cattle has cost Canada's ranching industry $5.6 billion and strained ties between the two countries. Canadian officials have regularly called for an end to the ban, and they said the U.S. announcement of its first homegrown case of mad cow confirmed their belief that keeping the border closed to Canadian cattle no longer served its stated purpose.

"There is really no excuse to delay opening up the border. It has to be open. The American administration is behind us. Canadian science clearly shows this and it should open now," Prime Minister Paul Martin said from Alberta, a province hit hard by the ban.

The U.S. ban on Canadian cattle was imposed in May 2003 when an Albertan-born cow was found ill with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. Concerns persisted after a Canadian-born cow in Washington state was found in December 2003 to have the disease. Humans who eat BSE-contaminated tissue can contract a degenerative, fatal brain disorder.

The border was scheduled to reopen in March, but a federal judge in Billings, Mont., ordered it kept closed at the request of ranchers suing to block Canadian cattle imports. Two hearings in the case are scheduled for July.

Canadian ranchers have called it protectionism, saying the U.S. ban is no longer about mad cow disease.

"Cattle beef is safe in both countries and consumers should have confidence in the beef and cattle supply," Mitchell told The Associated Press.

A pound of steer dropped from 88 cents in May 2003 to 22 cents after the ban. Eighty percent of Canada's beef exports went to the United States, according to Stan Eby, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which represents 90,000 cattle producers.

The United States has for years sent much of its beef in the other direction as well. In 1999-2003, Canada was the fourth-largest importer of U.S. beef behind Japan, Mexico and South Korea, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Japan -- the United States' largest overseas market until it banned American beef imports 17 months ago -- has been under intense U.S. pressure to resume imports, with some officials threatening sanctions. Japan had imported about $1.5 billion of U.S. beef annually.

But Friday's confirmation of the American case raises the need to examine the accuracy of U.S. testing and the extent of the illness there, said Kiyotoshi Kaneko of Japan's Food Safety Commission.

"There is a big difference between a suspected case and a confirmation," Kaneko said in an interview aired by public broadcaster NHK.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry plans to ask Washington to provide more information about the affected cow, including details about its origin and feed, NHK said.

Japanese consumer groups Saturday renewed their demand that the government keep the ban in place.

"If any doubts remain, we cannot buy American beef if it returns to our market," Toshiko Kanda, head of Consumers Japan, told NHK.

Two months ago, Taiwan lifted the ban it had imposed in February 2004. Chen Lu-hung of the Heath Department's Food Control Section said Saturday the renewed ban would take effect immediately.

In the year before the ban, Taiwan imported more than $76 million in U.S. beef and beef products, according to the USDA.