| Submit your comments on this article |
| Great White North |
| Canada Sends Shock Wave Across North American Economy with Mad Cow Case |
| 2003-05-20 |
| CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada reported its first case of mad cow disease in a decade on Tuesday, a potentially devastating revelation for the country's huge beef industry just weeks after its economy was damaged by the SARS threat. Personally, I think it is Chretien who brings all of this bad karma to our friends up north. A cow in Alberta, Canada's top cattle-producing province, tested positive for brain-wasting bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in a test taken after it was slaughtered last winter, officials said. Alberta, just a hop, skip and jumpt from the Montana border. "It was (detected) just a few days ago. The actual test was taken Jan. 31 from a cow in Fairview, Alberta," an official with the Canadian Beef Export Federation said. "It's just one isolated case of an eight-year-old cow." The animal with the latest case "did not enter the food chain" (or at least that's the story we're being told) and its northern Alberta herd will be slaughtered, as will any other found to be affected, Canadian Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief told a nationally televised news conference in the Alberta capital of Edmonton. Still, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman quickly slapped a temporary ban on beef imports from Canada because of the case. Alberta, where cattle ranching is ingrained in the culture, accounts for nearly 60 percent of Canada's beef production, providing C$3.8 billion ($2.8 million) in annual farm cash receipts. Last year, more than half a million live cattle were shipped to the United States, according to Alberta agriculture department statistics. The mad cow news sent shock waves across the North American economy. "It still remains to be seen how serious it is but the news is not good for Canada, without a doubt," said a currency trader at a major Canadian bank. "We're trading off the headlines." Some experts believe mad cow disease may have been spread by cows in Britain who were fed the remains of sheep contaminated with scrapie. Other scientists say the disease arose from a mutation in a cow in the 1970s. So far more than 80 people in Britain and Europe have died from the human variation of mad cow, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. |
| Posted by:ColoradoConservative |
| #14 Chuck said: "They're not even sure what causes the disease in cows, much less in humans. They talk about something called a prion, not quite a virus. And this supposedly causes a disease a decade or more in the future?" From what I've heard, a prion is an undigestible bit of protein that gets pulled into the bloodstream with the usable bits and proceeds to cause malfunctions in the body. The "incubation" period depends on the concentration and the form of the prions -- how long it take for the damage they cause to start showing up. |
| Posted by: Silverdrake 2003-05-20 23:56:16 |
| #13 They're not even sure what causes the disease in cows, much less in humans. They talk about something called a prion, not quite a virus. And this supposedly causes a disease a decade or more in the future? MY guess is that in ten years, this will all be considered junk science. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-20 21:24:54 |
| #12 *shakes head* this is very bad. I've been to Edmonton, sampled the beef, and found it heavenly. Out of this world. Planning to go in a couple of weeks, and will regret that the panic may prevent me from enjoying one of the things at which Canada really excels. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-20 20:59:31 |
| #11 The testing of this particular cow's brain was NOT done in Canada but in a British lab. Hence the delay in confirming it was BSE. I for one will not be eating beef if they continue to feed that shit to the cows. Wisen-up Alberta! |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-20 20:39:13 |
| #10 Much as I think the Canadian government were complete assholes recently, I very much hope that Canada doesn't have to go the bovine funeral pyre route. I had to fly from London to Newcastle when the foot and mouth epidemic was full-on over here, and seeing the dozens and dozens of pyres of cows and sheep was not a happy sight. |
| Posted by: Tony 2003-05-20 19:13:29 |
| #9 Fortunately, it appears that it doesn't "spread" like a cold virus, but by ingesting contaminated feed. It's not so much "contaminated" feed, but that the crap that is being mixed with the feed is stuff that cows normally don't eat, like offal. Parts like bones and other tissue from other animals are used as sources of protein, which, if I recall, is supposed to increase a cow's milk production (experts feel free to correct as necessary). Fortunately for us in the U.S. (as far as the law goes, at least), offal in cow feed is no longer permitted. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-05-20 16:53:21 |
| #8 It's Harris Ranch beef for me. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-05-20 16:05:56 |
| #7 Re: the false positive comment I made-- Upon further reflection, I can't believe the Canadian authorities would let this slip out without confirming it with multiple tests. After Europe's experience, they had to know what a devastating effect the announcement would make on their agricultural sector and economy. The effect of the announcement has already hit the North American stock markets this afternoon. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-20 15:51:53 |
| #6 There are several websites that give more technical detail on mad cow disease. Links are HERE and HERE. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-20 15:47:46 |
| #5 A little research shows a lot of speculation on the incubation time for Mad Cow ranging from 2 years to several decades! Hopefully this really is a false positive from a quirky test, as Chuck has pointed out. Fortunately, it appears that it doesn't "spread" like a cold virus, but by ingesting contaminated feed. Unfortunately, the long incubation period means many animals out there may be carrying it without showing symptoms. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-20 15:44:33 |
| #4 There is little evidence that C-J is caused by ingestion of infected meat. Not CJD, but vCJD, or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has been linked to eating meat from cattle infected with BSE. Details here. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-05-20 15:41:40 |
| #3 Two unrelated points. The tests, like those for anthrax, have a high degree of inaccuracy. There is little evidence that C-J is caused by ingestion of infected meat. There is some evidence that they are not, in fact, the same disease. Like Dar said, January 31 and they do the test now? The folks running Public Health in Toronto must have been promoted to the Ag & Marketing Department. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-20 15:29:00 |
| #2 It was (detected) just a few days ago. The actual test was taken Jan. 31... So it's only had nearly four months to spread. That's just great... I can see the bovine funeral pyres lighting up the night sky already. Getting flanked by SARS in the east and Mad Cow in the west is going to make Canada the tourist Mecca of 2003, I tell ya! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-20 15:22:50 |
| #1 As long as the industry insists on grinding up animal parts and mixing the stuff in with feed instead of sticking only with plant matter, the risk of this sort of thing is always going to exist. It was just a matter of time before this practice resulted in infected cows in North America. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-05-20 14:50:37 |