New Case of Mad Cow Reported in BC

Nov. 17th, 2008

New Case of Canadian Mad Cow Disease Reported

A fresh case of mad cow disease has been reported in Canada, complicating the government¡¯s talks to resume imports of its beef, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced on Tuesday. It was the 15th case of mad cow disease since May 2003, and the fourth this year, in the Canadian dairy herd.

The ministry said, "The BSE-infected animal that cropped up in the province of British Columbia, Canada is a milk cow born in January 2001. The latest case was detected in the process of the Canadian government's preliminary diagnosis of BSE."

Imports of Canadian beef products were banned in May 2003 when the first BSE-infected cow was discovered in Canada. Fifteen BSE-infected cows have so far been diagnosed in Canada, 10 of which were born after August 1997, when Canada banned the use of cattle feed containing ground-up cow tissue.

But despite the latest case, there will be no immediate change in Canada's status, certified by the organization for animal health (OIE) as a "controlled BSE risk country," the ministry added.

A ministry official said, "The OIE receives reports from 'controlled BSE risk countries' every year. If it decides that such countries have a problem implementing their own control system, the OIE can downgrade their status."

Korea held talks with Canada on resuming Canadian beef imports on Nov. 3-4, and has since been conducting an inspection in Canada. The ministry official added, "We'll reach a final decision on whether to resume Canadian beef imports based on the outcome of the on-site inspection and an analysis of this latest Canadian case."

(englishnews@chosun.com )





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