Canada Says Mad Cow Screening Finds Suspect Animal

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's Food Inspection Agency said multiple screening tests indicate a 10-year-old dairy cow may have mad cow disease. Today's announcement comes a day after the U.S. said it would lift a ban on cattle imports from Canada in March.

Samples of the suspect animal are being analyzed at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, the agency said in a statement on its Web site. Conclusive results are expected in three to five days. Screening tests were completed late yesterday, the agency said.

The suspect animal was born before 1997, when Canada and the U.S. banned feed containing ground-up cattle parts, which is how scientists say the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is spread. Canada exported 1.7 million head of cattle to the U.S. in 2002, about 4.7 percent of the annual slaughter.

``The finding should not have a significant or lasting impact on efforts to normalize trade,'' the agency said. In its negotiations with the U.S., ``Canada has been very open about the prospect of finding more BSE,'' it said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday designated Canada as a ``minimal-risk'' region for BSE and said the country may resume shipping cattle under 30 months of age and beef from animals of any age as of March 7. The U.S. banned imports of cattle and beef from Canada on May 20, 2003, after mad cow disease was found in Alberta. The rules were relaxed in August 2003 to allow some cuts of beef from younger animals.

No U.S. Change

Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Loyd said the finding won't result in any changes in the rule announced yesterday. ``The risk analysis did take into account the possibility of finding additional BSE cases in Canada,'' he said.

The 1997 feed ban and other rules imposed by Canada to prevent the spread of BSE help ensure that the country's food and feed supply is safe, Loyd said. The rules are similar to those in the U.S. and include a requirement that high-risk tissue in cattle such as brains, spinal cord and small intestines be removed during slaughter, he said.

The Canadian government said the animal that screened positive for BSE yesterday was found through a national surveillance program that has tested 21,000 head of cattle this year. The cow was tested after being identified as a ``downer,'' or too sick to walk to slaughter, which is one of the high-risk categories targeted by the program.

The animal found in Alberta in 2003 with BSE and a cow found in Washington state last December with the disease also were born before the feed bans were implemented in the U.S. and Canada. The animal that tested positive for the disease in the U.S. is the only confirmed BSE case in the country's history. That cow was born in Canada.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Daniel Enoch in Washington at denoch@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Patrick McKiernan at pmckiernan@bloomberg.net.