Manitoba Cow is Positive!

[kpb]

grassfarmer, please tell me how more export business will benefit anyone but the multi-national packers.


kpb

[grassfarmer]

Of course it won't kpb, you know my views on that situation haven't changed.

But that is besides the point I was trying to make here - this paranoia about the disaster that will befall us if we find another cow with BSE going to collapse our markets again is so outdated it's not even funny. This is the second country I've been in that the consumers have gotten over BSE so let us, as producers, move on also. Individual cases of BSE are no longer a problem.

Similarily wd40s point about BSE and DDD testing not being based on sound science are irrelevant. I agree the "science" on BSE is mainly junk and we will probably never get to the truth behind it. I never did think Canada would prove the original cause of BSE because to do so the investigation would involve stirring up the BSE kettle in Europe and nobody was prepared to do that after they finally won over their consumers.

The only potential threat I see left in North America from BSE is if the US administration is exposed in a large scale cover up - that's why I wouldn't back calls for a SSS policy like theirs.

[bward]

Food4u The reason the big dairies don't have BSE is because the cows are burnt out, worn out and are slaughtered usually before their 6th birthday. It just didn't get enough time to show up?

[Willowcreek]

grassfarmer-- I have a question you may have the best insight to- and I don't do this to belittle Canada or argue, but I think it is something we all may have to look at.

What if we get a positive home grown vCJD death? or start getting deaths?

I truly think its something the industry has stuck its head in the sand about and has not prepared for.

With the known years of infection in Canada (almost 20 years) and the continuing finding of infected animals its almost a certainty that some infected cattle have entered the food chain. Now with all the new studies and more sensitive tests finding the prions in the blood, urine, nerves, and areas besides just SRM's its quite possible that their are dormant vCJD cases walking around right now which may not show infectivity for 5-10 even 40 years. Remember up until just a few years ago the SRM's weren't even removed...

What do you think the impact will be?

[grassfarmer]

The tone of your post is rather full of r-calf BS "With the known years of infection in Canada (almost 20 years) and the continuing finding of infected animals its almost a certainty that some infected cattle have entered the food chain."... yeah and what about the US? you have cases also, same risk, plus you have a Government and industry that prefers to conceal rather than accept that fact.

With all things there is a risk - we may get a case of vCJD in North America, but the risk is very, very small. In the world there have been 161 definite or probable vCJD cases (dead and alive)between 1990 and June 2006. Compare this to conventional CJD (definately totally unrelated to beef which the vCJD may also prove to be) which man has known about for a hundred years which recorded 1100 cases in the same 1990-2006 time period.

Now of these 161 cases of vCJD 80 of the deaths were recorded in the UK. The UK also had the largest BSE numbers in cattle - over 180,000 cases the last time I saw figures. Even with the high risk involved in the UK that is still only one case of vCJD per 2,250 cases of BSE in cattle and slightly over one case per million head of human population. As I said earlier the risks of getting a case of vCJD are very, very small.It certainly is unfortunate that anyone had to die of vCJD, even one case is too many but it should be kept in context - the UK loses 40,000 people a year to lung cancer and they haven't even banned smoking yet!

An excellent website is the CJD surveillence unit in Edinburgh, the world authority on this subject:
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm

[grassfarmer]

bward, Here are some figures on the BSE findings in the UK "Because BSE is predominantly a disease of dairy cattle, a total of 81% of all cases are of dairy origin. 61% of all dairy herds have had at least one case, whereas only 16% of beef suckler herds have had a case. However, a large number of the beef suckler cases were born and probably infected in dairy herds, and subsequently brought into beef herds"
NOTE: "Beef suckler herds" are what we would call beef herds although in the UK many of these comprise Angus, hereford, limo and simmental x holstein cows - this is where the cases came from. Cases in purebred herds like Galloway, Angus or Charolais were very, very rare. The Luing breed never had a case of BSE.

[Willowcreek]

grassfarmer- I Did not mean it to sound anti-Canadian..The reason I mentioned the 20 years for Canada is that Canada has the oldest known case in N.A...And since the Canadian cattle industry has been tied into the US beef industry so deeply- anything that occurs in either country could upset the cart...

I assure you I am concerned about the US too- and that is what brought it to mind... The new findings on the US "atypical" BSE is showing that it is much more like what is found in the sporadic CJD-- and some Doctors are now suggesting that more studies need to be done to see if or what the connection is between TSE's and CJD and even possibly Alzheimers....

I guess its just the 30 years I spent in public safety and as a Coroner coming out in me- that coupled with the fact that the USDA refuses to have any of their decisions examined and have vigorously fought against any oversight makes their actions dubious..

I really think it is something the industry in both countries should be preparing for- and that more effort needs to be put looking at the longterm effect to the industry...

Not sure about Canada- but in the US we seldom do enough proactively- but when something occurs we react and usually overreact...That is my fear if/when the first case of vCJD appears....