Lessons to Be Learned From the Case in Canada

Because the world shut its doors to Canada after a single cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered there in May, its officials are particularly sympathetic to America’s current predicament.

At least 12 countries have banned American beef products since the discovery in Washington state of a case of “mad cow” disease, but Canada will impose only a partial ban -- allowing in those goods that pose “no or low-risk.” That includes milk and dairy products, cattle destined for slaughter, bull semen, muscle meats and boneless meat from animals less than 30 months old.

“This is not a tit-for-tat situation,” newly appointed Agriculture Minister Robert Speller said at a news conference Wednesday. “This is a situation where the Canadian government, in the interest of Canadian citizens, made a decision.” Canada’s beef industry lost an estimated $2.5 billion over the last six months because of its crisis, and it has lessons to pass on to the United States, Speller said.

“Having experienced a case of [‘mad cow’ disease] and its devastating effects on producers, we can empathize with the United States,” Speller said.

After a sick Holstein in Alberta tested positive for “mad cow” disease, Canada changed its slaughter rules to ensure that the animals’ brains, spines and other “risk material” -- where the disease lodges -- were removed before the cattle arrived at processing plants. That reform makes it safe to allow importation of American cattle that are about to be slaughtered, scientists said at the news conference.

The Canadian government also has instituted an elaborate tracking system to speed identification of the origins of any infected animals. Also, in 1997, Canada, like the U.S., banned all animal and bone meal from ruminant feed, since a cattle protein is suspected of spreading the disease.

But the biggest lesson Canadians want to pass on is that decisions should be based on science and not emotion.

“The U.S. will finally understand what Canada went through these past eight months,” said Ben Thorlakson, chairman of the Canada Beef Export Federation in Alberta, interrupting his steak lunch for a telephone interview.

“When we found our single animal in May, we were treated the same as Great Britain, which had 189,000 cases. To have the rest of the world treat us like that wasn’t really a scientific approach.”

The shutout of Canadian beef was devastating to the industry, rippling across the country’s economy as processing and packing plants shut down. The president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Assn., Neil Jahnke, said the industry had lost about $8.4 million a day for the last eight months, as the price dropped from 81 cents a live pound to 22 cents.

Several ranches in western Canada were quarantined after the initial “mad cow” discovery, and 1,400 animals were slaughtered and tested for the disease. Investigators found no more cases. Thorlakson noted that the effects on the U.S. cattle industry might not be as severe, because it is less dependent on exports. Canada exported 50% of its domestic product, while the U.S. ships out about 10%.

In August, the U.S. began to relax its ban on some kinds of Canadian beef; Mexico, the Philippines and countries in the Caribbean followed suit. Now, Canada may regain some of that business as the same countries shut out American beef.

The United States is now using the same science-based safety arguments that Canada used in hopes of swaying other countries from imposing a ban.

The force of U.S. persuasion with Japan, South Korea and Australia, Canadian officials said, could help reopen markets for their exports too.

“Mad cow” disease “is really an emotional disease,” Jahnke said.

And despite the ruinous effect on the industry, there was a small silver lining: As Canadians tried to support the cattle ranchers, they ate on average more than a pound of beef per person each week.

“Our consumers stood behind us, and our per capita consumption actually went up,” Jahnke said.

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Beef trade

Top markets for U.S. beef, which account for 92% of total beef exports, for 2002:

*--* Volume Value (millions lbs) (millions) Japan 771 $854 Mexico 629 $615 S.Korea 597 $619 Canada 241 $286

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Countries that have temporarily halted their imports of U.S. beef:

Japan

South Korea

Chile

Mexico

Russia

South Africa

China

Singapore

Taiwan

Ukraine

Malaysia

Australia

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Sources: Economic Research Services, Reuters