WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to re-open America's border to Canadian beef imports raises worries the agency is more concerned with protecting trade than human health, watchdog groups told United Press International.
Reversing its longstanding policy of not allowing beef imports from countries with mad cow disease in their herds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday it would begin allowing the importation of meat from cows, sheep and goats from Canada. The agency had closed the U.S. border to Canadian beef on May 20 when authorities there reported the country's first domestic case of mad cow disease -- found in a single animal in the province of Alberta.
Consumer groups, including Public Citizen and Consumers Union, said the USDA's decision to re-open the border was due to trade pressures rather than any scientifically-based assurance the Canadian herds are free of mad cow disease. Although Canadian officials have not detected any additional mad cow cases, they said they could not be certain when or how the lone infected animal contracted the disease or where it had originated.
The USDA decision also raises serious questions about whether the agency is committed to protecting public health, particularly considering officials appear to be leaning toward accepting live Canadian cattle as well, the groups said.
The concern is that humans can contract a fatal brain-wasting illness, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, from eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease. There is no treatment for vCJD and the disease always is fatal, usually resulting in death in about one year after the first sign of symptoms.
"To me the whole thing shows just how far over the USDA is willing to bend for the purpose of trade and how much they are willing to relax what had been an iron-clad public health policy," Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, told UPI.
"There was lot of noise around trade issues (and) ultimately the U.S. just caved into it," Lurie said.
According to the USDA's official Web site, "Canada and the U.S. share one of the world's largest bilateral trade relationships. The United States imported 1.7 million head of live cattle from Canada in 2002, most for the purpose of slaughter." In addition, 83 percent of the 1.2 million tons of beef exported by Canada last year went to the United States.
The Canadian beef industry has been hemorrhaging money since May as countries around the world banned Canadian beef products due to concerns about mad cow. Estimated losses run as high as $720 million.
"There was an awful lot of pressure to get the border open because of the impact on the Canadian cattle industry," Michael Hansen of the Consumers Union told UPI. "The administration seems to be more concerned with trade or trade concerns than public health."
Trade relations with Japan, the largest purchaser of U.S. beef, also factored into the USDA's decision, Hansen said. Japan had been threatening to stop buying American beef if U.S. officials did not assuage its concerns that infected Canadian cattle could have made their way into American herds. The USDA announced on Friday it would guarantee any beef exports to Japan came from cattle originating in the United States.
"We're glad the USDA is at least paying attention to Japan," Hansen said. "Otherwise they might open the border to any (Canadian) meat." Under the USDA decision, only beef from Canadian cattle younger than 30 months of age can be imported.
Previously, the USDA had banned beef and cattle imports from various European countries that, like Canada, only had a single case of the disease. The countries include Austria, Finland, Greece and Israel. In addition, the USDA has banned beef products from some Eastern European nations, even though they have not experienced a single case of the disease, because they are considered to be at risk for the disease circulating undetected among their herds.
"Every other country that has shown up with mad cow ... has been put on the 'Do Not Import' list and they have remained there," Lurie said. The decision to open the border to Canadian beef "is a departure from what had been the previous policy," he added.
Asked for the reasons for making an exception for Canada, USDA spokeswoman Julie Quick said the decision was based on Canada's "history of very stringent import control measures, strong surveillance system, and a (ban on feeding cattle tissue to cows) that had been in place for several years." Feeding cattle tissue to cows is banned in most countries because it helps amplify the disease in the herds.
However, Europe's regulations governing these factors is much more stringent than Canada's. Canada had a previous case of mad cow disease in 1993 in a cow imported from the United Kingdom, where more than 100,000 cattle came down with the disease in an epidemic that began in the mid-1980s. The surveillance system in Canada and the United States are akin, testing far fewer cattle for mad cow disease than European countries. France tests more animals in a week than the United States tests in a year, Hansen said.
Europe's feed ban is also much stricter than Canada's. They do not allow any cattle tissue to be incorporated into cow feed, yet Canada does allow some cattle tissue -- such as blood -- to be fed back to cows.
Pressed on the exception given to Canada, Quick said, "There's a unique situation here because of the highly integrated North American (cattle) market." Quick insisted this did not mean the decision was based on trade. "It's not specifically about trade ... it's about relationships between (beef) producers in both the countries," she said.
Lurie disagreed. "It's strictly about trade," he said. The USDA conveniently could ban imports from European countries with mad cow disease because they were small exporters to the United States, he explained. But over 80 percent of Canadian cattle are exported to the United States, so "Canada seems really different from a trade perspective."
Opening the border to Canadian products means giving other countries with a single case a basis for a trade challenge, Lurie said. The countries could argue there is no reason their products should be barred if Canada's products are allowed.
"If a country believes they should be able to export to the U.S., they should request that they can resume exports," Quick said. The USDA will review each case on its individual merits and the steps each country has taken to prevent mad cow from infecting its herds, she said. Some of the countries that have been banned have requested they be allowed to send their beef products to the United States in the past, but the agency decided the country had not taken enough preventive measures to merit any sort of change in their status.
The USDA could change its policy on this in the future, however. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in announcing the Canadian decision there should be an international dialogue on resuming trade with countries that have reported mad cow disease.
Asked if this meant the USDA was considering allowing other countries with mad cow in their herds to send their products to the United States, Quick said, "It's really premature to make any judgment since no other countries have made a request." But she added, "We will be, together with Canada and Mexico, requesting that the (International Office of Epizootics) have a dialogue about this at their upcoming meeting in September."
The IOE sets the standards of animal health for 164 member nations.
Veneman also said the USDA would begin a rulemaking process immediately for the importation of live cattle from the country. Quick would not comment on whether the agency was leaning in the direction of banning this or allowing it. The USDA would post a notice of the proposed rule in the Federal Register and allow for public comment before making a final decision, she said.
