Has anyone heard anything about mad cow disease in Canada?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

A couple of months ago the Red Cross sent me away because I had spent time in the UK. I just heard on the radio that MCD's been found in Canada. Is this true?

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yea, I heard on ABC nightly news that one cow that was slaughtered in January did have mad cow. the lab in england just confirmed it today, and thats when canada went public with it.

A

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the united states on tuesday scrambled to ease domestic concerns over mad cow disease, quickly banning canadian cattle and beef imports after canada reported its first case in a decade.

after reading that article it brings up a few things that i'd like to point out here. living on a farm in south dakota and having a ranch background. a while ago some of you may or may not remember our congressman william j. janklow who closed the borders of south dakota to all canadian imports not having the corrects logs for trucking or health paper documentation. he did this without federal approval to make a point and to ensure of things exactly like mad-cow disease even hoof and mouth disease which would send south dakota into an economic depression.

yet everyday on the way home i see cattle trailers with loads of livestock from canada headed to beef packing plants in iowa and nebraska.

now why has congress been so wary of passing country of origin labeling? this would secure our nation's food safety and most important of all security as in physical and financial.

usda undersecretary j.b. penn said the united states would reopen its borders "fairly soon" if no other cattle tested positive.

all the more reason that i like to know exactly where my beef comes from. however most don't have the oppurtunity to buy a steer raise it on their farm take it to a meat locker and know 100% that their food is completely 100% pure american beef.

"this incident only serves to underscore the urgent need for the u.s. to dramatically step up its own food safety testing program and be vigilant about checking for mad cow disease in beef," said michael hansen, spokesman for consumers union, a consumer advocate group.

yet another point i'd like to bring up here is the fact that there is a new thing that has our nation on edge, that's right bioterrorism. could you imagine the implicaitons of having madcow disease, and having to voluntarily kill 1000's upon 1000's of cattle not even suitable for human consumption because we don't know how to get rid of the cause of mad-cow disease. or how about hoof and mouth disease, affecting all hoofed animals? elk, moutain goats, horses, zoo animals (giraffes gazzeles, etc.) antelope, deer.

the u.s. really needs to crack down on its security these days. not just people security which is very importand as well but animal security, because we are talking shutting down an entire nation here with just one miniscule little thing.

u.s. consumer groups urged the usda to quickly impose stronger safeguards to ensure mad cow disease did not enter the food supply.

i just hope the u.s. has a plan, country of origin labeling would help national security at all levels.

thanks for taking the time to listen to me, i know i get a little repetitive sometimes but this is a very very important issue at hand, i hope others realize that as well.

as for the deal with people traveling to the u.k. south dakota already has people go through a quarantine if they've been in the u.k. to protect our states cattle.

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Ummm, what makes you think only eating American beef would guarantee that mad cow's disease would never happen in the US?

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So far, all cases of mad cow disease in N. America have been traced to Britain. It is NOT transmitted from cow to cow, but only by cows eating infected meat meal or byproducts. Therefore, banning importation of foreign cows and meat would prevent the disease from becoming established in the States.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

The thing about it is, I don't eat beef. I found out several years back (even before I ever visited the UK) that it does not agree with me. In fact the first trip it seems as if mutton and lamb were under warning because of the Chernobyl accident. I don't eat those either.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Originally posted by Jay-Jay

So far, all cases of mad cow disease in N. America have been traced to Britain. It is NOT transmitted from cow to cow, but only by cows eating infected meat meal or byproducts. Therefore, banning importation of foreign cows and meat would prevent the disease from becoming established in the States.

G-d never intended cows to eat meat meal.

Actually, many organic groups have requested a truth in labeling/restricted labeling bill several times but the meat industry is against it. Organics groups want extra antibiotics, drugs, and beef byproducts (dead cattle/animal renderings) barred from being fed to non-carnivorous animals without extra labeling denoting that treatment. The meat industry wants to continue to contaminate the product with growth hormones, antibiotics and having the animals eat byproducts of dead animals (despite the fact that they are not carnivores) because it is cheaper and increases weight and product to sell.

And then we wonder why CJ Disease occurs.

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To quote Mr. Van Clief our minister of agriculture -- This is one cow, I REPEAT THIS IS ONE COW.

One cow in Alberta was found to have Mad Cow Disease and was distroyed. That's it.

Lordy, first the SARS was gonna kill us, then West Nile Virus from our abundant mosquito population (maudis marringuins!), now the beef is gonna. Can you say media hysteria?!!!!!

I quote my Dad, "calm down, more people have been killed by flying shovels this year in Winnipeg, you'll be fine".

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But if it isn't spread cow to cow, then what is the harm of importing cows? I realize they need to make sure they are healthy before being slaughtered for food, but it sounds like people are worried that cow would infect the American cows somehow?

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We hace become "used to" being scared. If we don't see or hear of something terrifying on the news/radio/paper, we start to think that things are going too well. ;) :p

Over all, we *should be* more careful with how we treat our foods and medicine and each other,... no?

Be well!

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Do you guys even comprehend the implications and sever consequences here if we import Canadian beef, without a time period for more cases to show up?

Well in case you didn't I'm going to do a little teaching here. As you are all nurses i'm sure you understand a little about infectous diseases.

To quote Mr. Van Clief our minister of agriculture -- This is one cow, I REPEAT THIS IS ONE COW.

One cow in Alberta was found to have Mad Cow Disease and was distroyed. That's it.

Ok 1st of they found 1 cow which was infected. Simple enough, right? Nope there could still be more. Why? Simple, that was infected of MCD, well in my experience there are other cows in the herd along with that cow. :imbar

But what does that mean? Well 1st of all how did MCD even get into Canada when ALL cattle producing nations have permanently banned feeding ANY type of meat by-product to cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. So did Canada import the cow from the U.K. which has already been banned? Or did they feed the cow meat by-products.

Now remember that the disease isn't spread from cow to cow but rather what they eat. Now I ask you, how many cows was with this one MCD cow that ate the EXACT same thing that the MCD cow did? Did they test the ENTIRE herd? Was it 50 cows, 200? 1000?

Ummm, what makes you think only eating American beef would guarantee that mad cow's disease would never happen in the US?

This brings us to the question above. Once importation is reopened Canada will start trucking beef to packer plants in the U.S.

Now does Canada have documentation of all the rest of the herd of MCD cow? Perhaps it was a slaughter cow, hence the rest of the heard could have unmanifested MCD which could show up at a later time (this disease is very new and no one know 100% what causes it or what the incubation period is for that matter)

Or was the cow with other herd cows? (unknown if the disease is passed from mother to young)

So once the exports of cattle come in again this jeopardizes the U.S. supply of meat. Why? Because there could still very well be cows from the Canadian cattle herd of the MCD cow showing up in packer plants.

Now once an infected cow is in the packer plant, does the disease spread if the meat cutter uses the same knife on different 1/4's of beef?

Now do you guys understand the implications here? Nothing is 100% with MCD, very little is actually known about it and it is a very new and untreatable disease in cattle.

I am not trying to tell you to quit eating beef but rather I question why we would open our borders up quickly after discovering just one case in Canada. Because logic would tell you where there's one cow with MCD there's bound to be more. (ie: the rest of the heard 100's/1000's of cows who might have been eating the same thing this cow was)

But if it isn't spread cow to cow, then what is the harm of importing cows? I realize they need to make sure they are healthy before being slaughtered for food, but it sounds like people are worried that cow would infect the American cows somehow?

I think you misunderstood the disscussion for hoof and mouth disease which does infect like rapid fire. MCD doesn't, probably my fault for confusing you when I was talking about both diseases in my earlier post.

Now do you guys see the importance of country of origin labeling? and why it would not be smart for us to reopen our borders so soon after a case of MCD in Canada.

I'm sure that Canada's economy depends greatly on exporting beef to the U.S. They sell cheper cows to packer plants and the plants buy up all the Canadian beef that they can. But my families livlihood depends that we have a quality product and that product is 100% pure U.S. beef.

As of right now no one should even have to worry about MCD if they are eating 100% pure U.S. beef, because as of yet there has NEVER been a documented case of MCD in the U.S. and if we don't import from Canada, it will STAY that way.

Now that's a lot to swallow isn't it?

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