|
 The
Canadian cattle importation issue was re-ignited by recent USDA's decision, effective
on March 7, 2005, to allow imports of live cattle under 30 months of age from
Canada. The move was based on a determination that Canada is a "minimal risk"
country for BSE. However, it turned out to be a very risky judgment since second
and third case of BSE from Canadian cattle were consecutively reported after the
USDA's decision.
On
Tuesday January 11, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that
Canada's national surveillance program has detected BSE in an Alberta beef cow
just under seven years of age, just 9 days after confirming its second case in
an 8-year-old dairy cow from a farm northwest of Edmonton. The U.S. border was
closed to live Canadian cattle in May 2003 after a single cow with BSE was discovered
in Alberta. The National Grange believes that the USDA's decision should be withdrawn
until science-based BSE prevention system is proved working. Its official policy
says: "National Grange asks that imports of animals, meat and meat by-products
into the United States from any country having Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
(BSE) be stopped until scientific data shows otherwise." Action
Needed: Please contact USDA and also your Members of Congress, which has 60
days to review the USDA proposal, to urge them to withdraw the rule to allow importation
of live cattle from Canada. Contact
USDA | Contact
Congress | USDA
FEEDBACK FORM
Hon. Ann Veneman, Secretary
USDA Administration Building
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington DC 20250 | |
Sample
letter: (please feel free to copy and paste this letter) | | Dear
_________: I
am writing to urge you to withdraw USDA's recent rule to resume imports of live
cattle under 30 months of age from Canada. By
the two most recent BSE cases in Canada, the science and policy enforcement employed
by the Canadian government to control and eliminate BSE from its cattle from its
cattle herds are being questioned. Also, USDA's decision not to institute country
of origin labeling for imported cattle and meat products is a fatal flaw of the
program. Please
withdraw the rule until science-based BSE prevention system is proved working
and let consumers, not the government, make the final decision as to whether beef
from imported Canadian cattle meets a standard of "minimal risk." Sincerely,
(Signature)
(Name)__________________________
(Grange/Grange
name and number) __________________________ | | |
|
See
also: 
If
you have any questions or comments please contact Legislative Research Analyst
Chil-Sook Hwang by e-mail: chwang@nationalgrange.org
by fax: 202-347-1091 or by phone: 1-888-4GRANGE, ext 109. Thank
you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative program.
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