01/18/05 The change of tune?, Part two

01/18/05 The change of tune?, Part two

There are staunch supporters of reopening the U.S. border to imports of Canadian live cattle and some beef products still under ban. And that's despite the discovery of not one, but two cases of b.s.e, since our country announced its plans to resume beef trade with Canada in March. The most obvious has been the agency who issued the final rule to reopen the border, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But some sensed perhaps a change of their stance when U.S.D.A. Deputy Secretary Jim Moseley was among those within the agency who said that it would wait until an Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service technical team reports on their investigation of the Canadian b.s.e. cases before reconsidering whether or not to allow Canadian cattle and beef from cows thirty months of age or younger back into the U.S.. Another possible call to take a "wait and see" approach comes from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. In the past N.C.B.A. has supported normalization of trade with Canada, but its members as an organization has yet to take a specific position on U.S.D.A.'s proposed final rule. However, N.C.B.A.'s Executive Board earlier this month came out with a list of specific concerns pertaining to implementation of the final rule. N.C.B.A. C.E.O. Terry Stokes says the concerns are both related in safety and in economics. His organization says the four concerns start with getting the price of a head of cattle back up. STOKES: We've got to normalcy with exports to get our $175 back. You know if we're going to take the good with the bad and that we create a foundation of growth. Secondly, that we protect the health of our cattle herd. Third is to mitigate economic harm to our cattlemen as trade is resumed with all international partners. And fourthly, that we maintain consumer confidence in U.S. beef. To that end Stokes says the N.C.B.A. Executive Board has offered specific recommendations they strongly urge U.S.D.A. to follow in its final rule. And both cases have their stand in food safety. STOKES: Request audits of Canada's compliance of its feed ban by F.D.A.. There's a lot of concern among our people about the lack of compliance, or the perceived lack of compliance, or perceived lack of compliance to their feed ban, and that being the point source of infectivity. Demand from U.S.D.A. that there should be no importation of beef from animals over thirty months of age from Canada. We talk about being based upon science. I think there's some science based issues regarding that. More in our next program.
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