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From: TSS ()
Subject: STATEMENT BY DR. RON DEHAVEN and The Honourable Chuck Strahl REGARDING OIE RISK RECOMMENDATION
Date: March 9, 2007 at 12:30 pm PST

Subject: STATEMENT BY DR. RON DEHAVEN REGARDING OIE RISK RECOMMENDATION
Date: March 9, 2007 at 12:13 pm PST
Karen Eggert (301) 734-7280
Jerry Redding (202) 720-4623

STATEMENT BY DR. RON DEHAVEN REGARDING OIE RISK RECOMMENDATION

March 9, 2007

“In October 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted an application and supporting documents to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to formally request country classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk. The OIE undertakes a thorough review process before recommending a risk classification, and then provides an opportunity for all delegate countries to review the recommendations and present comments prior to final adoption of a country’s classification at the OIE’s General Assembly meeting in May.

“While we recognize that a final classification decision will not be made by the OIE until May, we feel it is important to be responsive to questions we are now being asked about the risk classification recommended for the United States. The OIE Scientific Commission has endorsed the recommendation from an OIE expert panel that the United States be classified as “controlled risk” for BSE.

“The controlled risk classification recognizes that OIE-recommended, science-based mitigation measures are in place to effectively manage any possible risk of BSE in the cattle population. This recommendation provides strong support that U.S. regulatory controls are effective and that U.S cattle and products from cattle of all ages can be safely traded in accordance with international guidelines, due to our interlocking safeguards.

“The OIE risk classification process is an essential step in promoting trade and understanding of this disease. We appreciate OIE’s review of our application, as well as its leadership in developing sound, science-based guidelines that will help countries standardize regulations and import requirements. We look forward to the final adoption of this classification, which will be announced at the OIE meeting in May.”

#

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2007/03/OIE_statement3-9-07.shtml

Canada's New Government Welcomes Preliminary Rrecommendation of World Organization for Animal Health That Canada Be Categorized as a Controlled Risk Country for BSE

OTTAWA, March 9, 2007 - The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today issued the following statement in response to the preliminary recommendation from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) that Canada be categorized as a Controlled Risk country for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). A final decision will be made at the OIE’s General Assembly meeting in May.

“Canada’s New Government is appreciative that international animal health experts have recommended that Canada be officially recognized as a country that is effectively controlling BSE risks. The OIE’s science-based categorization system provides the framework for fair and standardized international trade based on the safeguards that trading partners have implemented.

“There is a high level of international confidence and respect for the effectiveness of Canada’s BSE control measures and our commitment to protecting animal and public health. This has been demonstrated by the unprecedented market recovery achieved to date. Should the preliminary categorization be adopted, it would provide further proof, endorsed by animal health experts, that Canada has taken responsible actions to manage BSE that are internationally recognized.”

-30-

For information:

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: (613) 228-6682

Jeff Howard
Press Secretary
Minister Strahl’s office
613-759-1059

http://www.news.gc.ca/cfmx/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=282659

NOT to forget what Paul Brown TSE expert at CDC said ;

THE USDA JUNE 2004 ENHANCED BSE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM WAS TERRIBLY FLAWED ;

CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier
this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to
them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest
case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at
least a decade.

The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA
officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.

These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a
picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is
thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they
consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal,
incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated
with the mad cow pathogen.

"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of
other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the
National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System
Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press
International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer
that."

Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow
cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the
United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before
one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow
that initially tested positive.

USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven
months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.

"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005
suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end

http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r

CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ...
Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central
Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room
4A-05, ...

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm

PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM

"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."

OR, what the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG found ;

Audit Report

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program – Phase II

and

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III

Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006

Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle Still Remain

http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf

EXPORTATION AND IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS:
BSE; MRR AND IMPORTATION OF COMMODITIES, 65758-65759 [E6-19042]

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0701&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=3854

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0611&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=3381

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=498

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0702&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=10277

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0701&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=9972

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=4492

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=2583

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=2470

P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

• BSE MRR OIE TSS

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