May 28, 2003

Appropriate measures are being taken in what appears to be an isolated case of bovine spongiform encepthalopathy (BSE). Risk to human health and the possibility of transmission to animals in the United States is very low.

On May 20, Canada received a confirmation from a laboratory that a single cow tested positive for BSE. The cow came from a commercial farm in northern Alberta, Canada. The animal was condemned at slaughter and the meat did not enter the food chain. The entire herd has been slaughtered and tested.

Rapid diagnostic test results from the originally quarantined cattle herd have all come back negative for BSE. These results are being further validated using additional testing methods.

Canada has now placed a total of 17 cattle herds under quarantine in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia as part of its investigation into the incidence of BSE in the one cow. Ten of the quarantines relate to traceback of the cow's movements throughout its entire life, while three of the quarantines represent the movement of the cow's offspring.

USDA has placed Canada under its BSE restriction guidelines and will not accept any ruminant animals or ruminant products from Canada pending further investigation. This temporary ban is consistent with the U.S.' response to other countries that have detected BSE. USDA has dispatched at technical team to Canada to assist in the investigation.

BSE has never been found in the United States, despite an aggressive surveillance program - 19,990 cattle were tested in fiscal year 2002 using a targeted surveillance program. Since 1989, the U.S. government has implemented at series of safeguards to protect the United States from BSE. Ruminant animals (such as cattle, sheep and goats), ruminant meat and products, and animal feed containing processed animal proteins can not be imported from countries declared by the U.S. to be at-risk for BSE.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service inspects all cattle presented for slaughter in the United States for signs of central nervous system impairment. All animals exhibiting neurological signs during this inspection are condemned, and the meat is not permitted for use as human food. The brains from these animals are submitted to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories for analysis.

USDA and the Food and Drug Administration have developed emergency response plans to prevent the spread of the disease in the unlikely event that a BSE-infected animal is ever found in the United States.

BSE, which is more widely known as "mad cow disease," is a chronic, degenerative neurological disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. Worldwide more than 185,000 cattle have tested positive for BSE since the disease was first diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Russia and Chile have joined the United States in banning imports of Canadian beef as a result of the BSE case in Canada.