05/16/05 Canadian BSE testing

American Rancher May 16, 2005 R-CALF USA recently questioned the effectiveness of Canada's BSE testing program to determine the level of BSE in the Canadian cattle herd. R-CALF said the number of animals being tested for BSE in Canada had dropped 28 percent during the first quarter of this year. Fred Gorrell, an agricultural counselor at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C., who has a background with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, calls R-CALF's claim a complete falsehood. He says in calendar year 2004 Canada tested 23,530 cattle and through March 25th this year it had already tested 21,345. Gorrell: "We have almost surpassed in 3 months our entire testing that we did in 2004 and if we continue at the current pace we will be at about 65-thousand animals." Gorrell says the ratio in herd size between the U.S. and Canada is about eight-to-one. Gorrell: "If you do a comparison on an eight-to-one ratio you will see we are testing almost exactly the same. So our levels of testing are extremely up to date. There is no cutting back. And I would say the statement by R-CALF was a misrepresentation." USDA's Chief Veterinarian Doctor Ron DeHaven also defends the Canadian testing program saying there are seasonal declines in numbers just as occurs in the U.S. DeHaven: "They are still continuing a very aggressive testing program and indeed, it is as good or better than ours." R-CALF says Canada needs to test hundreds of thousands of cattle annually, not tens of thousands. I'm Bob Hoff.