06/06/06 R-CALF welcomes OIE changes on BSE

American Rancher June 6, 2006 The World Animal Health Organization - also known as the OIE - recently reviewed its international health and safety standards for countries dealing with BSE and made a significant change to its definitions of "risk categories." Under old OIE rules - a country had to go seven years from the last date a case of BSE was discovered before being classified as low-risk. Now, the OIE says a country can be classified as a "negligible risk" for BSE if 11 years have passed since the date of birth of the last infected animal or animals. R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says the new OIE rule is good news for U.S. cattle producers because the United States will soon be eligible for the lowest BSE risk designation. Bullard: "The case they identified in Texas they said was 12 years old. The case they identified in Alabama was more than 10 years old. So the United States after testing almost three-quarters of a million animals has detected only two cases born long before the feed ban providing a high level of confidence that our feed ban put in place in 1997 has been effective in arresting the spread of the disease. And that is good news for the U.S." But Bullard says Canada doesn't meet that negligible risk standard because it had a case of BSE in an animal born in 2000, which is why R-CALF says the U.S. border should remain closed to Canadian cattle and beef. I'm Bob Hoff.