08/01/06 USDA puts BSE risk rule on hold

American Rancher August 1, 2006 The USDA has withdrawn its proposed rule that would open the U.S. border to Canadian cattle over 30 months of age. This comes in the wake of the latest BSE case in Canada which was a dairy cow born long after Canada's feed ban went into affect. USDA spokesman Ed Lloyd says the department has decided to hold the rule until the investigation is complete into how the 50 month old dairy cow could have been exposed to infected material. The proposed rule was under consideration by the White House, usually the last step before a regulation is published. R-CALF USA is applauding the action while Canadian cattlemen are hoping the setback is only temporary. John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says the USDA's action was simply procedural. Masswohl: "The feed back we are getting is that USDA felt they are going to have to acknowledge in the rule that there was this additional case born a certain number of years after the beef ban. They are going to have to write some explanation into the rule. So they felt it was best to hold the rule back from OMB now and get working on some of those explanations rather than waiting for the report and then pull it back. I think it is a fairly controlled situation." R-CALF believes a new risk assessment needs to be done that incorporates the four separate cases of BSE in Canadian cows born after the feed ban. I'm Bob Hoff.