01/04/05 Reopening Canada, Part One

There is no question that the recent events of the last week pertaining to the reopening of the U.S. border to Canadian live cattle and previously banned beef products has resulted in some very intriguing comments from all parties involved. U.S.D.A. last week announced its final rule for once again accepting Canada's beef by about March. Some of the debate stemmed around just how much input from the cattle industry at large was received prior to the announcement. The proposed rule process had been underway since last spring, when Canada announced it had found a case of b.s.e. in an Alberta cow. It was delayed as the U.S. sorted through its own processes to assure a safe cattle and meat supply in the weeks and months after a b.s.e. infected cow was found in our borders. But among those who believe that more than enough time was spent studying the issue, and all potential scenarios, before announcing the reopening of the border was U.S.D.A Secretary Ann Veneman. VENEMAN: We took the time to get it right in order to uphold our commitment to protect human and animal health while allowing the resumption of mutually safe and beneficial trade. But some in agriculture say by issuing a final rule, and therefore not allowing public input into the details of the rule, it amounts to the moving forward on a matter without taking in all sides of the issue. The debate also centered on whether or not the U.S.D.A. final rule in fact takes sound science into account as has been the case with previous policy decisions, or if it instead varied from the precedents to allow one of our major trading partners access to our market and qwell growing political problems. U.S.D.A. officials say sound science is very much taken into account, based on the strict guidelines set in place under the final rule. U.S.D.A. Chief Veterinarian John Clifford explains some of the strict controls. CLIFFORD: These include permanent markings of the animals to indicate their origins, requiring them to move in chilled containers to a feedlot or to slaughter, and not allowing them to move to more than one feedlot while in the United States. But if you ask some of the major players in the U.S. cattle and ag industry, their reaction that the final rule is based on sound science is not as strong, ranging from we are still looking over the sound science of the final rule to a flat out response of sound science has been sacrificed. And all of this comes in lieu of Canada's announcement just days after the U.S.D.A. final rule presentation that it had a second b.s.e. infected cow in its country. The reactions continue in our next program.