03/03/05 Reaction to border injunction

03/03/05 Reaction to border injunction

Washington Ag March 3, 2005 A Montana federal judge's issuance Wednesday of a preliminary injunction to stay USDA's planned reopening of the U.S. border to young Canadian cattle March 7th was welcome news to Lee Englehardt. He is president of the Cattle Producers of Washington and now Englehardt says maybe there will be time to ascertain the facts about what is occurring in Canada with BSE. Englehardt: "They definitely have a problem in the Alberta Province. They have four active cases in that one Province. There is something going on there isn't there." Englehardt thought USDA was rushing with its rule to reopen the border. Englehardt: "What was the rush?. That was my whole question was to start with. What was the rush? We don't give ourselves time enough to get our export deal going, get our export people comfortable and not lower our standards lower than the other 23 countries that have BSE that we don't take product from." The preliminary injunction was issued in a case brought by R-CALF USA against the USDA's minimal risk rule for Canada regarding BSE. R-CALF said Canada's risk status should not be considered minimal. The U.S. first closed the border to Canadian cattle in May of 2003 because of a case of BSE but Canada just recently reported more cases of the brain wasting disease. A written opinion outlining the judge's reasons for the ruling is expected today. I'm Bob Hoff.
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