051127 U.S. to Lift Restrictions on Canadian Beef

Washington - The Bush administration hopes to lift remaining mad cow disease-related restrictions on Canadian cattle within the next year, the Agriculture Department said.

The restrictions, in place since Canada discovered its first case of the disease in 2003, were eased earlier this year to allow younger cattle to enter the United States.

A prohibition has remained on Canadian animals older than 30 months; levels of infection from mad cow disease are thought to increase with age.

Government and industry officials argue that rules for how cattle are slaughtered would keep the disease from ever entering the human or animal food supply.

"At the end of the day, the risk occurs when that animal is slaughtered," said Ron DeHaven, administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

"We have all of the safeguards in place to ensure the safety of the animal and the products that might be derived from that animal," DeHaven said.

The department is considering a new rule that would lift the remaining restrictions on Canadian beef, DeHaven said. He said if a risk analysis finds it is feasible, the rule could be proposed in six to eight months. A public comment period would follow.

One restriction would remain, DeHaven said: Animals born before Canada had an effective ban on cattle protein in cattle feed would not be allowed to enter the U.S.

The only way mad cow disease is known to spread is in feed containing certain tissues from infected animals. Adding animal protein to feed is commonly done to speed growth, but in 1997, the U.S. and Canada banned cattle protein in cattle feed.

When the U.S. proposed to ease the Canadian ban in December 2004, the plan was to allow younger animals as well as meat from older animals. However, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns decided in February to keep the existing ban on beef from older cattle.

At that point, he told the department to start looking at whether beef from older animals, as well as the animals themselves, should be allowed inside the United States.

Since discovering its first case in May 2003, Canada has turned up two more cases. Two more cases turned up in the United States, one in a cow that was imported from Canada and one in a Texas-born cow.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Canada had shipped 364,757 cattle into the United States since live cattle imports resumed in July. Overall, the U.S. has an estimated 95 million cattle, 45 million of them adults.

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