US ranchers seek to bar Japan, Canada beef imports

By Sophie Walker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – American ranchers’ group R-CALF said
on Wednesday it was considering legal action after its members
voted to try to stop the U.S. government from importing cattle
and beef products from animals over 30 months old from
BSE-affected countries.

R-CALF has used litigation in the past to try to keep U.S.
borders closed, and succeeded in delaying the resumption of
Canadian beef and cattle imports in the wake of the country’s
first case of mad cow disease, or BSE.

In a postal ballot, the results of which were published
this week, R-CALF members voted 3,815 to 22 to instruct the
board of directors to “take appropriate action to challenge and
stop the U.S. Department of Agriculture from allowing the
importation of beef products from cattle older than 30 months
of age, as well as the importation of live cattle over 30
months of age, from Japan or any other BSE-affected country.”

“The options available to us would be to first attempt to
convince Congress that they should intervene in this matter to
require that USDA maintain adequate protections,” said Bill
Bullard, R-CALF chief executive.

He added: “When we were previously unable to maintain
adequate protections through Congress, we then filed a legal
challenge that was initially successful. So litigation is
certainly an option.”

The Bush administration has lobbied to rebuild billions of
dollars in beef trade after the first U.S. case of the disease
– discovered in 2003 in a dairy cow imported from Canada —
prompted Japan, South Korea and Taiwan among others to halt
imports of U.S. beef.

It initially banned Canadian cattle after Canada found its
first domestic case of mad cow disease but planned to reopen
the border to imports of younger Canadian cattle and beef from
animals born after preventive measures were put in place.

R-CALF obtained a temporary injunction but the U.S.
Agriculture Department won an appeal and the border was
reopened in July.

U.S. trade and agriculture officials say allowing Canadian
imports to the United States is vital to send the message to
other trading partners that, with the right checks and
balances, beef products from young animals are safe.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said last week that USDA
is in the process of developing a rule that would set
guidelines for allowing older Canadian cattle back in to the
U.S. market.

But R-CALF and some consumer groups say existing
protections are insufficient, particularly after Canada
recently confirmed its fifth native-born case of mad cow
disease in a 6-year-old dairy cow in British Columbia. Canada’s
three most recent cases involved cattle born after U.S. and
Canadian rules against using cattle parts in feed were
finalized in 1997.

“There is a growing sense of concern in Congress that USDA
is not following sound science,” Bullard said. “One of the key
assumptions was that the Canadian feed ban was effective in
curbing the continued spread of the disease. But now with half
the cases in Canada detected in animals born after the feed ban
that assumption has clearly been proven wrong.”

The group pointed out it would not just target Canadian
beef in its latest campaign.

“Since December 12, 2005, the U.S. can import Japanese beef
from Japanese cattle of any age, and Japan has had 25 cases of
BSE now. The Japanese federal government no longer requires 100
percent testing for BSE, but leaves it up to the local
prefectures for the level of testing desired,” said R-CALF
spokeswoman Shae Dodson.

“If the Japan Import Rule is allowed to stand, it opens the
door for the U.S. to start accepting beef from all sorts of
sources. It’s not just Canada we’re concerned about.”

Mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), is a fatal brain disease in cattle.
Scientists believe people can contract a similar fatal brain
disease by eating material from infected cattle.