Appeals Court Overturns Canada Beef Ban

[deminks]

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the ban on imports of Canadian cattle, throwing out a lower court's ruling that renewing the imports could spread mad cow disease in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was not immediately available to comment on when it would allow imports of Canadian cattle to resume. The imports were banned in May 2003 after a cow in Alberta was found to have mad cow disease.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a Montana judge who blocked the USDA from reopening the border in March, saying it "subjects the entire U.S. beef industry to potentially catastrophic damages" and "presents a genuine risk of death for U.S. consumers."

The decision came a day after the Justice Department urged the appeals court in Seattle to reopen the border to imports. Justice Department attorney Mark Stern said lifting the ban is based on "good science" and would not result in the "infestation in American livestock."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050714/ap_on_re_us/mad_cow

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Quid Pro Quo: We take their beef, they stop Rx sales to the US

:tinfoilhat: Just a theory.

[deminks]

3. I am sure that is a big part of the deal.

We've been importing Canadian beef for months on the sly in 2003 and 2004 until they got caught, an estimated 33 million pounds.

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=98617

[achtung_circus]

5. It's not on the sly.

Muscle cuts from animals less than 30 months of age have been permitted since 2003. I haven't heard of any burger being shipped.

The border was opened for muscle cuts for a variety of reasons:
1) Risk assessment.
2) American consumers and the price they pay.
3) Yes, cross border packers.
4) Much of the closure and the ensuing foo faraw was protectionism.
5) Fair play/trade.

That the border has not reopened to live animals under 30 months of age is strictly due to the activities of R-CALF USA and their eagerness to reap windfall profits from the American consumer. The same can be said for COOL, country of origin labeling. Under proposed COOL an animal born in the US, raised in the US, but slaughtered in Canada would not be eligible for labeling. Bottom line, if it leaves the US for any reason, or for however a short period of time, it is no longer "American".

[deminks]

6. Yes, the initial ban was for all Canadian beef

including muscle cuts when the cow was found. The ban was lifted on just the muscle cuts in 2004, because the muscle cuts are low risk. The normal bans that had been established world-wide were supposed to be for 3 years, which would not be expired until 2006. In 2004, for several months, then Secretary Veneman's office was issuing passes to Canadian meat packers to send ground beef and sausage to the US, even though expressing support for the continued ban on this high risk meat.

(snip from the Center for American Progress article)

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=98617

Moreover, it was recently disclosed that the USDA violated its own ban on importing ground beef from Canada, where an earlier case of mad cow had been discovered. At the urging of large American meatpackers with plants across the border, the agency permitted 33 million pounds of Canadian processed beef to be sold in the United States, according to the Washington Post.

(end snip)

I have no doubt that beef producers and meat packers on both sides of the border are clammoring for windfall profits. What I am concerned about is if we are going to have policies, we need to follow them or change them. If we have policies that are set, and then we go behind them, it appears that the public safety is not the primary concern of the government. Like everything else, how can we trust any sort of science anymore when there is so much political motivation? How can we know the meat is safe when we are not following the policies we did set to keep the food we eat safe? The hipocracy is overwhelming.

Whether this was Canadian beef or American beef sent to Canada and then reshipped to the US, I do not know. I am just assuming it was Canadian beef because it was found to be in violation of the ban, eventually, and the shipment was stopped until now.

Sorry for the long response, I am just trying to work it out. It can be very confusing.

[achtung_circus]

7. Processed meat does not mean burger.

What was permitted, after review of BSE protocols in Canada was muscle cuts. This is boneless muscle, less specified risk materials such as brain tissues and spinal cord tissues.

That is the processing. I am not aware of any shipments of anything else.

[Spazito]

4. Canada has not stopped selling drugs to US citizens

only looking at state bulk sales due to it causing shortages in Canada. Any US citizen can still purchase drugs in Canada.

[Patty Diana]

2. shrub made a deal with Martin____if Canada stopped selling drugs

to Americans the beef ban would be lifted. The announcement came a couple of weeks ago. God how I despise this FUCKFace!!! Same trip where Canada told fucker in chief to eat his missile defense