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Canadians Disputing Origin of Infected Cow
Aired December 29, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: On the Mad Cow front, records show the Holstein that single-handedly lassoed U.S. beef exports was six and a half years old, four months older than a U.S. and Canadian ban on cattle field containing animal brains and spinal cords. That material is what spreads Mad Cow Disease and causes its transmission.
In any case, investigators also have traced the meat from that sick cow to as many as eight states and Guam, though they insist the risk to consumers is miniscule at most.
That's little comfort, of course, to meat producers, processors, handlers and sellers in the U.S. and Canada.
CTV's Jeff Little joins us from Calgary, Alberta, with more on all this.
What's the mood up there in all this? Are people taking it in stride, so to speak?
JEFF LITTLE, CTV CORRESPONDENT: Well, they most certainly are not, Miles. You hit it right there. You said that people are concerned, those in the industry are very concerned.
And they have good reason to be, since that case of Mad Cow Disease was discovered in northern Alberta back in May.
It put a real big dent into the Canadian economy, somewhere between $3 billion, $3.5 billion or so, and the industry in Canada is just beginning to recover.
So when word began to trickle out of the U.S. that another animal in North America had been found to contain that Mad Cow Disease, obviously another ripple went through this part of the continent.
And when word spread further that the animal may, in fact, come from Alberta, while that sent a lot of terror, because people have been hurt financially by this; the Canadian economy in many ways hurt the industry.
So like they are in your part of the world, Canadian politicians are trying to reassure the public that they're safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RALPH KLEIN, ALBERTA PREMIER: Our beef is safe. Additional precautionary measures have been put in place in Canada since May 20 that have enhanced the food safety system and further reduced the risk of BSC occurring.
In the days ahead, Alberta will continue to work closely with the federal government and the beef industry to manage this situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LITTLE: Now, there is some conflict here. In Canada, they're not ready to accept what the U.S. is saying, that this animal did, in fact, come from Alberta.
There are further tests to be done. Those include DNA tests, and we won't know the answers to those questions probably for about another week.
O'BRIEN: CNN's -- excuse me, CTV's Jeff Little in Alberta, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 29, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: On the Mad Cow front, records show the Holstein that single-handedly lassoed U.S. beef exports was six and a half years old, four months older than a U.S. and Canadian ban on cattle field containing animal brains and spinal cords. That material is what spreads Mad Cow Disease and causes its transmission.
In any case, investigators also have traced the meat from that sick cow to as many as eight states and Guam, though they insist the risk to consumers is miniscule at most.
That's little comfort, of course, to meat producers, processors, handlers and sellers in the U.S. and Canada.
CTV's Jeff Little joins us from Calgary, Alberta, with more on all this.
What's the mood up there in all this? Are people taking it in stride, so to speak?
JEFF LITTLE, CTV CORRESPONDENT: Well, they most certainly are not, Miles. You hit it right there. You said that people are concerned, those in the industry are very concerned.
And they have good reason to be, since that case of Mad Cow Disease was discovered in northern Alberta back in May.
It put a real big dent into the Canadian economy, somewhere between $3 billion, $3.5 billion or so, and the industry in Canada is just beginning to recover.
So when word began to trickle out of the U.S. that another animal in North America had been found to contain that Mad Cow Disease, obviously another ripple went through this part of the continent.
And when word spread further that the animal may, in fact, come from Alberta, while that sent a lot of terror, because people have been hurt financially by this; the Canadian economy in many ways hurt the industry.
So like they are in your part of the world, Canadian politicians are trying to reassure the public that they're safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RALPH KLEIN, ALBERTA PREMIER: Our beef is safe. Additional precautionary measures have been put in place in Canada since May 20 that have enhanced the food safety system and further reduced the risk of BSC occurring.
In the days ahead, Alberta will continue to work closely with the federal government and the beef industry to manage this situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LITTLE: Now, there is some conflict here. In Canada, they're not ready to accept what the U.S. is saying, that this animal did, in fact, come from Alberta.
There are further tests to be done. Those include DNA tests, and we won't know the answers to those questions probably for about another week.
O'BRIEN: CNN's -- excuse me, CTV's Jeff Little in Alberta, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
