Cattlemen see silver lining in mad-cow crisis
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 Updated at 2:11 PM EDT
Canadian Press
Toronto ó Cattle producers in Ontario say Canada's beef industry has come out of the mad cow crisis better positioned to compete internationally with the United States.
Ontario Cattlemen's Association president Ian McKillop says the closing of the U.S. border to Canadian beef has strengthened Canada's ability to process and ship beef abroad, despite costing the industry billions of dollars.
Mr. McKillop said Wednesday that that is the silver lining to Canada's mad-cow crisis, which began in 2003 when the U.S. closed its borders to Canadian beef.
Representatives from the association were meeting in Toronto with U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins to discuss the cattle trade.
Mr. Wilkins acknowledged that the closing has hurt beef producers, and said it is possible Canadian exports of beef to the United States will never recover to pre-2003 levels.
But he also noted that both the Canadian and U.S. beef industries have suffered.
Mr. McKillop left the meeting pleased with a commitment from the U.S. ambassador to eventually open the border to all classes of cattle, including breeding stock.
Currently, the border is open only to cattle younger than 30 months of age.
The Canadian industry estimates it lost some $7-billion since the ban began after the first case of mad cow ñ the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) ñ emerged in Alberta two years ago.
People who eat meat tainted with BSE can contract a fatal brain disorder called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
