It
wasn’t the shot heard ‘round the world, but
to cattlemen and women, the noise was loud enough to leave
them trembling in their boots.
On May 20, the Canadian Minister of Agriculture confirmed
a case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in a
cow in Alberta. BSE, also called mad cow disease, is a
transmissible, fatal disease affecting the central nervous
system of adult cattle. The concern is that infected cattle
could enter the food chain, and people who consume infected
beef could contract the human version, commonly known
as Jakob disease.
Jakob disease kills at a rate thousands of times less
than automobile accidents, violent crimes, poisonings,
heart disease and many other common and deadly threats.
But one confirmed case of BSE in a cow that was killed
weeks ago, and the international beef industry began to
hold their breath.
I am not minimizing the precautionary steps taken as a
result of the BSE confirmation. We all want assurances
our food supply is safe. However, as a realist and a person
dependent on agriculture for my living, it alarms me that
one isolated case of a misunderstood and feared phenomenon
costs the beef industry in Canada and the United States
millions, if not, billions of dollars within the first
24 hours of the confirmation.
For Canada’s $3 billion beef industry, export markets
slammed shut and consumer demand plummeted.
In the United States, companies with ties to the beef
industry took hits on the stock market. USDA and FDA went
on alert with heightened inspections, and some consumers
opted to order fish instead of beef.
The
story began in Great Britain
Mad cow disease gained media prominence several years
ago when thousands of cases where confirmed in British
beef herds. Those cases led to the slaughter of 3.7 million
cattle.
What would it cost American cattle producers if 3.7 million
cattle were slaughtered and their meat deemed unmarketable?
By my math, using a per animal weight of 800 pounds at
a 75-cent-per-pound value, I came up with a $2.2-billion-price
tag. That doesn’t include the lost sales from the
worldwide ban on British beef that resulted from the BSE
cases.
A quick Internet search to pinpoint the number of human
deaths from Jakob’s Disease left me somewhat surprised.
What I found was an estimated 100 people, mostly in Britain,
have died from the human form of BSE. That’s not
in the last year or two, that’s since the disease
was first diagnosed decades ago.
I get into trouble when I write these kinds of columns—the
one’s where I question the methods to our madness.
I’m not minimizing the BSE threat, and I’m
not making light of the suffering and death of those 100
people.
But I am scared for any industry that can be brought to
its knees by one isolated case of a sick cow. At this
writing, we are still talking about one cow and no links
at all to human illness or death.
Be
informed but don’t panic
In an almost immediate response to Canada’s confirmation
of the infected cow, USDA, the National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association and the Food and Drug Administration,
among others sent a flurry of media advisories to assure
the American public of the safety of our food supply.
The first point, which I think has been overlooked, is
the food safety precautions in place are working. The
cow in Canada was tested at the first symptoms of illness
and did not enter the food supply. All U.S. cattle are
inspected by a veterinarian before going to slaughter.
Any animal with any sign of neurological disorder is not
permitted to enter the human food chain and is tested
for BSE.
BSE affects older cattle. The majority of the cattle going
to market in the United States are less than 24 months
old. BSE has never been found in commercial cattle less
than 24 months old.
The United States began a surveillance program for BSE
in 1990 and was the first country without the disease
within its borders to test cattle for the disease. No
BSE or any similar disease has ever been found in U.S.
cattle.
Even in the United Kingdom the risk of acquiring Jakob’s
Disease is estimated at one case per 10 billion servings
of beef.
Could
it happen to cotton?
Many of you reading this column aren’t in cattle
country. You may not see the relevance of my concern.
Let’s play what if.
What if a child in a country where American cotton is
exported were to die from a freakish reaction to cotton
fabric and someone concluded the fabric was tainted with
a chemical or bird residue or something in the milling
process or whatever crazy scenario you want to play? The
cotton was from America – therefore American cotton
becomes immediately suspect.
U.S. cotton would most likely be banned until further
testing could be conducted. Consumers might look for the
cotton label, but it wouldn’t be so they could “buy
cotton.”
Cotton growers, ginners, millers, marketers and retailers
would face just what the beef and meat industry faces
today—a hit so strong and so deep that many could
not recover.
From where I sit, it’s all food, or fiber, for thought.
Thanks for reading. DBJ
(Eva Ann Dorris is an agricultural journalist
and columnist from Pontotoc, Miss. She can be reached
at 662-419-9176 or eadorris@aol.com.)
