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Suspected BSE Likely Positive: Bell

By 250 News

Although the Federal Government’s test results are not yet available, Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Pat Bell, says the latest suspected case of BSE should be considered “positive”.  The case involves a 6 year old dairy cow in the Fraser Valley.

“Everything so far would indicate a positive result” says Bell, “So people should presume the Federal tests will produce a positive result.”

Even though a positive result is expected, Bell says there likely won’t be the kind of reaction experienced in the past when the border was closed to Canadian beef. “We have contacted our American and key trading partners and advised them of the situation” says Bell, who says the reaction so far has been, no reaction. “They are satisfied we now have the appropriate monitoring in place to identify such animals before they enter the food chain.” 

Is he concerned about the number of Canadian BSE cases? “I think it asks some interesting questions about the American testing system. They have identified 5 cases in their country, although it doesn’t seem to get the same kind of publicity” says Bell. He says the Federal experts expect there will likely be one BSE case for every one million animals until the disease can be eradicated. When will that be? “It is purely speculation on my part” says Bell, “but I would expect that within 10 years we will be completely B.S.E. free.”

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