Stop making it hard for cattlemen to come clean on BSE
- Monday, January 26, 2004
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation editorial by David Walker, January 26, 2004
No one should have been surprised by the discovery of a second BSE cow in North America, nor the probability that more cases will surface.
The top priority must surely be to ensure that they are detected, reported and do not enter the food or feed chain. And, while not doubting their integrity or competence, there needs to be a clear incentive for cattlemen to ensure that this happens.
The dread of finding BSE needs to be eliminated.
The more straightforward part of this is to make sure that cattlemen get compensated adequately for finding and reporting any suspect cattle. As there are not likely to be many of them, paying a bounty will not prove to be expensive.
Further, detecting BSE cattle from their behaviour before clinical symptoms become evident is not difficult. This is, however, a double edged sword. It means that BSE cattle can be identified before they are moved off farm. But it also gives the unscrupulous the opportunity to move – or otherwise dispose of – suspect cattle before symptoms are so pronounced that they are unmistakable.
From this viewpoint, it makes sense to remove the disincentive that comes with the illogical practice of slaughtering all animals in herds where BSE is found. Other animals in such herds, and particularly those in the same age cohort and have been fed the same feed as calves, are prime suspects. They need to be quarantined, tagged and tested on a continuing basis. But, as the only known means of transmission is through feed, while they are on the hoof they are not a source of infection.
The beef industry needs to combat the perception, fostered by deceptive and melodramatic reporting, that BSE spreads like SARS – a perception reinforced by past policies of whole herd slaughter.
Surely such measures as the ban on feeding meat and bone meal to cattle, removing Specified Risk Material from carcasses and testing all downers dramatically reduces the chances of the disease being spread or entering the food chain.
But ultimately, it is the cattleman who is the first line of defence and the most valued ally in the BSE battle. The carrot is a more effective weapon than the stick.
For CBC commentary, I'm David Walker, an agricultural economist, at Lodge Farm Postwick in Broadland Norfolk, England.top of page