EDMONTON - The closure of the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle could be prolonged by the reluctance of farmers to send their ill or dead cattle to laboratories to be tested for mad cow disease, Alberta Auditor General Fred Dunn said Wednesday.
"If the farmers do not respond professionally, if they don't respond appropriately and rather hold the samples from you – i.e. just bury the dead cow – then you run the risk of not getting sufficient
of the higher-risk ones to test," Dunn said.
Failure to meet internationally-set testing quotas could result in Canada's designation being dropped from minimal BSE risk to moderate BSE risk, which would put any border opening decision in the hands of the World Trade Organization, he said.
Dunn said Alberta has to test 2,700 animals this year and 10,000 next year. So far it has tested only 900. The quota calls for Canada to test 8,000 animals this year and 30,000 in 2005.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/08/04/madcow_040804.html
Guess that everyone is down the rabbit hole with the emperor.
SSS
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