US hit by fallout from first mad cow case

5.30pm


WASHINGTON - The market for United States beef exports effectively shut down yesterday in the fallout from the first case of mad cow disease in the country.

Japan, Mexico and South Korea, the top three markets for US beef, were among about a dozen countries that banned imports after learning that a single 4-year-old Holstein cow tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.

Public health investigators combed a tiny Washington state town to pinpoint the cause of the potentially fatal disease.

The discovery threatened the US$27 billion ($43 billion) US cattle industry and could benefit New Zealand and Australian meat producers who remain free of the disease. An initial estimate by Purdue University put the loss at US$2 billion for next year due to lost exports and lower cattle prices.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman tried to calm consumer and market fears, declaring the food supply to be safe and vowing even to serve beef to her family at Christmas dinner.

"We believe it will be either an isolated case or a small number of cases," Veneman said on ABC's Good Morning America, noting a case found in Canada earlier this year was restricted to a single animal.

But investor's vented their worries by selling stock in restaurant chains that specialise in hamburgers, like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, and cattle futures fell by the limit allowed by the exchange.

An outbreak of the disease in Europe more than a decade ago resulted in 137 human deaths, mostly in Britain, and the destruction of some 3.7 million cattle in that country.

Investigators were trying to pin down where the infected cow picked up the disease. The animal has been traced to a dairy farm in the town of Mabton in Washington state.

Verns Moses Lake Meats, a small slaughter company in Washington state, recalled more than 4500kg of raw beef due to concern it may contain tainted meat.

However, much of the beef linked to the sick cow may have already been consumed, officials said.

A tissue sample from the "downer" cow -- one that is too sick to walk -- was obtained on December 9 and tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE, the medical name for mad cow disease.

Other USDA officials said it took two weeks for a lab in Ames, Iowa to complete tests on a brain sample from the diseased cow because of a backlog at the facility, which last year tested over 20,000 cattle for mad cow disease.

When the positive result came back, a tissue sample was flown by US military jet to an animal laboratory in Britain for additional confirmation. Those results will not be ready for three to five days, officials said.

With more than 4000 dairy cows quarantined and the mainstay of the local economy under threat, residents of Mabton, Washington declared themselves in shock on Wednesday.

"I never imagined something like this would happen," said Vernon Stottlemyer, a retired construction worker who has lived in the town for more than 50 years. "We're all worried about what will happen to the farms around here."

Alarm over the brain-wasting disease raised fears humans could become infected.

Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States before. Scientists believe humans can be infected with a similar disease by eating meat contaminated with diseased brain or spinal column material.

BSE is not found in meat like steaks and roasts and the US Food and Drug Administration said there was no risk of BSE being passed through the cow's milk.

About a dozen countries imposed protective bans on US beef imports, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, Chile and Colombia. About 10 per cent of US beef is exported.

After a recent boom that saw many Americans return to beef amid a craze for protein-rich diets, some consumers said it might be time to rethink their eating habits yet again.

At a Ralph's grocery in Los Angeles, Jose Cervantes, a meat cutter and stocker, said fewer people were buying meat than any day over the past week. "There's no business today," he said.

One consumer health group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, touted a vegetarian starter kit for suddenly fearful carnivores. "This catastrophe might open some eyes to the many problems with meat-heavy diets," said Amy Joy Lanou, an official with the group.

The market impact from the mad cow scare was wide-ranging. Cattle and grain futures traded in Chicago fell sharply on fears that domestic beef sales will be hurt and exports of US beef will be shut off. Soybean futures, meanwhile, rose on hopes for increased demand.

Shares in restaurant operators plunged and the dollar sank to a record low against the euro.

The European Union said it was keeping a close eye on the case, but it was not considering tightening protective measures already in place for years.

The 15-nation bloc has long banned the import of most US beef because of health concerns over cattle treated with growth hormones.

Scientists believe people can contract a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease known as vCJD from eating beef products infected by BSE, such as diseased brain or spinal column material.

- REUTERS