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Cuba reopens border to Canadian
cattle after mad cow disease scare
Canadian
Press, Tuesday,
April 05, 2005.
HAVANA (CP) - Cuba has reopened its border
to live Canadian cattle, nearly two years
after the Caribbean island country blocked
such imports over a single case of mad cow
disease discovered in Alberta.
Federal Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell
made the announcement Thursday in Havana
after meeting with Cuba's minister of agriculture,
Alfredo Jordin Morales.
The move follows Cuba's decision Dec. 14
to reopen its border to a wide range of
beef and beef products from Canadian cattle
of any age, as well as pet food that does
not contain ruminant meat or bone meal.
Canadian exporters will now have access
to Cuba to ship live cattle, goats and sheep,
meat from these animals, as well as bovine
semen and embryos.
A cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) was discovered on a northern Alberta
farm in May 2003. International borders
were subsequently closed to Canadian cattle
and, since then, herds have swollen to record
numbers and Canada's beef industry has lost
more than $7 billion.
The United States was scheduled to open
its border to young Canadian cattle earlier
this month, but an injunction in a Montana
court by a group of U.S. ranchers prevented
that from happening. One American official
recently warned it could be 18 months before
the U.S. border is again opened to live
Canadian cattle.
"This is another important step for
the Canadian cattle industry as yet another
country has reopened its markets to Canadian
cattle based on science," Mitchell
said from Havana.
He said similar agreements were recently
approved by Tunisia, a new market for Canadian
cattle, and by Lebanon.
"Now that Canada has achieved important
progress in opening these three new markets,
we will continue to work towards realizing
similar export agreements with other countries."
Mexico has indicated it will begin a regulatory
process that will eventually lead to the
opening of its border to live Canadian cattle.
© The
Canadian Press 2005
Copyright
© 2005 CanWest Interactive Inc. All
rights reserved.
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