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1.
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE RESURGES
Since a September 7th declaration that
the United Kingdom was free of foot-and-mouth disease
(FMD, see: http://tinyurl.com/39n4nw
), three new cases of the virus have been announced.
All of the new cases have been in the county of Surrey
and have been the same strain of the disease. Based
on the age of lesions and the presence of antibodies
in the recently diagnosed animals, the government’s
chief veterinary officer said the virus is likely
to have spread there prior to the declaration. Welfare
codes require that animals be inspected daily and
more frequent inspections are being urged.
A government report indicated that the
likely cause of the initial three outbreaks was leaky
pipes at nearby laboratories that were producing and
experimenting with the virus (see: http://tinyurl.com/39n4nw
and http://tinyurl.com/2sen5m
and [PDF file]: http://tinyurl.com/2nq3tb
). Environmental contamination or latent infection
in animals are primarily being considered as the cause
in the two latest cases. A report on the most likely
link between the initial and latter cases is due out
this week. Since the initial August outbreak, more
than 100 reports of possible FMD cases have been investigated
and some 1,700 animals have been slaughtered as a
result (photo at first source below). Official information
and updates can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/3d8zk8.
A U.S. web site about the disease has been set up
at: http://fazd.tamu.edu/fmdwebportal.
RESULTS DUE ON SUSPECTED FOOT AND MOUTH
CASE
Telegraph, Gary Cleland, Sept. 20, 007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/20/nfoot120.xml
STRICKEN CATTLE HAD FOOT-AND-MOUTH VIRUS THREE WEEKS
BEFORE LATEST OUTBREAK
Times Online, Valerie Elliott, September 19, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2491261.ece
FOOT AND MOUTH SUSPECTED ON FARM IN WEST MIDLANDS
Guardian Unlimited, Fred Attewill and agencies, September
19, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,,2172558,00.html
NEW CASE OF FMD CONFIRMED IN UK
American Meat Institute, September 12, 2007
http://www.meatami.com/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Statements&Template=/PressReleaseList.cfm
2.
U.S. BORDER TO REOPEN TO OLDER CANADIAN CATTLE
On September 14th, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule for resuming
trade in cattle with Canada and other regions considered
to be at minimal risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE, a.k.a., “mad cow disease”). Pending
congressional approval, Canadian cattle born after
March 1, 1999 will be permitted across the border
as of Nov. 19th. (March 1999 is when regulations against
bovine tissue in feed were instituted in Canada.)
The U.S. had banned all trade in Canadian cattle after
the country announced its first outbreak of BSE in
May 2003. In July 2005, trade resumed for Canadian
cattle under 30 months of age.
The USDA issued the proposed rule in January 2007.
It included a three month period for public comment,
during which two of Canada’s ten cases occurred.
"The [USDA’s] risk assessment acknowledged
that BSE is present in Canada, that there likely would
be additional cases identified in the future, and
we still concluded these imports would present a negligible
risk of establishment of BSE in the United States,"
said USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford.
Older cows and associated beef products make up about
20% of Canada's market. The restricted trade is estimated
to have cost the Canadian industry some $426 million
per year. Canadian officials will be responsible for
certifying the age of cattle exported to the U.S.,
and a permanent brand or tattoo indicating their country
of origin, along with ear tags, will be required.
Some 75,000 cattle are expected to enter the country
during the first year, down from an earlier estimate
of 650,000. The rule also allows Canada to export
bovine small intestines, casings, and blood and blood
products.
Many in the U.S. beef industry welcomed
the rule in the hope that it will help persuade other
countries to resume trade in American beef. Others
vow to continue their legal fight against it (see:
http://tinyurl.com/3bbsfq
). Noting that half of the Canadian cases have occurred
in animals born after the feed ban, the consumer group
Food and Water said the rule shows that U.S. officials
are "more concerned about facilitating trade
than protecting public health."
A new U.S. interagency web site on trade
agreements can be found at: http://www.tradeagreements.gov.
U.S. REOPENS BORDER TO OLDER CANADIAN
CATTLE
Meating Place, Tom Johnston Sept. 14, 2007
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=18858
U.S. TO ALLOW IMPORT OF OLDER CANADIAN COWS
CNews, Beth Gorham, Sept. 14, 2007
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/09/14/4496851-cp.html
3.
FAO: CONCENTRATED PRODUCTION IS A GLOBAL HEALTH RISK
"The risk of disease transmission
from animals to humans will increase in the future
due to human and livestock population growth, dynamic
changes in livestock production, the emergence of
worldwide agro-food networks and a significant increase
in the mobility of people and goods," states
the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) in a new report entitled: Industrial Livestock
Production and Global Health Risk. (See also: http://tinyurl.com/2mmht2
) The production of pigs and poultry are the fastest
growing and most industrializing sectors, according
to the report, with annual production growth rates
of 2.6% and 3.7% respectively over the past decade.
Both rely on significant movement of live animals,
increasing the likelihood of disease transmission.
In 2005, for example, nearly 25 million pigs were
traded internationally. Concentrated production also
generates large amounts of waste, potentially contaminated
with substantial amounts of pathogens. Much of this
is disposed of without being treated, presenting an
infection hazard for wild animals, the report notes.
FAO calls for biosecurity measures at production sites,
and stresses that they not be built close to human
or wild bird populations. Last year, FAO released
the report: Livestock’s Long Shadow, about the
deleterious effect of animal agriculture on the environment
(see: http://tinyurl.com/26atm7
).
F.A.O. SAYS LIVESTOCK CONCENTRATION A
PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN
Meat & Poultry, Keith Nunes, September 17, 2007
http://www.meatpoultry.com/news/daily_enews.asp?ArticleID=88151
4.
HEPATITIS E, PIGS & PEOPLE
Hepatitis E virus is one of the few
viruses which has been shown to be transmissible to
people directly from animals through food. The viral
infection can be fatal in pregnant women. Doctors
had thought the disease was confined to China, India
and ‘developing’ countries. However, Europeans
are also contracting the disease. "Where we do
find Hepatitis E virus identified in Europe then the
strain is usually closely related to the viruses found
in pigs in the same country," reports Dutch researcher
Erwin Duizer. Current rates of diagnosis are up to13%
of acute viral hepatitis patients in European countries
but the actual rate is believed to be much higher.
Up to 3% of blood donors in Europe show evidence of
exposure to the virus, Duizer notes. Genetic material
from Hepatitis E viruses has also been detected in
pigs’ livers being offered for sale in Japan,
the U.S. and the Netherlands. The virus can infect
people if they eat infected liver without cooking
it.
EUROPE: ARE PIGS OR PORK THE PROBLEM?
Science Daily (article adapted from a Society for
General Microbiology news release), Sept. 14, 2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070903205004.htm
5.
LANCET: LESS MEAT MEANS LESS HEAT - AND BETTER HEALTH
The world's growing appetite for meat
is increasing greenhouse gas emissions, with rainforest
being cleared for pasture and as more sheep and cattle
expel gas. This is discussed by an international team
of health authorities in a special energy and health
series of the British medical journal The Lancet.
They note that agriculture produces nearly a quarter
of the world's greenhouse pollution, the vast majority
generated by farmed animal production.
The global average meat consumption
is 100 grams per person per day. In westernized countries,
people typically eat about 224 grams of meat daily,
roughly their own weight in meat every year, whereas
the daily average in “developing” countries
is 47 grams. Demand for meat is increasing worldwide.
People in China, for example, are eating twice the
amount of meat as they did a decade ago. The authors
recommend that people in affluent countries more than
halve their daily meat intake over the next 40 years.
They set a goal of cutting average meat consumption
worldwide to 90 grams a day by 2050 in order to prevent
the levels of gases from accelerating climate change.
"A substantial contract in meat consumption in
high-income countries should benefit health, mainly
by reducing the risk of ... heart disease ... obesity,
colorectal cancer and, perhaps some other cancers,”
the study notes.
EATING LESS MEAT MAY SLOW CLIMATE CHANGE
Associated Press, Maria Cheng, Sept. 12, 2007
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hxSQa9KhHaDXNGyeqOyHHbwb1iBQ
LIMIT MEAT EATING TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE:
STUDY
The Sydney Morning Herald, Liz Minchin, September
13, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/35kjlq
6.
NYT EDITORIAL: PIG PRODUCTION & ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
“[I]t’s a common practice
in the confinement hog industry to give antibiotics
to the whole herd, to enhance growth and to fight
off the risk of disease, which is increased by keeping
so many animals in such close quarters,” states
a recent New York Times editorial. “This is
an ideal way to create organisms resistant to the
drugs. That poses a risk to us all.” The paper
notes a recent University of Illinois study that found
the presence of transferable genes that confer antibiotic
resistance in the groundwater around two confinement
pig operations (see: http://tinyurl.com/2dgctm
). The editorial concludes: “The justification
for that kind of farming has always been efficiency,
and yet, as so often happens in agriculture, the argument
breaks down once you look at all the side effects.
The trouble with factory farms is that they are raising
more than pigs. They are raising drug-resistant bugs
as well.”
ANTIBIOTIC RUNOFF
The New York Times, Editorial, September 18, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/opinion/18tue3.html
7.
WSPA PARTNERS WITH POULTRY COMPANY
The World Society for the Protection
of Animals (WSPA) has entered into a partnership with
FAI Farms Ltd., a commercial farming and research
enterprise formerly based at the Oxford University
Research Farm. “The Model Farm Project will
establish multi-species farms in Brazil and China
to demonstrate high animal welfare and food quality
while delivering a sustainable financial benefit to
the farmer,” notes The Poultry Site. Among the
Model Farm Project’s key benefits are: “Establishment
of an international community to promote the practical
benefits of animal-centred farming to all those who
are involved, via a website, information leaflets
and a programme of seminars, training and conferences
at the Model Farm Project farm sites in Brazil and
China.”
FAI LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL POULTRY BUSINESS
The Poultry Site, Sept. 11, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2z45t4
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