| Six
state governments – Connecticut, West Virginia, New Mexico,
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana – filed a court
brief in support of the Ranchers- Cattlemen Action Legal
Fund's efforts to close the U.S. markets to live cattle
from Canada, a Canadian Press report said. R-CALF, Billings,
Montana, successfully delayed until this summer, the importation
of Canadian cattle and beef. The group believes that the
threat of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Canadian cattle
impedes the reopening of foreign markets to U.S. beef.
R-CALF
asked a panel of 11 judges, who sit on the U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals, to review a ruling made July 14 that overturned
a two-year ban on young Canadian cattle imports. The state
governments involved in the action say they agree with R-CALF
that USDA was wrong to allow trade in live Canadian cattle
to resume and the threat of BSE could have devastating consequences
to human health and the U.S. economy.
"This
case is pregnant with public interest of a national character,"
the brief stated in part. “The USDA's proposed rule puts
the citizens of the amici states at risk of eating food
contaminated with BSE and contracting, and dying from, vCJD
(variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or mad cow disease.)"
The
states urge the Court of Appeals to grant R-CALF's request
for a rehearing and to impose an injunction against Canadian
beef imports. Since trade in live cattle resumed July 18,
Canadian producers have shipped more than 164,000 animals
under 30 months of age to the United States, according to
data cited by the Canadian Press.
The
Canadian Cattlemen's Association expected the move. John
Masswohl, CCA director of international relations, said
remarks in the brief that people in the U.S. are in danger
of dying from BSE-contaminated beef are completely unfounded.
"It
is always a concern when you have protectionist elements,
particularly in government," Masswohl said. "But in terms
of it affecting the case, I really don't see it. This is
just more rhetoric. It is not scientific. It is based on
trade protectionism."
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