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The sharp increase in testing of the Canadian herd for bovine
spongiform encephalopathy is likely to uncover new cases
of the disease, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said.
The number of tests will nearly quintuple next year, from
8,000 to 38,000, and a government spokesperson said that
detecting additional cases would be unsurprising. "Such
findings will be consistent with our understanding of how
BSE was introduced to North America," spokeswoman Frederique
Moulin told the Canadian Press . "Canada's BSE safeguards
have been built on the assumption that BSE still lingers
in the national herd."
The admission marks a change in the Canadian government's
thinking. Last year, a government scientist who said that
BSE was probably "here to stay" was officially reprimanded.
Alberta's quirky premier, Ralph Klein, called into question
the patriotism of the farmer who turned in the notorious
BSE-infected cow in 2003, suggesting farmers should "shoot,
shovel and shut up." He later claimed he was joking.
The admission appears to be a tactic aimed at keeping talks
on reopening the border between the U.S. and Canada on track
if other cases of BSE emerge.
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