Most Interesting News

The National News tonight was most interesting. Last week there was a little blurb of a story where a former veterinarian with the USDA (U S Department of Agriculture) had come forward - in Canada - to tell of suspicious cases of downer cattle he had witnessed during his career. Cases he felt sure were BSE and that he had requested tests for but had, for one reason or another, had never received satisfactory results for.

When I first heard the story, many things went through my mind. The first thing was simply "That's no surprise to anyone." In the two years BSE has ruled the Canadian cattle industry, we've had plenty of time to think about how it is that we, with the size of the Canadian herd should have four cases, and they with their much larger herd should have none ... well except for the ones that they knew they could trace back to Canada, that is. I didn't know how it could ever be proven, but it seemed mighty suspicious that Canada was to blame for everything.

The next thing I thought of was who was this vet? And, if he did have information to blow the lid off a very serious cover-up in the U S Ag Department, was he safe?

I waited to hear more about it in the passing days, but the story seemed to drop off the map. Not so much as one word for four or five days. I began to wonder if the poor guy had been in a mysterious car accident, or something, but tonight the CBC had lots to tell. And I'm sure there'll be plenty more to come.

The story is mind boggling. If, indeed, the USDA falsified test results and hid cases of BSE, how many cases were there? The cases this vet is citing both took place in his jurisdiction in New York state; were there others? Where? How many? Were the herds they came from investigated? Or destroyed like those in Canada were? Or, was it all business as usual?

And if it was business as usual, where did the meat from these animals end up? That thought is just plain scary.

I'm sure that we haven't heard the end of this now. The US has a lot of explaining to do. If it is proven that they have been using Canada as a scapegoat while hiding cases of their own, they won't have a friend left in this world. Their credibility will be nil. And any potential markets they had for their beef will evaporate. Somehow it's easier to picture countries buying beef from a country who is known to have BSE, but is honest about it and has a superior animal tracking system to keep on top of new cases, than them wanting to buy from someone who has been proven to be dishonest and untrustworthy. If the American public decided they don't even trust their food supply, their problems will only get worse.

I guess we'll just sit back and watch how this unfolds. Two things, though, have to be said:
First - honour and integrity are not dead in this world, there's at least one guy - a retired vet from New York state - who understands the difference between right and wrong and is willing to show us uncommon courage to set the record straight.
And second - well, sometimes a bad thing turns into a good thing. Thanks to U S policy the Canadian herd has been held totally separate from the American herd for the past two years.