Mad Cow Meeting Too Cosy: Critics
Private Talks Between Regulators, Industry Creates Appearance of Collusion
Ottawa Citizen
February 17, 2001
By Mark Kennedy
Canada's food safety and health regulators will hold a closed-door meeting Monday to discuss mad cow disease with the country's food industries.
Critics have blasted the Chretien government for agreeing to attend the meeting requested by the businesses, saying it creates the appearance of"collusion" between the regulated industries and the regulator. The meeting should be open to the public, say the critics, but the industry refuses to comply.
"It's outrageous," says Mike McBane, of the Canadian Health Coalition, a public-interest lobby group. "They should not be allowed to meet and shut the public out when they're discussing public health risk."
The two-hour meeting in Ottawa will be attended by regulators from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), as well as representatives spanning the range of the agri-food sector. They include those from the beef, pork, poultry, sheep and dairy industries, as well as associations representing the animal-feed and rendering sectors.
Christine Mercier, of the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (which represents the animal feed companies), denied that the regulators have developed, as alleged, a cozy relationship. "Our objective is to find out what the latest developments are (on mad cow disease) so that we're all up to speed, we all know exactly what's going on, and basically have a chance to discuss that from an industry perspective."
She said the industry isn't prepared to open up the meeting, adding that other groups can request their own sessions with government officials.
"The intent here is to discuss this issue from the perspective of industry. I don't think we'll be looking at, or intend to discuss, consumer impact or anything like that. We would expect the government to discuss that directly with consumers."
Mr. McBane said he believes the businesses plan to exert pressure on the government to ensure it doesn't impose more restrictions on the industry as a safeguard against mad cow disease - known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Humans who eat the contaminated beef are believed to be at risk of contracting the human form of the fatal ailment, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
The government is under pressure from groups like the health coalition to expand its ban on the use of rendered cattle. Since 1997, companies have been forbidden from using rendered bovine meat and bone meal for cattle feed. It is believed that this "cannibalistic" practice led to the spread of BSE in Britain and Europe.
In Canada, the government allows companies to feed those beef byproducts to non-ruminants, such as pigs and poultry, even though those animals can later be rendered and fed back to cattle. Critics also have voiced concerns about other possible "cross-contamination" routes, such as when poultry ends up being given to cattle.
In December, European countries extended their ban so that bovine meat and bone meal is prohibited for all animals. Last week, the CFIA announced the issue of a broader ban is under review in Canada.