'Mad cow' suspected in British Columbian animal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TORONTO — Federal officials on Thursday tested a British Columbian dairy cow suspected of contracting "mad cow" disease, potentially bad news for Canadian cattle ranchers still recovering from a two-year ban on their beef in the United States.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it was trying to confirm whether it was a new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
In humans, eating meat tainted with mad cow has been linked to more than 150 deaths, mostly in Britain, from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal nerve illness.
The cow was identified on a Fraser Valley farm through the national mad-cow surveillance program. It would be the fifth case in Canada since May 2003, when the U.S. border was closed to Canadian beef after the sick cows were detected in Canada.
In a written statement, the inspection agency said the case would have no bearing on the safety of Canadian beef if the cow is found to be positive for mad-cow disease, as no part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.
Preliminary results of the cow were positive. Final testing was expected to be completed over the weekend.
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