U.S. spots two more human cases of flu with new swine virus but cases not linked

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Two new cases of human infection with a flu virus that has been sporadically jumping to people from pigs have been spotted in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reported Friday.

The new cases, in Maine and Indiana, bring to seven the number seen in the U.S. since July. To date Canada has seen no infections with this virus, the National Microbiology Laboratory said.

While the infections have been mainly mild, the CDC is keeping a close eye on the situation. The head of the Atlanta-based agency's influenza division said a seed strain for a vaccine that would protect against this virus has already been developed and has been given to vaccine manufacturers.

 

"We're really trying to be in front of events in terms of preparedness," Dr. Nancy Cox said in an interview.

"We're being very vigilant because we realize that there's a portion of the population ... that really has very little cross-reactive antibodies to the swine reassortant virus." More

Scientists work on flu vaccine that could last a lifetime

By Richard Gray, The Telegraph

A vaccine that could end the need for annual winter flu injections by offering lifelong protection against all strains of the virus has been developed by British scientists.

The new universal flu vaccine, which researchers say only needs to be administered once, has been found to be effective against a number of different types of influenza, including deadly avian flu and pandemic swine flu strains.

Flu viruses are highly changeable so elderly people and pregnant women, who are particularly vulnerable to the illness, are currently given new vaccinations each year to ensure they are protected.

Small-scale clinical trials on the new vaccine - known as Flu-v - have shown it can significantly reduce infection and also cut the severity of symptoms. Results of the trials will be presented at an international conference this week by the London-based drug development company behind the vaccine.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Scientists+work+vaccine+that+could+last+lifetime/5665062/story.html#ixzz1d2qskwzE

Rabobank report China pork supply the chronic disease

The Chinese pork sector is experiencing an increased incidence of disease. This brief FAR industry update states that many farmers are decreasing production and quickening the liquidation of market hogs in the midst of disease fears and price volatility. Rabobank expects the impact to worsen in the coming months as hog immunity usually decreases in winter. Production recovery and reduced inflation will depend on whether the disease can be contained. China may continue to import pork to fill the gap in the near term. More

Dairy Farmers expands drug screening program

By Susan Mann

Dairy Farmers of Ontario will be starting a broader surveillance for drug residues in milk effective Nov. 1.

Routine testing of producer samples at the lab will be discontinued. George MacNaughton, director of Dairy Farmers production division, says the routine testing program looks at drugs the industry is already screening.

All processors screen milk loads for beta lactams, the main group of drugs farmers use, and several randomly screen for sulfa-based drugs and tetracycline. In addition to beta lactams, there are seven other families of drugs in use, including sulfa-based drugs and tetracycline.

“What we’re going to do is we’re going to concentrate on the five families of drugs that are not routinely checked,” he explains, noting it’s somewhat redundant to test producer samples for drugs that were already tested in loads by processors.

The changes to the inhibitor-testing program were outlined in a discussion paper released at Dairy Farmers’ fall regional meetings for farmer delegates last week. More

Meat sector urges Ottawa to ink South Korea free-trade deal, millions at stake

Canada's meat industry says it stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year unless Ottawa moves more quickly to sign a free-trade agreement with South Korea.

Earlier this month, the United States signed such a trade deal, which means its beef and pork producers will face much lower tariffs than their Canadian counterparts.

The Canadian Pork Council warns that without a similar deal, Canada could lose $300 million a year in business, as well as farm and meat processing jobs.

"With the recent ratification of the Korean free-trade agreement by the U.S. Congress, the Canadian red meat industry is very concerned that further delay in concluding Canadian free-trade talks with South Korea will seriously undermine the competitiveness of the pork and beef sectors," said council chairman Jurgen Preugschas.

"It would put more of our producers out of business." More

Meat producers want ban lifted

Free trade . Canadian meat producers want the federal government to resume free trade negotiations with South Korea, after the U.S. ratified a deal with the country last week.

"Almost at the very moment we hope Korea lifts its prohibition on Canadian beef, they will be reducing the tariff on U.S. beef which could well negate our market access gain," Travis Toews, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, said in a statement.

This summer, South Korea said that by the end of the year it would resume imports of Canadian beef from cows under the age of 30 months. It is one of the few remaining countries that has yet to reopen its borders after BSE was discovered in some Canadian cattle in 2003.

The cattlemen's association, as well as the Canadian Pork Council, Canada Pork International and the Canadian Meat Council, want the talks that stalled three years ago restarted, out of concern Canada won't be able to compete with countries whose products have lower tariffs attached. More

Getting to the CORE of foodborne illness outbreaks

FDA establishes foodborne illness outbreak response network Aims at increased coordination, using lessons learned

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today a streamlined, integrated approach to effectively and rapidly respond to human and animal foodborne illness outbreaks: the FDA Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Network.

The CORE Network is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of epidemiologists, veterinarians, microbiologists, environmental health specialists, emergency coordinators, and risk communications specialists. Working full-time on outbreak prevention and response at headquarters, the CORE is complemented by trained, experienced investigators in FDA field offices nationwide. CORE will coordinate closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and state public health and agriculture agencies in human and animal foodborne illness outbreaks.  More

Test Identifies Red Angus Carriers of Bone Disease

By Sandra Avant
September 29, 2011

A new test that detects a rare and deadly bone disorder in Red Angus is now available to cattle producers, thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Marble bone disease, also known as osteopetrosis, had not been seen in the United States since the 1960s until it resurfaced in Red Angus cattle three years ago. The birth defect, which affects humans, cattle and other animals, causes abnormal brain and bone marrow cavity development, leading to overly dense, brittle bones. Calves with the mutation usually are stillborn or die soon after birth.

To stop the disease in cattle, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., and the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Beltsville, Md. collaborated with several university and Red Angus Association of America partners to identify the gene mutation responsible for the disorder. They then developed a DNA diagnostic test that identifies osteopetrosis carriers. More

First ‘Animal Welfare Approved’ restaurant to open

HUDSON, NY – On Oct. 1, the first Animal Welfare Approved Restaurant, Grazin', in Hudson, NY, is set to open for business. As a result, Grazin' will become the first restaurant in the US using only Animal Welfare Approved meat, eggs and dairy products. Restaurants can only earn the distinction of being an "Animal Welfare Approved Restaurant" if all meat, dairy and egg products are from Animal Welfare Approved farms.

The owners and operators of both Grazin' Angus Acres farm in Ghent, NY, and the new Grazin' restaurant are Dan Gibson and his family. When Grazin' opens its doors, customers will consume locally sourced and sustainably produced meals. Signature menu items at the classic 1950s-style stainless steel diner on Warren Street will include eight different burgers; all made using local Grazin' Angus Acres' 100 percent grass fed and finished Black Angus beef served with hand-cut organic fries, plus a range of homemade organic ice creams and house-made organic sodas from an old fashioned fountain. More

Elk farmer in battle with Ottawa bureaucracy over compensation for cull

By Adrian Humphreys

  

Like driftwood logs, two enormous antlers stretch from their sharp tips down four feet to the head of an enormous elk, lying dead on the flat Prairie soil.

These are the "trophy" - an enormous souvenir of the kill that brought corporate executives and celebrities to Rick Alsager's 1,600hectare Saskatchewan farm on the Yellowhead Highway, midway between Saskatoon and Edmonton.

Bagging the best of these trophies, some of the biggest in the world, ran into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Then, on April 16, 2010, one of the elk tested positive for chronic wasting disease and the operation was quarantined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. An order to kill the herd soon followed.

The fallout of that cull has not yet settled.

What ostensibly is a battle over compensation has become a culture clash - a head-butting akin to rutting elk - pitting civil servants against a prickly farmer; bureaucrats against a man fed up with government; city-living regulators and taxfunded lawyers against someone who has lived on a farm all his life and represents himself to save the cash.

It is, Mr. Alsager believes, a battle to save the real Canada. More

Big data gaps on animal drugs and antibiotic resistance

Robert Roos  News Editor

Sep 16, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – The US government needs to collect much more data on antibiotic use in food animals and resistant bacteria in animals and retail meat to clarify the possible links between them, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released this week.

Government agencies have collected some data, but the data "lack crucial details necessary to examine trends and understand the relationship between use and resistance," the GAO said. The agency also said a shortage of data makes it unclear whether a voluntary strategy the government uses to deal with concerns about older antibiotics is working.

A number of medical, public health, and food safety groups for years have been advocating restrictions on the use of antibiotics in food animals, because of concern that excessive use gives rise to resistant bacteria, which can then spread to humans via food.

As noted in the report, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned just one antibiotic for use in food animals out of concern about encouraging bacterial resistance. In 2000 the FDA proposed to ban the use of two fluoroquinolones, enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin, in poultry. The maker of sarafloxacin voluntarily withdrew the product, but the enrofloxacin manufacturer opposed the move, and it took the FDA until 2005 to finally ban its use in poultry.

The new GAO report repeats the main thrust of a report issued in 2004, in which the agency called for improved data collection and risk assessment.

"Since GAO's 2004 report, FDA began collecting data from drug companies on antibiotics sold for use in food animals, but the data do not show what species antibiotics are used in or the purpose of their use, such as for treating disease or improving animals' growth rates," the new report says.

"Also, although USDA [US Department of Agriculture] agencies continue to collect use data through existing surveys of producers, data from these surveys provide only a snapshot of antibiotic use practices," it says.

Further, the agencies' data on resistance are not representative of food animals and meat across the nation and, because of a change in sampling method, in some cases have become less representative of the national picture since 2004, the GAO concluded.

The report says that a voluntary process that the FDA implemented in 2003 to assess risks associated with new antibiotics for animals is working reasonably well, but the process for limiting risks related to older antibiotics has problems.

In 2003 the FDA issued guidance to help drug sponsors evaluate potential risks to human health associated with new animal antibiotics. FDA documents say this guidance has been effective in limiting risks, according to the report. In addition, representatives of some producer, public health, and veterinary groups, along with an animal pharmaceutical organization, told the GAO they were "generally satisfied with the risk assessment approach," though they raised some concerns. More

Two more children infected with novel swine flu virus

Sep 6, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Two more children in Pennsylvania were infected with a novel swine influenza A/H3N2 virus that includes a gene from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus, raising the number of such infections in the state to three, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) announced yesterday.

The two children, like the first case-patient reported Sep 2, attended the Washington County Agricultural Fair in southwestern Pennsylvania the week of Aug 13 to 20, PDH officials said in a press release. The first patient has recovered, and the other two patients are recovering, they said.

On Sep 2 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that one child each in Indiana and Pennsylvania had been infected with a swine-origin H3N2 virus that included the matrix gene from the 2009 H1N1 virus. The viruses were described as similar but not identical. Both of the children recovered. The Indiana child might have caught the virus from a caregiver who had had contact with pigs, the CDC said.

Investigators from the PDH and CDC have not yet determined exactly how the three Pennsylvania patients became infected, according to the PDH. The earlier CDC announcement, however, said the first patient, a girl, was exposed to pigs and other animals at the fair.

None of the three patients had any direct link to the others, according to Brandi Hunter-Davenport, a PDH spokeswoman. "Their only commonality was attending the fair," she told CIDRAP News today. More

Canada’s Wild Bird Survey for Avian Influenza Underway

Ottawa, September 2, 2011: As wild birds begin their fall migration, Canada’s seventh annual Inter-Agency Wild Bird Influenza Survey is underway. The survey is part of global efforts advocated by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to detect highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses that could threaten the agricultural sector and human health.
"The wild bird survey is an important part of Canada’s avian influenza prevention and preparedness biosecurity strategy," said Dr. Brian Evans, Canada’s Chief Veterinary Officer.

"It’s an early warning system designed to detect highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses such as the Eurasian strain of H5N1. To date this highly pathogenic H5N1 strain has never been found in Canada."

Earlier this week the OIE and the FAO noted the emergence of a new strain of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus. While the OIE said that the genetic mutation is not an immediate cause for alert, both organizations recommended sustained monitoring of avian influenza viruses. More

CDC: 2 children sickened by novel swine flu strain

One had contact with pigs. The other is believed to have been infected by a caregiver who had contact with pigs, suggesting the virus can spread person-to-person.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the new virus contains a gene from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a worldwide scare two years ago, plus parts of other viruses that have infected pigs over the last decade.

The children were infected in July and August and have recovered. Both had received flu shots last year.
Officials are investigating other reports of illness in people who attended an agricultural fair in Pennsylvania. No additional cases have been confirmed so far. More

Electronic identification of bovines to further strengthen food safety and animal health in the EU

Brussels, 30 August 2011 – The European Commission today adopted a proposal that will, when implemented, further enhance food safety and better safeguard animal health in the EU.

In particular, the Commission proposal provides the legal framework for the introduction, for the first time and on a voluntary basis, of an electronic identification system (EID) for bovine animals. Bovine EID is already used in several EU Member States on a private basis mainly for farm management purposes. Its implementation on a wider scale will strengthen the current traceability system for bovine animals and food products (e.g. beef) making it faster and more accurate. Finally, it may bring benefits to farmers and other stakeholders as it will reduce the administrative burden through the simplification of the current administrative procedures. Despite its voluntary character, the Commission proposal allows Member States to introduce a mandatory regime at national level.

In addition to EID, the Commission proposal introduces changes in relation to labelling, by repealing the current provisions on voluntary beef labelling. The main objective is to reduce unnecessary administrative burden.

Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, John Dalli, said. "This is a new step forward in the reinforcement of the safety of the food chain in the EU. Indeed, when implemented, this proposal will facilitate the reporting of animal movements to the central data base. This will mean better and faster traceability of infected animals and/or infected food, which will allow us to react rapidly and fend off any future potential risks to the food chain".

Other benefits

Bovine EID will strengthen consumer protection, improve disease prevention and control and crisis management, support the competitiveness of the sector (e.g. by facilitating identification and registration controls or by improving breeding animal and production management systems) and improve trade perspectives. Meat processing establishments and traders of live animals will also benefit through a reduction of labor costs. More

UN warns of possible resurgence of bird flu virus, signs a mutant strain spreading in Asia

ROME — The United Nations warned Monday of a possible resurgence of the deadly bird flu virus, saying wild bird migrations had brought it back to previously virus-free countries and that a mutant strain was spreading in Asia.

A mutant strain of H5N1, which can apparently sidestep defences of existing vaccines, is spreading in China and Vietnam, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement Monday. It urged greater surveillance to ensure that any outbreaks are contained.

Last week, the World Health Organization reported that a 6-year-old Cambodian girl had died Aug. 14 from bird flu, the eighth person to die from H5N1 avian influenza this year in Cambodia.

Vietnam suspended its springtime poultry vaccination this year, FAO said. Most of the northern and central parts of the country where the virus is endemic have been invaded by the new strain.

Elsewhere, FAO says bird migrations over the past two years have brought H5N1 to countries that had been virus-free for several years, including Israel, the Palestinian territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.

“Wild birds may introduce the virus, but people’s actions in poultry production and marketing spread it,” said FAO’s chief veterinary office Juan Lubroth in urging greater preparedness and surveillance.

WHO says globally there have been 331 human deaths from 565 confirmed bird flu cases since 2003 when it was first detected.

The virus was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006, but it remained endemic in six countries: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The number of outbreaks in poultry and wild bird populations shrank from a high of 4000 to 302 in mid-2008, but outbreaks have risen progressively since, with almost 800 cases reported in 2010-2011, FAO said.

“The general departure from the progressive decline in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flare-up of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard,” Lubroth said in a statement. More

CMA urges prescription-only antibiotics for agricultural use

Antibiotics shouldn’t be used in Canada’s agricultural sector except by prescription from veterinarians, the nation’s doctors say.

Arguing that antibiotic misuse in the agricultural sector is rampant, delegates to the Canadian Medical Association’s 144th annual general meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland, adopted a resolution Wednesday urging the implementation of mandatory veterinary prescriptions for all antibiotics used in animals.

The motion was among a raft of sharp rebukes issued by delegates at the gathering. Others include a condemnation of the Conservative government for continuing to block the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in the Rotterdam Convention, as well as a stern warning to the public to find safer ways to use cell phones so as to minimize the potentially harmful effect that radio frequencies may have on the brain.

The motion to press for introduction of mandatory antibiotic prescriptions in agriculture flies in the face of the federal government’s unwillingness to develop a concerted national response to antibiotic misuse in agriculture or to contain antibiotic resistance within medicine. Critics have repeatedly charged that Ottawa’s inaction is deliberate, particularly its failure to establish a Canadian Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance after dissolving a national committee (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-3109) Ottawa has also failed to tighten off-label drug usage on farms (http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.091009. Nor did it act to close a legal loophole allowing massive imports of unapproved drugs for agricultural use (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.090525).

Delegates argued the government’s inertia on the file must end.

"Because agriculture accounts for the highest volume of antibiotic use, the farm environment serves as a reservoir of resistant genes," British Columbia delegate Dr. Bill Mackie told council.

"Low concentrations of antibiotics used in animal feed have been found to induce random mutagenesis," while the dispersal of antibiotics into soil and water have been shown to enhance the risk of breaking natural barriers between bacterial groups via "horizontal transfer of genes" conferring resistance to bacteria that may not have even come in direct contact with the antibiotics, he explained.

This has serious health implications for patients, some of whom are dying as a consequence of resistant infections, particularly as the most common antimicrobials used in agriculture are either identical or related to those administered to humans, Mackie said. 

During the early 1990s, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) was detected among patients in Europe and a search for a community reservoir of that resistance found VRE in meat and manure on farms where the antimicrobials were used as growth promoters, he explained. Humans exposed to livestock that are colonized with the super bug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have also been found to have a 138-fold higher risk of becoming colonized with those bacteria, Mackie said.

Countries such as Denmark that have restricted the use of antimicrobials in agriculture have substantially reduced both antimicrobial consumption and resistance with little economic impact on industry, he argued. Between 1992 and 2008, for example, Danish farmers increased swine production by 47% while halving their use of antibiotics.

Some delegates countered that mandatory prescriptions would indiscriminately raise barriers for Canadian hobby farmers, who are already strictly regulated and make only marginal contributions to the spread of antibiotic resistance, while others questioned whether veterinary prescriptions would be an effective measure of control.

"I believe farming and agricultural processes need to be addressed but I'm not sure this council has a firm knowledge of what those processes are in order to decide on the one and only mechanism by which we have to do that," Alberta delegate Dr. Carolyn Lane explains in an interview. "Veterinarians may just be coerced by their clients to write prescriptions, so I think they and physicians should work together to decide on a way in general that they could address intensive farming practices that have created the need for widespread antibiotic use in agriculture." More

FAO says bird flu reappearing

World-Grain.com, Aug 29, 2011 by World Grain StaffROME, ITALY — The United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) on Aug. 29 urged heightened readiness and surveillance against a possible major resurgence of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly bird flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health.

The H5N1 virus has infected 565 people since it first appeared in 2003, killing 331 of them, according to World Health Organization figures. The latest death occurred earlier this month in Cambodia, which has registered eight cases of human infection this year — all of them fatal.

Since 2003 H5N1 has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry and caused an estimated $20 billion of economic damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006.

However, the virus remained endemic in six nations, although the number of outbreaks in domestic poultry and wild bird populations shrank steadily from an annual peak of 4000 to just 302 in mid 2008. But outbreaks have risen progressively since, with almost 800 cases recorded in 2010-2011.

At the same time, 2008 marked the beginning of renewed geographic expansion of the H5N1 virus both in poultry and wild birds.

The advance appears to be associated with migratory bird movements, according to FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth. He said migrations help the virus travel over long distances, so that H5N1 has in the past 24 months shown up in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years.

"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it," Lubroth said.

Recently affected areas are to be found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.

A further cause for concern, Lubroth said, is the appearance in China and Viet Nam of a variant virus apparently able to sidestep the defenses provided by existing vaccines.

In Vietnam, which suspended its springtime poultry vaccination campaign this year, most of the northern and central parts of the country — where H5N1 is endemic — have been invaded by the new virus strain, known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1.

Vietnam's veterinary services are on high alert and reportedly considering a novel, targeted vaccination campaign this fall. Virus circulation in Viet Nam poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan further afield. Wild bird migration can also spread the virus to other continents.

"The general departure from the progressive decline observed in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flare-up of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard," Lubroth said.

The countries where H5N1 is still firmly entrenched — Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam — are likely to face the biggest problems but no country can consider itself safe, he said.

"Preparedness and surveillance remain essential," Lubroth said. "This is no time for complacency. No one can let their guard down with H5N1."

B.C attempts to keep information on salmon death private

VANCOUVER — B.C. provincial lawyers applied at the Cohen commission last week to keep private a database of its audits of dead fish at salmon farms. 

Environmental groups are fighting the suppression effort at the inquiry, which is examining the collapse of the 2009 Fraser River sockeye.

The environmental groups say the information is important to make public because it will give more insight into what types of diseases are occurring in salmon farms.

The province argues that revealing the audit data would put a chill on disclosures from farms of all types — including chicken and cattle farms — which provide voluntary information on possible disease outbreaks.

“Our concern is if the province is known to give out confidential information, and not try to protect it, then voluntary disclosure could stop occurring. And this is a concern because there have been outbreaks in the province before, (for example), avian influenza,” provincial lawyer Tara Callan told the inquiry.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/attempts+keep+information+dead+farmed+salmon+private/5320397/story.html#ixzz1WR9EIJhY

New funds for bee virus testing

The Ontario Beekeepers Association has received $244,000 in funding for a project aimed in part at improving the bee breeders program in the province.

Les Eccles, lead specialist with the association’s technology transfer program, says the funding comes from the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Council. The total project cost is more than 300,000. The association is providing the balance of the money through an in-kind contribution.

Funding for the project is completed in September 2013. But Eccles says the project will continue beyond that because there are always improvements that can be done in agricultural research.

The project includes virus testing to find resistance to bee viruses. “That’s the new frontier of bee research as far as diseases go,” he explains.

They’ll also be doing research on fertility testing on queen bees to improve their longevity. This part of the project will involve working with the Queen Breeders Association to improve their breeding program in general. “We’ll give them a better guide on what to follow and how to use the information they have better.”
Researchers will produce a manual for breeders as part of the project. More

Sales halted after arsenic found in chicken drug

Sales of two drugs routinely fed to chickens for decades have been suspended in Canada after tests showed the birds contained small amounts of inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen.

Health Canada says there are no immediate risks to public health. But consumer advocates say the findings provide evidence that many of the drugs given to animals could be unsafe and that more action is needed to protect the public – particularly since similar drugs remain on the market.

The drugs, 3-Nitro-20 and Super Nitro-12, also known as roxarsone, and have been added to animal feed for years in order to combat parasites, as well as improve weight gain, feed efficiency and help give meat a pink colour. The drugs are sold by Alpharma Canada, a subsidiary of Pfizer, and Dominion Veterinary Laboratories.

The drugs contain organic arsenic, which is much less toxic than inorganic arsenic. As a result, it was believed animals given the drug would pose no danger to humans.

But mounting evidence in recent years suggests organic arsenic can change into inorganic arsenic, raising fears it could remain in the tissue and cause potential harm to humans. More

Veterinary training expanded; Olds College

Olds College is offering a new Veterinary Technical Assistant program in January to respond to an industry shortage of entrylevel employees.    Enrolment is already underway for the 15-week certificate program, with about one-third of the available spots filled.

Students can get jobs in veterinary clinics, animal shelters, boarding facilities and pet stores once they finish the program.  Those in the veterinary field have indicated that finding the time to train new employees is exceedingly difficult. This program is designed to fill the gap.

Students will learn how to safely handle and restrain animals that are being cared for in a veterinary hospital, animal shelter, boarding or pet facility, with a primary focus on cats and dogs. More

Simulation to test pork producer preparedness

The Ontario Pork Industry Council (OPIC) and Ontario Pork are collaborating on an emergency preparedness project for the swine industry, specifically a foreign animal disease event simulation.
The simulation will be a two-stage event carried out in September involving five or six selected farms. The first stage will be the onset of the disease at one farm and the second stage will be dealing with the spread of the disease to the rest of the selected farms. Selected producers will be notified and they will be acquainted with the newly developed farm planner so that the simulation can test how that works.

Lori Moser, OPIC managing director, said the September dates are not being released. However, part of the simulation will be the use of widespread communication through Ontario Pork so producers and stakeholders will know about the simulation as it progresses. All communications will be identified using the word “simulation” to avoid concern and confusion. More

Vietnam lifts ban on livestock

Vietnam has lifted its eight-year-old ban on Canadian live breeding cattle, sheep and goats, becoming the first Asian country to do so since a 2003 discovery of mad cow disease, Canada's trade and agriculture ministers said on Sunday.

The move, which takes effect immediately, gives Canada a share in a market worth $50 million, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a statement, praising the impact of closer ties with Southeast Asia.

Vietnam reopened to Canadian beef last year.

Nearly all countries that had banned Canadian beef since 2003 have agreed to resume imports. China agreed last year partly to reopen Canadian access, but commercial shipments have not yet restarted.  More

Grocer's animal welfare initiative rolling out to Canadian stores

Consumers concerned about the past life of their meats are about to get clarity from one chain of organic grocery stores.
Whole Foods Market Inc., a U.S.-based retailer that operates the country's largest chain of natural and organic food supermarkets, is extending an innovative animal welfare labelling program to its six Canadian stores this week. Rolled out earlier this year across the United States, the labels on all chicken, beef and pork sold at Whole Foods tell consumers exactly how the animals were reared.  

Motivating the retailer is the fact that food savvy consumers are increasingly interested in on-farm conditions, propelled by closer relationships with farmers established through booming local food movements and the popularity of movies such as Food Inc., a 2008 documentary examination of corporate farming in the United States that garnered mass audiences. More

Minnesota officials confirm case of inhalational anthrax

By Lisa Schnirring 

Aug 9, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – A person hospitalized in Minnesota has contracted inhalational anthrax after traveling in western states, officials from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced today. 

In a release, the MDH said that the agency and its partners at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating the infection, which apparently stemmed from environmental exposure.

The individual is hospitalized in Minnesota after traveling to North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Lab officials in Minnesota confirmed the illness. The MDH did not disclose the patient's name, age, gender, or medical condition, but said he or she is not a Minnesota resident.

Ruth Lynfield, MD, Minnesota state epidemiologist, said evidence suggests the patient was exposed from a natural source. The person had been exposed to soil and animal remains. She added that anthrax disease in hoofed animals occurs annually in certain parts of the country, including the Midwest and West. Animal infections can occur as far south as Texas and as far north as the Canadian border. More

Ranch wants horses returned

Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

A Drumheller-area rancher is demanding the Alberta SPCA return all of his seized animals.

In an application filed with Court of Queen's Bench on Wednesday by Robin Byron Graham on behalf of Graham Ranching Co. Ltd., the ranch is seeking an order by the court that a veterinarian it selects be given immediate access to inspect all of the horses still in SPCA custody.

Graham alleges the 30 horses that have been kept at Brooks Auction Mart since they were seized in April are living in "appalling" conditions and should be returned to the ranch, where there is "more than ample prime pasture land, water and shelter."

He demands the society not sell or otherwise dispose of the seized horses.

The rancher included a report by a veterinarian, Dr. Uli Schmiemann, who said he found the horses in poor to average body condition, with some having rough hair coats and very likely parasite infestations, both external lice and internal worms.

"The housing conditions of these horses are inadequate," wrote Schliemann, a veterinarian the Grahams hired to look at all aspects of the ranch operation. More

Province issues Lyme disease warning

The province is warning Albertans to guard against Lyme disease after five ticks were found this year carrying the Lyme bacteria.

The ticks, which tested positive for Lyme disease bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, were found on four dogs and a cat.

The animals live in the Calgary and Edmonton area.

“Lyme disease can be a serious condition if it’s not detected early and is left untreated,” said Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s chief medical office of health, in a news release.

Prevention is the best defence against the disease, Corriveau noted. Covering up outdoors and using insect repellent help protect agaisnt the infected ticks.

More

Dairy farmer to head AFAC

An organization set up to oversee the care of farm animals within Alberta has appointed a dairy farmer from Rimbey as its new chairman. 

Heini Hehli, who operates a 100-cow dairy herd near the Rimbey Gas Plant, northeast of the town, was elected to replace beef cattle producer Doug Sawyer of Pine Lake. 

Alberta Farm Animal Care, supported by livestock organizations, universities and industry groups, was set up to help promote safe and responsible livestock management and to intervene when problems arise. (Red Deer Advocate, July 18)

Poultry antibiotic pulled in Canada

Pfizer Animal Health's Canadian arm and Winnipeg veterinary drug distributor Dominion Veterinary Laboratories will voluntarily suspend sales of roxarsone, as sold in the products 3-Nitro-20 and Super Nitro-12, effective Aug. 8.

Pfizer's Alpharma subsidiary in the US planned to take much the same action starting early this month in response to a request from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), citing its own study of the drug.

Arsenic content
According to a notice from Health Canada's Veterinary Drugs Directorate, the FDA study had found inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen, at higher levels in the livers of chickens treated with the Nitro drugs, compared with untreated chickens.

Health Canada said it had reviewed the FDA study and agrees with its conclusion that the levels of inorganic arsenic involved were "very low" and posed no immediate health risk to people eating meat from birds treated with the drugs.

Rather, Health Canada said, the suspension of sales is "a precautionary measure to remove any avoidable exposure to very low levels of inorganic arsenic in chickens treated with roxarsone." More

GuZoo allowed to reopen until judicial review of shutdown order

A private Alberta zoo that was ordered to close is operating again.
  
Dave Ealey of Alberta Sustainable Resources says GuZoo near Three Hills reopened Tuesday under strict conditions.
  
Ealey says the operator of GuZoo requested a judicial review and a court has ordered that the shutdown order be stayed, or suspended, until the review is complete.
  
The review will be heard on Sept. 28.
  
The operating conditions include not allowing the public to have contact with exotic animals and other wildlife; special conditions on the care and handling of the animals and right of provincial staff to come in and inspect the zoo at any time.
  
In late May, the Alberta government said it would no longer issue GuZoo a permit because an independent review found deficiencies in all categories of its operations

Drumheller rancher reclaims seized animals for $160,000

A Drumheller-area ranch has secured the $160,000 required by the courts to get back 270 head of cattle and 150 horses seized by the Alberta SPCA for alleged animal cruelty.

On Monday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Terry McMahon approved the conditions presented by lawyer Teddy Nobles, who represents the Graham Ranching Company Ltd., and SPCA lawyer Erin Ippolito.

Initially the cattle must be kept in portions of the land where fences have been repaired -and approved by the SPCA -according to court documents.

If the other fences are approved, the Graham family may also place mares and foals there. Provided that all cattle have been moved to the portions of land where fencing has been approved, the Grahams may place stud horses in the land.
If fencing is not completed and approved by July 14, the SPCA can start the process to sell the animals. More

Stampede isn't alone in improving animal care

Along with the anticipation of daily rodeos and nightly chuckwagon races, the annual countdown to the Calgary Stampede now includes a new tradition: protests about the care and treatment of animals.
That should be no surprise. Animals on farms, captive in zoos, used in performances and even as household pets are now all included in the significant and far-reaching debate about how animals should be used and ought to be treated. In Canada and around the globe, there is a passionate discussion underway about animal welfare and animal rights.

While stories about animal treatment may dominate the headlines, there is an ongoing methodical wave of change driven by commodity groups, corporations and other animal organizations that are responding to shifting public perceptions. At the forefront is a growing concern for the "emotional" wellbeing of the animals, which is increasingly considered to be as important as health or productivity.

In the area of food production, for instance, consumer concerns regarding animal welfare have grown to influence business and public policy. The treatment of egg-laying hens is a perfect example. Consumer groups, municipalities and large institutes have demanded change and now battery cages -small, un-enriched cages -are being phased out. Starting in 2012, they are banned in the European Union, by 2015 in California, and starting in 2018, new buildings in Manitoba will not have battery cages. In Alberta, producers are showing significant interest in enriched cages and other options. Hellman's Mayonnaise has voluntarily phased in cage-free eggs. More

Local Food Plus includes animal welfare

Driving the movement is Lori Stahlbrand, a journalist-turned- food-advocate who has spent the last six years and several million donor dollars animating her dream of creating an alternative food system that stars environmentally- and animal-friendly Canadian farmers.

Ms. Stahlbrand's first building block was creating Local Food Plus, a non-profit that issues its private certification to progressive farmers who conform to the tough set of sustainability and production standards written for the agency by a crack team of agricultural and environmental experts. The agency then helps link certified farmers with local buyers who would not have made the connections alone, providing critical strength to the local and regional supply chain.

"We were losing our ability to feed ourselves," Ms. Stahlbrand said. "What we're trying to do is build a different kind of food system. We've built the flywheel. Now it's starting to turn." More

The Calgary Stampede chuckwagon race will go on

More than a million people are expected to take in this year’s Calgary Stampede, but it’s two guests in particular who will turn heads – William and Kate.

Dubbed the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Stampede will officially kick off Friday with a 4.5-kilometre parade attended by the royal couple. It’s the final day of their Canadian tour, a trip that seems to have been precisely scheduled to deliver them to Calgary for the city’s blockbuster annual event. They leave the country hours afterward.

“I, for one, am thrilled they’re coming during one of Canada’s premiere events,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
The royals will visit at a time of a changing Stampede, albeit one that, in its 99th year, remains controversial. Six horses died in last year’s competitions, renewing criticisms made by animal-rights groups who oppose the event.

In Britain, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are under pressure to boycott the Stampede during their tour – though the itinerary is set. “He [the Prince] really shouldn’t be endorsing this type of animal cruelty,” said Steve Taylor, chief campaigner for Britain’s League Against Cruel Sports, whose supporters are being asked to flood Buckingham Palace with calls and letters this week.

Stampede organizers, however, shrug it all off. They work with the Calgary Humane Society to improve the event and said they have made several changes this year to improve animal welfare. However, one of the most dangerous, and lucrative, events – the chuckwagon race – will go on. More

Rapid research response needed for future pandemic: experts gather to plan

TORONTO - The last flu pandemic has largely faded from the public consciousness, but it's top of mind for more than 100 experts gathered from around the world in Toronto this week.

Their mission: to prepare for the next one.

The get-together was organized by the International Forum for Acute Care Trialists, or InFACT, an international organization of critical care researchers. It brings together scientists, doctors and representatives of government and funding agencies.

The chair of InFACT, Dr. John Marshall of St. Michael's Hospital, describes the invitation-only meeting as an "exciting convergence of groups of people who don't normally spend a lot of time together."

The idea is to do as much as they can in the way of research and readiness between pandemics, he explained. More

BSE-fighting 'biorefinery' gets $10-million assist from climate fund

By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal

It has taken 14 years of research and trials, but an Alberta-developed technology that turns organic waste -including infectious proteins and other micro-organisms -into something safe and reusable took a $10-million step forward Tuesday.

That's the amount of support coming from the provincial Climate Change and Emissions Management Corp. for the $31.8-million project in Lacombe, which aims to cut methane-gas emissions from landfill sites and also produce energy from biogas.

"We still have to complete our financing and permitting, but we are making good progress," said Chris Thrall, president of BioRefinex Canada, the firm that will commercialize the technology.

"We will be taking a significant amount of organic material which we believe can be transformed into better uses. And there are significant sources across Canada and abroad," he said. More

Social media could help detect pandemics

...what if social media could help detect and track global disease outbreaks weeks earlier than traditional surveillance methods, allowing officials to introduce treatment and reduce the spread of a potential pandemic?

A growing segment of the medical community believes that is a realistic possibility and is increasingly looking at ways to harness the power of blogs, news outlets and social-networking websites to detect disease patterns around the world.

Dozens of researchers gathered Monday at a pandemic conference in Toronto to hear about the progress one expert has made toward achieving those goals.

John Brownstein, an epidemiologist who works as a researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston, told researchers instead of relying solely on government-based disease-surveillance systems, they should recognize the power of clues coming from individuals on the ground.

Dr. Brownstein and his colleagues have created HealthMap, an ambitious website and mobile application that constantly trolls the Internet for emerging outbreaks of the flu or a new respiratory illness. More

Korea OKs Canadian beef imports

By Kim Guttormson, Calgary Herald; With Files From Reuters June 28, 2011

 

 

South Korea said Monday it will resume imports of Canadian beef, a move that could be worth more than $30 million a year to cattle producers.

The Canadian and South Korean governments have reached a technical agreement that will see the country import meat from cows under the age of 30 months, although there are still details to be worked out before it's finalized.

"It's just one more step back towards some semblance of normalcy," Kevin Grier, an analyst at the George Morris Centre, said. "What our packers now have is one more potential buyer and that's always good."
But he pointed out that the agreement represents $30 million -by 2015, according to the Canada Beef Export Federation -to a $5-billion industry.

South Korea is the last key Asian market to reopen its borders -closed after Canadian cases of BSE were discovered in 2003 -and lengthy discussions with the country hit a point two years ago where Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization. More

Horses' health to be tracked by microchips

CALGARY — Just a year after six horses died at the Calgary Stampede rodeo, the organization has announced new animal care standards.

Stampede officials say enhanced scrutiny will ensure only the healthiest animals will be used during the event, which runs July 8 to 17.

One measure will see veterinarians implanting a microchip in every horse that is scheduled to compete in the chuckwagon races.

Stampede officials say the chip will allow the horses to be tracked and monitored both during competition and at rest.

Last summer, two horses died of heart attacks, two were destroyed after suffering injuries and another broke its back from bucking too hard.

Another died after experiencing health difficulties 40 minutes after a chuckwagon race. More

GuZoo owner decides to fight

The GuZoo has been closed to visitors while owner Lynn Gustafson looks at yet another strategy that will allow him to either display or sell his animals.

Given a 60-day permit two weeks ago so he could put his decommissioning plan to work, Lynn Gustafson had been preparing to allow a medical inspection of the animals in his care to determine whether they could be moved to other facilities.

Then, he changed his mind.

On Tuesday, Gustafson told The Advocate that he has hired a lawyer to see if he can fight Alberta Agriculture’s insistence that he have a health inspection before any of the animals can leave the farm. He is supposed to meet with the lawyer on Saturday for the first time. More

Dispersal of GuZoo animals halted by province

Ordered to dispose of their animals, operators of beleaguered GuZoo said they were stunned provincial officials halted the transfer of some creatures due to potential disease concerns.

On Thursday, the GuZoo was preparing to send five wolves and three lemurs to new homes — the latter animals to an Ontario zoo — when Alberta Agriculture officials stepped in, insisting its critters be examined for possible diseases, said Bill Gustafson, son of facility owner Lynn Gustafson.

“It’s a disappointment not only for us but to the outfit who were going to take the three lemurs,” he said.
He said GuZoo is willing to have the animals tested “under certain terms,” but added his father was upset by what his family considers the province’s heavy-handed tactics.

“My dad told them ‘there’s no real point in doing this testing if this won’t let me keep my animals,’” said Gustafson. More

US senators unveil bipartisan bill to restrict use of antibiotics in food animals

Four senators - three Democrats and a Republican - have introduced legislation that would restrict the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

The bill is a companion measure to legislation introduced earlier in the House by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). It would ban farmers from using seven classes of antibiotics critical for human health expect to treat sick animals.

The bill comes as the House on Wednesday repealed a provision of the 2012 agriculture spending bill that aimed to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from similarly restricting antibiotic use in livestock and poultry. The amendment, from Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), drew concerns from Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) because of its wide-ranging policy implications. More

Angry cattle farmers threaten class action

CATTLE farmers may take legal action against Meat and Livestock Australia, to claim for damages over the Indonesian export ban.
Lawyers preparing a class action say that the directors of MLA and LiveCorp may have breached their fiduciary duties to their members by not disclosing to their members and levy payers the slaughtering conditions in some Indonesian abattoirs.

Read more:

Australia bans all live cattle exports to Indonesia

The Australian government has suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia until safeguards are adopted to end the brutal slaughter of animals.

The move follows an investigation into Indonesian abattoirs by Australia's ABC broadcaster, which showed graphic footage of animals being mistreated.

It prompted a public outcry and demands for the government to act.

Last week, Canberra suspended exports to abattoirs shown in the programme, but now it has issued a blanket ban. More

Deadly equine herpes virus found in Sask.

The Saskatchewan Agriculture Department says a horse near Moosomin has tested positive for the contagious equine herpes virus. The animal was part of a cutting horse show in Lloydminster on May 14 and 15. The department advises that any horses that were at the event should be isolated for 28 days.

The virus poses no human health risk, but can cause respiratory failure, miscarriages and brain and spinal cord disease in horses. It can be fatal.

The province's chief veterinary officer is advising owners to monitor their animals carefully. More

Farmer fined, gets lifetime ban from owning animals

A Manitoba hog producer will never again be allowed to handle livestock after admitting to the largest animal-cruelty case ever discovered in the province.

Martin Albert Joseph Grenier, 39, pleaded guilty Thursday to more than a dozen charges under the province's Animal Care Act for causing the deaths of more than 1,200 pigs last summer.

Provincial court Judge Kelly Moar returned to court Friday and imposed a near-maximum fine of $60,000. It's more than double the previous highest financial penalty ever dished out in Manitoba, court heard. Moar also issued a lifetime prohibition on having care or control of any animals. More

No 'epidemic' of equine virus despite rising numbers, vet says

Although the number of confirmed equine herpes virus-1 cases in the province has gone up, Alberta's top veterinarian assures that there is no "propagating epidemic."

"We are not seeing a huge number of new cases every day, which is a good thing," said Dr. Gerald Hauer, chief provincial veterinarian with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. "But will there be new cases in the future? It's difficult to predict."

Since May 1, 14 cases of the virus -a mutated, more virulent form of the more common equine herpes virus -have been reported to Hauer's office.

The virus can be passed from horse to horse through nasal secretions or indirectly from people not washing their hands or sharing equipment, but does not pose a threat to people. More

Province shuts down controversial zoo

After 21 years in operation, the doors to controversial animal sanctuary GuZoo will be officially closed after the province denied a permanent permit to the facility Wednesday.

Provincial officials visited the zoo Wednesday to discuss contents of a report from an independent review and granted owner Lynn Gustafson a seven-day temporary permit to make plans to relocate his animals.

"In their wisdom they have just made me aware we are living in Communist Alberta," he said.
"They say I cannot be open to the public anymore, which is kind of a kick in the teeth, I'd say to all people of Alberta.

"It hurts – you spent a lifetime doing something for people and getting gratification myself and to have their rug pulled out from under you it kind of hurts, but I guess that's supposedly progress." More

Equine herpes scuttles High River rodeo

Concerns of a highly infectious strain of horse herpes have forced facility operators in High River to cancel a children’s rodeo.

Officials with the High River Agricultural Society announced the decision to close its doors for 21 days, which affects both the Little Britches Rodeo and the 4H Beef Show and Sale.

The society called the move to cease operations for 21 days “a precautionary measure,” in light of a recent North American outbreak of equine herpes virus, or EHV-1.

“This decision has not been made lightly but with the consultation of all stakeholders, board members, our general manager and veterinarians,” the society said in a statement posted on its website.

“We are looking out for the welfare of everyone concerned.” More

Alberta at forefront of prion studies

Advanced Education and Technology Minister Greg Weadick will be lauding the praises of Alberta and its commitment to prion research today at the PRION 2011 research congress in Montreal.

The discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Alberta in 2003 was devastating for the province's cattle producers.

"When BSE hit we had no prion research happening in Alberta at all," Weadick said in a telephone interview from Montreal.

The province responded on many fronts including making a commitment to prion research. Prions are misfolded proteins that are considered to cause BSE and chronic wasting disease in animals and similar conditions in humans.

The Alberta Prion Research Institute, now part of Alberta Innovates - Bio Solutions, was established and $35 million was committed to study prion disease over seven years. New research infrastructure has been created, including the Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Disease at the University of Alberta. More

Man faces cruelty charges after animals seized at ranch

A Drumheller-area rancher is facing numerous charges following a major investigation into animal cruelty on a sprawling East Coulee property.

John Barry Graham, 54, has been charged under the Criminal Code with causing damage or injury to animals.

He also faces two Animal Protection Act charges of causing animals to be in distress. More

Beef producers keep close eye on TB in Michigan

The Ontario Cattlemen’s Association is monitoring the April discovery of bovine tuberculosis in two beef herds in Michigan.

“At this point we’ve had no calls or concerns but we will be watching it,” says LeaAnne Hodgins, the association’s communications manager.

Lance Males, a New Liskeard veterinarian and president of the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners, says his organization hasn’t received notification from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that Ontario herds are at risk. “They would notify us if there’s a concern,” says Males.

According to the agency’s website, there were no findings of the disease in Canada as of March 31. The last outbreak in Ontario was in a dairy cattle herd in Peterborough County in 2002. More

Mass animal slaughters overused: study

Foot-and-mouth not as infectious as thought

 By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News

A dreaded animal disease that can, and has, brought countries to their knees is not always the microbial villain it is portrayed to be, according to new research.

The foot-and-mouth virus that triggered a national disaster in the United Kingdom in 2001 turns out to be about half as infectious as thought, says a study to be published Friday. More

Cattle futures drop after cruelty video

April 21, 2011

  

U.S. cattle futures slumped Wednesday after an animal-welfare group released a grisly video depicting dairy calves on a Texas ranch being killed with a hammer and pickaxe.

The owner of the E6 Cattle ranch described the incident as a one-time event involving four new employees who had since been fired, and said training and other action had been taken to prevent any recurrence. More

'Mad cow' case may have Saudi link

Canadian health officials have confirmed the country's second-ever case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the rare human form of the so-called "mad cow disease" usually caused by eating infected beef.

The head of the federal agency that monitors the disease says the man, an Ontario resident, is believed to have been infected in Saudi Arabia, and that the chance he was infected by eating Canadian beef is "just about zero." More

Embattled rural zoo granted interim permit by province

Third -party study will assess animal health at GuZoo

 

By Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary Herald April 2, 2011

 

 

The province has given a conditional 60-day permit to a controversial Three Hills zoo under investigation for animal-welfare concerns.
The Alberta SPCA and Fish and Wildlife are again investigating the GuZoo Animal Farm after photos were posted online on the weekend claiming to show animals living in unhealthy conditions.
In the next two months, the province says it plans to bring in an independent third party to assess zoo animal health, and meet with a zoo advisory committee to look into discrepancies between legal enforcement for zoo and non-zoo animals. More

19 new cases of chronic wasting disease found in hunter-killed deer in Alberta

EDMONTON - Nineteen new cases of chronic wasting disease were identified among more than 5,000 hunter-killed deer tested in Alberta since Sept. 1, 2010. The new cases involve 17 mule deer and two-white tailed deer. More

Discovery Channel host dissects BSE-causing prions

By Greg Sawisky

Unlocking the mystery behind BSE and chronic wasting disease could one day lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS an audience at Red Deer College heard Friday. More

Published: April 04, 2011 6:55 AM

 

Mad Cow caused by 'garbage' on the brain: Ingram

By ALEX MCCUAIG, medicinehatnews.com (the entire piece is displayed here because the link to the Medicine Hat News is not working consistently)

The history of prion causing diseases such as mad cow (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE) chronic wasting disease (CWD) and its human counterpart Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (CJD) is varied and poorly understood.

Science journalist Jay Ingram was in Medicine Hat Wednesday to discuss the history and what research is currently out there in connection with these diseases and the agent which causes them.
"There was a human prion disease discovered in Papau-New Guinea in the 50s that was spread by cannibalism," Ingram said during an interview with the News earlier this week.

"It's a fantastic medical detective story but it also has lessons for mad cow diseases as that was triggered by rendering dead animals with the disease and feeding it to others."

Ingram explains the prion spreads disease not like other agents as it's a protein molecule rather than a bacteria or virus. But unlike the millions of prions that are found in mammalian brain tissue, the disease carrying prions are "misfolded."

"If normal prions sitting on your brain cells come into contact with misfolded prions then they get recruited to misfold," he said.

This leads to accumulations of what Ingram termed "garbage" on the brain which it's believed causes diseases such as mad cow.

As for the life cycle for these prions, it depends on the variant, said Ingram.

Scrapie, the variant which affects sheep, and CWD, which infects deer, can exist in soil for at least a decade. He added it's not definitively know how long the BSE triggering prion can remain active.
CWD poses one of the biggest issues in tracking infected animals as it's almost impossible to find which deer have CWD before they are able to spread the prion which has a two or three year incubation period.

"If (the deer) are killed and consumed by a predator, then you will never know they were there but they will have been leaving prions all over the place," said Ingram. Adding that CWD potentially could have an effect on farmed elk and, if the infected deer migrate far enough to the north, see caribou herds put at risk.

While Ingram said research appears to concluded CWD won't transfer between those species, it's far from complete and could potentially put humans who rely on caribou at risk to contracting the disease.

The continued study of prion diseases is important, said Ingram, to unlocking the answers of how other degenerative neurological conditions such as Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's and Alzheimer's are caused.

"Some of the mechanisms in the spread of destruction in those three diseases are similar. They involve little deposits of misfolded proteins.

"It looks like that mechanism can spread to adjacent cells," said Ingram. "There is enough similarities to think the better we understand the prion diseases the more likely it is we might find a crucial connection, a way to interrupt that process, something that would lend itself to the treatment of these other diseases."

Bee gone

In a recent report, the UN's environmental agency warned that the world's bee population is likely to keep declining unless we change the way we manage the planet

Which crops rely most on bee pollination?
ESSENTIAL
* Cantaloupe
* Cocoa
* Pumpkin
* Macadamia
* Watermelon
* Kiwi
More

Report: Agriculture-Associated Diseases: Adapting Agriculture to Improve Human Health

Agriculture is critical for human welfare, providing

food, employment, income, and assets. In the past,

agricultural research and development largely focused

on improving production, productivity, and profitability of

agricultural enterprises. Nutrition and other benefits of

agriculture were not always optimized, while the negative

impacts on health, well-being, and the environment were

often ignored. This was especially problematic for livestock

systems, with especially complex negative and positive

impacts on human health and well-being.

An important negative effect of agricultural intensification

is disease. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is

a notorious example of a disease that was fostered by

intensified agricultural production and spread through

lengthened poultry value chains and the global movement of

people and animals. More 

Letter: Farmers, not elk, being hunted

How would you feel if some people decided to use the media to attack your livelihood and way of life just to further their own agenda? We are appalled at the very personal attacks made recently by the Alberta Fish and Game Association (AFGA) and by a couple of obviously uninformed news writers.

I am a rancher from eastern Alberta. My husband and I have been farming elk for over 16 years. We have worked hard at improving our elk herd, building a business based on these wonderful animals that produce awesome products year after year — products that are sought after for improving the quality of life for people and their pets. More

Letter: Elk meat natural as any other

Your March 16 editorial: Go shoot a steer instead, is way off the mark. The proposed Livestock Diversity Amendment Act is worthy of our support.

We live in an age of obesity and hormonal disruption. You can blame at least part of that on the widespread practice of feeding cattle hormones and antibiotics. And recently a spokesman for the chicken industry admitted that antibiotics are routinely fed to chickens, not necessarily to combat disease, but to prevent it! No wonder we are becoming increasingly susceptible to superbugs. more

Chile lifts BSE-restrictions on US beef

After several years of lobbying, US officials have convinced Chile to lift all remaining BSE-related restrictions on US beef imports.

Updated Chilean guidelines just published by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service remove previous age-based restrictions - opening the door to all US beef and beef by-products with the exception of a few select "ineligible" items. More.