A bipartisan group of four U.S. senators from major cattle-producing states have sent a letter of concern to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns regarding USDA's proposed rule to permit older live Canadian cattle to be imported into the United States.
The senators, including Mike Enzi (R-Wyo), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), wrote that "increasing U.S. imports of Canadian cattle and beef at this time would have a significant negative impact on the economic well-being of American cattle producers and could seriously disrupt our efforts to expand U.S. beef exports overseas …
Furthermore, expanding Canadian cattle imports increases the possibility that a future case of BSE in a Canadian animal may be found in the United States."
Source: John Gregerson on 2/13/2007 for Meatingplace.com