The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is investigating if a disease has spread to other cattle in the Cherryville area. Kevin Boon, general manager of the Kamloops based BC Cattleman's Association says one cow from a farm in that area was found with bovine tuberculosis when it was slaughtered. The disease causes a loss of appetite in the animal which also develops a fever and a hacking cough. It can spread to other cattle or to people that come in contact. Boon has heard the the cows at the unnamed farm have been slaughtered as a precaution, and the agency is testing other farms. "Any animals on the home site that might have come in contact with them is being tested, so neighboring farms that might be across the fence where they might have touched noses, they test it to make sure there is no further TB." Boon tells KISS FM, at least five other farms were quarantined, but no other cases have been found so far. He notes the disease is an animal health issue, and not a concern for food safety. "The meat is never jeopardized, so there's no food safety in a slaughtered animal. It's the health issue of an animal passing to another animal." The CFIA is not releasing how many cattle from the herd were eradicated, and so far a spokesperson has not returned a call for comment from KISS FM. Boon says the impacted farmer does receive some compensation for the lost cattle.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Cow TB Case Investigated
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is investigating if a disease has spread to other cattle in the Cherryville area. Kevin Boon, general manager of the Kamloops based BC Cattleman's Association says one cow from a farm in that area was found with bovine tuberculosis when it was slaughtered. The disease causes a loss of appetite in the animal which also develops a fever and a hacking cough. It can spread to other cattle or to people that come in contact. Boon has heard the the cows at the unnamed farm have been slaughtered as a precaution, and the agency is testing other farms. "Any animals on the home site that might have come in contact with them is being tested, so neighboring farms that might be across the fence where they might have touched noses, they test it to make sure there is no further TB." Boon tells KISS FM, at least five other farms were quarantined, but no other cases have been found so far. He notes the disease is an animal health issue, and not a concern for food safety. "The meat is never jeopardized, so there's no food safety in a slaughtered animal. It's the health issue of an animal passing to another animal." The CFIA is not releasing how many cattle from the herd were eradicated, and so far a spokesperson has not returned a call for comment from KISS FM. Boon says the impacted farmer does receive some compensation for the lost cattle.
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This is an excellent example that the CFIA will never be able to assure food safety as long as we have industrial farming.
A small farmer, with a small herd of cattle would immediately have noticed a sick cow - TB affected animals lose appetite, become lethargic and cough. Industrial farmers with feedlots don't notice much if anything.
Bovine TB can be transmitted to humans, through breathing of the bacteria or drinking of unpasturized milk, which is why in the US, farmers who sell raw milk must test their cattle for TB yearly but those who sell pasteurized milk don't have to. This is a sick-making system, designed to cope with sickness instead of producing health.
I believe raw milk is of significant benefit to our health and that it is far better to ensure we have healthy animals that produce healthy milk and meat than to continue on with this unsafe industrial system. I know that the factory dairies that produce industrial milk - even in our own area of BC - are so unhealthy that many of the cattle die regularly despite all the pharmaceuticals they receive. How could it be otherwise? Who could live a healthy life tied indoors 24/7?
So we get milk without TB because everything alive in that food has been killed. Then we take supplements. Who gains? Not us, for more and more people are sick, with cancer now having become a childhood disease.
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