Canada’s third mad-cow case won’t stop cross-border trade

WASHINGTON – Canadian officials have found a third animal infected with mad cow disease – an almost 7-year-old beef cow with no known connection to the other infected cattle.

The cow was born after Canada banned the use of cattle feed that includes animal parts in order to try to keep the potentially deadly infection from spreading. Officials of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said use of contaminated feed in violation of the ban was the “most likely source of infection.”

It was the second discovery of an infected cow in Canada in two weeks, and both came just after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a controversial plan to reopen the border to imports of live Canadian cattle. The U.S. halted trade in live cattle from Canada after the first infected animal was discovered there in 2003.

Despite the two new cases, the USDA said it will go ahead with resuming cross-border trade.

Mad cow disease is a rare but always fatal disease that can be transmitted to humans who eat an infected piece of meat. In addition to the three infected cows in Canada, another infected animal born in Canada was found in 2003 on a farm in Washington state.