CONTACT:        Tanya Augustson           (202) 347-0228               taugustson@beef.org
Joe Schuele                  (303)850-3360                jschuele@beef.org

Safety of Beef on Trial:

U.S. Cattle Producers Ensure Science has its Day in Court

Mike John, Missouri Cattle Producer and
President-Elect, National Cattlemen's Beef Association

April 20, 2005

“When U.S. District Court Judge Richard Cebull concluded the Final Rule called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Minimal Risk Regions and Importation of Commodities ‘presents a genuine risk of death for U.S. consumers,’ his opinion was a far cry from sound science. 

“We can only assume one of two things happened at the District Court hearing:  Either the plaintiff, R-CALF, provided the court with flawed information, or the defendant, the Department of Justice on behalf of USDA, inadequately defended the science.

“Either way, U.S. cattle producers will not let R-CALF or USDA be the only voices representing the science that supports beef is safe from BSE.

“Today we are sending a “friend of the court” brief to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of U.S. cattle producers and members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), 29 state cattle organizations, 18 state farm bureaus, the National Pork Producers Council as well as individual independent cattlemen. Collectively, the states represented by the co-signers of this amicus brief represent more than 85 percent of the nation’s cattle farms and ranches and 75 percent of the nation’s cattle, and the AFBF represents 5.6 million farm families.

“As leaders in the cattle industry, the goal of the co-signers is to ensure the science is well-represented in the 9^th Circuit Court.  BSE experts from the World Organization for Animal Health agree that BSE is not a public health or herd health risk when key firewalls are in place to protect consumers and cattle, even when a case of BSE is found.  The United States has these firewalls in place, as does Canada.

“Additionally, NCBA did not want the only industry voice in the 9^th Circuit Court to be that of an activist minority group with an isolationist agenda.  R-CALF’s legal actions, public statements and paid consumer advertising have consistently strayed from the science and questioned the safety of U.S. beef in order to prevent science-based beef trade. 

“On behalf of its cattle producer members, NCBA has been working since the beginning of February, to resolve 11 issues before resuming trade with Canada. 

“I am proud to report that we have accomplished 10 of the 11 items on this cattlemen-created directive.  The final point is re-establishing beef and beef byproduct trade with Japan, South Korea and Mexico.  While Mexico has stated they will only accept from us the same product we accept from Canada, movement in Asia has been slow despite pressure from all levels of government and industry.  Japanese officials have reportedly said that R-CALF’s injunction is stalling progress on opening this key market.

“NCBA’s priority is to dedicate its full resources to re-opening the Asian market.  Just last week, more than 300 cattle producers converged on Washington, D.C., and delivered this message to members of the Congress and the Administration as part of NCBA’s Spring Conference. 

“NCBA’s members continue to believe a positive future for cattlemen depends upon: 1) maintaining consumer confidence in our product, and 2) increasing market opportunities for producers.

“We file this amicus brief today to ensure the first, and we continue to call for normalization of trade based on science to ensure the latter.”