Canadian Class Action Lawsuit Over BSE

TORONTO - Apr 11/05 - SNS -- Several Canadian farmers have combined to launch a class action lawsuit against the Canadian government over its handling of livestock imported from the United Kingdom and livestock feed regulations after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks in Europe.

Lawyers representing the farmers argue, "The BSE crisis, the closing of the U.S. border to Canadian cattle and beef, and the loss of billions of dollars by the Canadian cattle industry, was the result of gross incompetence and negligence on the part of the Canadian Government."

The cattle producers, represented by Clint Docken, Q.C. of Calgary, Reynold Robertson of Saskatoon, Gilles Gareau of Montreal and Cameron Pallett of Toronto, claim that Agriculture Canada failed to consider safety issues when compiling a list of permitted animal feed ingredients in 1988-1990 and lost track of 80 cattle that had been imported from the UK and Ireland, allowing them to be ground up into cattle feed.

Lawyers for the class action law suit suggest these two action by the government were root causes of the eventual infection of Canadian cattle with BSE.

"Two years after Great Britain banned the feeding of cattle remains to other cattle in 1988, Agriculture Canada enacted a Regulation specifically allowing it in Canada. Then, in 1990, they banned the importation of cattle from the UK and Ireland, and catalogued the 191 cattle imported since 1982", said Pallett.

"Agriculture Canada then put those cattle into what they called a 'monitoring' program." When Agriculture Canada decided to have a closer look at those cattle in December 1993, after one of them was found to have BSE, Department staff discovered that 80 of them had been ground up and turned into cattle feed that had been sold to Canadian cattle farmers.

"By the government's own admission one or more of those 80 cattle are the most likely source of BSE in Canada," said Pallett. "Where was the monitoring? Where was the government's concern for the health of Canadians? Why did the Government fail so badly in the exercise of its regulatory responsibilities?"

Ridley Corp Also Named in Suit

In addition to the Federal Government, the claim also targets Ridley Corporation Limited, a multinational manufacturer of animal feeds. Ridley apparently stopped using cattle remains in their parent company's cattle feed in Australia in May of 1996, but continued to use cattle remains in their Canadian feed products until the practice was finally banned by the Government of Canada in August 1997.

The claim alleges that the diseased cow that caused the closing of the US border to Canadian cattle and beef, contracted BSE in the spring of 1997 as a result of eating calf starter manufactured by Ridley which contained rendered cattle remains contaminated with the BSE prion.

"Ridley knew the risks they were taking. They voluntarily stopped using cattle remains in their feed products in Australia in May of 1996 after discussions with Australian government representatives concerning the potential disaster that would result if BSE became an issue for the Australian cattle and beef export industry, which is the largest in the world. Ridley figured they could get away with it here" said Pallett, "and hopefully they will be proven wrong".

"Canada has the safest cattle and beef industry in the world," said Pallett. "However, from 1987 to 1996 the Federal government dropped the ball and it has cost Canadian cattle producers billions of dollars so far, with no end in sight. While the extensive safeguards the Federal government has put in place since 1997 now ensure that Canadian cattle and beef are the safest in the world, this cannot excuse the debt owed to our cattle producers for past wrongs. They are entitled to redress and our job is to see that they get it."

"Canadian cattle producers have lost seven billion dollars and counting as a result of the BSE crisis and they deserve to be fully compensated", said Pallett. He and his colleagues urge all Canadian cattle producers to visit the BSE class action website for more information: www.bseclassaction.ca.