Cattlemen Sue Canada Over BSE

MONTREAL - Jun 18/07 - SNS -- Cattle producers in Quebec have won the right to bring a billion dollar class action suit against the Canadian government over the closure of export markets following the discover of a cow infected with BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in 2003.

In April 2005, class action claims were filed cooperatively by a team of lawyers in the courts of Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta on behalf of all commercial farmers of cattle resident in Canada as of May 20, 2003 (the date at which Canada's International cattle and beef exports were frozen).

The claims allege that negligence on the part of the Federal Government caused the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) crisis in Canada and the corresponding loss of income to Canadian cattle producers.

The class action lawsuits allege that the BSE crisis, the closing of the U.S. and other international borders to Canadian cattle and beef, and the loss of billions of dollars by the Canadian cattle industry were the result of gross incompetence on the part of the Canadian government.

Statistics Canada confirmed in May of this year that Canadian cattle producers have lost more than CDN $9 billion in cash receipts since the BSE crisis began in May of 2003, an amount which has been growing daily.

According to documents filed in Quebec Court, government officials jeopardized the safety of the Canadian food supply in failing to inform the public that they had allowed 80 British cattle that were supposed to be in a 'monitoring program', to enter the human and animal food chain in Canada. These same government officials' own risk analysis indicated that there was a 95% chance that 6 or more of these animals had BSE."