by SUSAN MANN
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is planning to remove and euthanize 41 apparently healthy sheep, including 20 pregnant ewes, from Shropshire sheep breeder Montana Jones’ Hastings-area farm Monday.
Jones has asked supporters to wear black and be at the farm, called Wholearth Farmstudio, at 8 a.m. Monday to show disapproval for the CFIA’s actions and the “draconian legislation enabling them to slaughter 41 apparently healthy sheep,” it says in a press release from the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a registered, independent, non-partisan charity that defends Canadians’ constitutional freedoms through education, communication and litigation.
Supporters have been advised that hindering or obstructing CFIA officials could cost them up to $250,000 in fines and two years in jail. Jones has also been told if she defies the destruction order she could face the same fine and jail time, the release says.
The sheep euthanasia is being done as part of the federal government’s $4.5 million scrapie eradication program. Scrapie affects sheep productivity and longevity but is not transmissible to humans.
In an email, CFIA spokesperson Lisa Gauthier says “in this particular case the animals will be euthanized by a CFIA veterinarian offsite.”
Gauthier says the Canadian government is committed to protecting animal health and “takes the management of scrapie in sheep and goats seriously.”
The CFIA recognizes the difficulty “this process has caused the producer and continues to work directly with her to maintain a co-operative relationship. This process will be carried out as humanely as possible,” Gauthier says.
When told of CFIA’s comments about carrying out the process humanely and maintaining a cooperative relationship, Jones says that’s not true.
Karen Selick, foundation litigation director and Jones’ lawyer, says by email the CFIA has changed its position three times on where it’s planning to kill the sheep. As late as March 27 the CFIA instructed Jones to dig a large grave because they would be killing the sheep on the farm. As the grave was being dug on March 30, the CFIA emailed and said they’d slaughter them off the farm.
Jones says agency officials have told her they want to truck the sheep to a dead stock and pet food facility outside of Ottawa, a four-hour drive away.
“I spent 12 years with them and out of respect for the sheep I don’t want them stressed,” she explains, noting she wants them buried on her farm and officials had agreed to that. “They’re pregnant.”
All of the condemned animals were tested by the CFIA in live biopsies and were found to be negative for scrapie. None of the animals has shown any clinical symptoms of the disease in the 12 years Jones has been raising sheep, the press release says.
Selick says the CFIA has told them the live biopsy tests are only 85 per cent accurate. The CFIA says the only way to know for sure if there is scrapie among the 41 sheep is to kill them and examine their brains.
But Selick says a scholarly article she sent to CFIA officials on a similar disease that occurs in wild deer, called chronic wasting disease, points out that just relying on brain testing could result in 10 to 15 per cent of the cases being missed because the disease is spread throughout the body and is not in the brain.
A single sheep, with tattoo number WHE 24S, born on Jones’ farm and sold to an Alberta farm in 2007 was discovered to have scrapie about three years later. “But scientists cannot accurately determine when or where it acquired the infection,” the foundation’s press release says.
CFIA veterinarians say symptoms of scrapie normally appear within two to five years, the foundation’s press release says. They have condemned the 41 sheep even though none of them had contact with WHE 24S for almost five years and 37 of them weren’t even born until after WHE 24S had left the farm.
Jones’ farm has been under quarantine since January 2009, which has caused her great financial hardship. “I should be on welfare but I won’ t apply for it,” she says. The CFIA’s order to euthanize the sheep off the farm will cost her an additional couple of thousand dollars for trucking, disposal, and for the dead stock facility.
Her Wholearth flock of rare Shropshire sheep is made up of genetics dating back to breeding stock imported from the United Kingdom in the late 1800s.
The condemned sheep are from an endangered breed and some are due to have lambs soon. Killing the ewes would reduce the number of Shropshire ewes in Canada to 107.
CFIA officials have rejected several alternative risk control measures Jones has offered and ignored nearly 3,000 Canadians who petitioned them to stop.
Jones has asked to be allowed to retain a portion of each slaughtered sheep’s obex so she can have them independently tested. CFIA has told her she can’t have them.
Jones and Selick have documented numerous errors by CFIA officials and are concerned the agency’s results could be inaccurate. BF
Comments
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) is representing Montana Jones on a pro bono legal basis. I encourage those attending the rally and others who care about this issue to make a charitable donation to the CCF to help us pay for the work we do. Tax Receipts issued for donations received. Donate online at www.theCCF.ca/donate
1: J Infect Dis 1980 Aug;142(2):205-8
Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to nonhuman primates.
Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.
Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months, respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.
snip...
The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
PMID: 6997404
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&lis...
12/10/76
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTE ON SCRAPIE
Office Note CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR PETER WILDY
snip...
A The Present Position with respect to Scrapie A] The Problem Scrapie is a natural disease of sheep and goats. It is a slow and inexorably progressive degenerative disorder of the nervous system and it ia fatal. It is enzootic in the United Kingdom but not in all countries. The field problem has been reviewed by a MAFF working group (ARC 35/77). It is difficult to assess the incidence in Britain for a variety of reasons but the disease causes serious financial loss; it is estimated that it cost Swaledale breeders alone $l.7 M during the five years 1971-1975. A further inestimable loss arises from the closure of certain export markets, in particular those of the United States, to British sheep. It is clear that scrapie in sheep is important commercially and for that reason alone effective measures to control it should be devised as quickly as possible. Recently the question has again been brought up as to whether scrapie is transmissible to man. This has followed reports that the disease has been transmitted to primates.
One particularly lurid speculation (Gajdusek 1977) conjectures that the agents of scrapie, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and transmissible encephalopathy of mink are varieties of a single "virus". The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that it could "no longer justify or permit scrapie-blood line and scrapie-exposed sheep and goats to be processed for human or animal food at slaughter or rendering plants" (ARC 84/77)" The problem is emphasised by the finding that some strains of scrapie produce lesions identical to the once which characterise the human dementias" Whether true or not. the hypothesis that these agents might be transmissible to man raises two considerations. First, the safety of laboratory personnel requires prompt attention. Second, action such as the "scorched meat" policy of USDA makes the solution of the acrapie problem urgent if the sheep industry is not to suffer grievously.
snip...
76/10.12/4.6
http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223125/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb...
Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.
Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).
Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC. Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0
Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)
C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia, tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L. Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v236/n5341/abs/236073a0.html
Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.
Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).
Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC. Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0
Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)
C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia, tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L. Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v236/n5341/abs/236073a0.html
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
IN CONFIDENCE
SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION TO CHIMPANZEES
IN CONFIDENCE
http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-confidence-scrapie-transmissi...
why do we not want to do TSE transmission studies on chimpanzees $
snip...
5. A positive result from a chimpanzee challenged severly would likely create alarm in some circles even if the result could not be interpreted for man. I have a view that all these agents could be transmitted provided a large enough dose by appropriate routes was given and the animals kept long enough. Until the mechanisms of the species barrier are more clearly understood it might be best to retain that hypothesis.
snip...
R. BRADLEY
http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102222950/http://www.bseinq...
see full text and much more on Nor-98 atypical scrapie, which is spreading in Canada and the USA, where in fact, in the USA, Nor-98 atypical scrapie has spread rapidly from coast to coast ;
Thursday, March 29, 2012
atypical Nor-98 Scrapie has spread from coast to coast in the USA 2012
NIAA Annual Conference April 11-14, 2011San Antonio, Texas
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2012/03/atypical-nor-98-scrapie-has-spread-fr...
kind regards,
terry
>>> your right as landowner
you have no rights as a land owner when it comes to the USDA or CFIA et al.
your right as a landowner is one thing, your right to expose others is another.
bbbut, take the case way back of the mad sheep of mad river valley. they made a movie about it. in short, long ago, the owners of the sheep that were imported into the USA from Belgium. the owners went through all legal procedures to bring these sheep into the country legally, and the USDA approved all the paper work. at the same time, atypical TSE had been detected in the EU and Belgium, but the USDA approved the sheep anyway, to great expense of the owners. then politics caught up, after the fact, after the sheep had been on that farm for some time. the USDA then determined that the sheep were a risk factor to North America, and then declared an extraordinary declaration of a foreign animal disease in the USA, claiming the sheep had some form of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. at the time of this, i had become aware of the owners of the farm, via a CJD listserve their attorney's had gotten on (long story there). later, i was asked to proof read the transcript of the movie by the producers. what happened, the USDA came in and confiscated those sheep in a military style attack on the farm, claiming again that those sheep were in fact infected with a foreign animal disease, an atypical scrapie. but that was a lie. they then confiscated all these animals, and then slaughtered them. 10 friggen years later, after i tirelessly filed FOIA, after FOIA, after FOIA request, and after them telling me they were never going to tell me. i wrote a few congressman, and one day i get a watered down report, that kinda said that none, NOT NARY A ONE, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO, of those sheep ever had any kind of TSE, foreign or home grown. bottom line, the USDA screwed up, let those sheep into the USA, when they should have known better, and the sheep owner and family had to finally pay the ultimate price, and watch there sheep slautered for nothing, their farm ransacked. but it was all about future trade, because the USDA et al could not be seen as letting those sheep in and possibly letting a foreign atypical TSE into the USA. this was just before the USDA, and the OIE changed science, and made it legal to trade TSE globally and legally, by doing away with the BSE GBR risk assessments where Canada, the USA, and Mexico was BSE GBR III. and that was not good for trade. they then basically changed goal lines in the middle of the football game, by then coming up with the BSE MRR policy i.e. minimal risk region, where it was then o.k. to have mad cow disease and do trade at the same time. hope i have not lost you yet, because i have not even gotten to item 2 yet. anyway, you can read all about the mad sheep of mad river valley here ;
6. WHAT happened to the test results and MOUSE BIO-ASSAYS of those
> imported sheep from Belgium that were confiscated and slaughtered from the
> Faillace's, what sort of TSE did these animals have ? Imported
> Belgium/Netherlands Sheep Test Results Background Factsheet Veterinary
> Services April 2002 APHIS ...snip...
>
> 7. WHY is it that the Farm of the Mad Sheep of Mad River Valley were
> quarantined for 5 years, but none of these farms from Texas and Alabama
> with Atypical TSE in the Bovine, they have not been quarantined for 5
> years, why not, with the real risk of BSE to sheep, whom is to say this
> was not BSE ? (see later results via FOIA below...TSS)...snip
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
To: Garfield.O.Daley@aphis.usda.gov
CC: phyllis.Fong@usda.gov; bse-L@aegee.org;
Re: FOIA APPEAL 07-566 DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2007/11/declaration-of-ex...
EXACTLY WHAT are these people capable of doing ???
JUST HOW FAR will they go ???
Mad Sheep The True Story Behind the USDA‚ War on a Family Farm Linda Faillace
The page-turning account of a government cover-up, corporate greed, and a courageous family‚ fight to save their farm.
http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/mad_sheep/
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060903/NEWS/60...
Saturday, February 27, 2010
FINAL REPORT OF THE TESTING OF THE BELGIAN (VERMONT) SHEEP February 27, 2010
IN SHORT ;
August 15, 2000
OIG case # NY-3399-56 REDACTED, VT
''Enclosed is OIG's notification that they have scheduled an investigation of the following individual. REDACTED is alleged to have provided possibly inaccurate test results involving diseased sheep. However, because the results were determined to be inconclusive, no actual violation was actually committed.''
snip...
PLEASE SEE FULL TEXT HERE ;
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-report-of-t...
http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/
> >> Imported
> >> Belgium/Netherlands
> >> Sheep Test Results
> >> Background
> >> Factsheet
> >> Veterinary Services April 2002
> >> APHIS
> >
> >
> >
> > snip...
> >
> >> Additional tests will be conducted to determine
> >> exactly what TSE the animals haveBSE or scrapie.
> >> These tests involve the use of bioassays that consist
> >> of injecting mice with tissue from the infected animals
> >> and waiting for them to develop disease. This testing
> >> may take at least 2 to 3 years to complete.
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_ahvtsheeptr.pdf
>
>
> >
> > DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E.
> > (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES
> >
> >
>
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&...
>
>
>
> >
> >
> > DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E
> > (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [2]
> >
> >
>
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&...
>
>
>
> >
> >
> > or if those old urls dont work, go here;
> >
> > DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E
> > (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES
> > - Terry S.
> > Singeltary Sr. 7/20/00 (0)
> >
>
> > [Federal Register: July 20, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 140)] [Notices]
> > [Page 45018] >From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
> > [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20jy00-32]
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
> >
> > Office of the Secretary
> >
> > [Docket No. 00-072-1]
> >
> > Declaration of Extraordinary Emergency Because of an Atypical
> > Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (Prion Disease) of Foreign
Origin
> >
> > A transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) (prion disease) of
> > foreign origin has been detected in the United States. It is different
> > from TSE's previously diagnosed in the United States. The TSE was
> > detected in the progeny of imported sheep. The imported sheep and
> > their progeny are under quarantine in Vermont. Transmissible
> > spongiform encephalopathies are degenerative fatal diseases that can
> > affect livestock. TSE's are caused by similar, as yet uncharacterized,
> > agents that usually produce spongiform changes in the brain.
> > Post-mortem analysis has indicated positive results for an atypical
> > TSE of foreign origin in four sheep in Vermont. Because of the
> > potentially serious consequences of allowing the disease to spread to
> > other livestock in the United States, it is necessary to seize and
> > dispose of those flocks of sheep in Vermont that are affected with or
> > exposed to the disease, and their germ plasm. The existence of the
> > atypical TSE of foreign origin represents a threat to U.S. livestock.
> > It constitutes a real danger to the national economy and a potential
> > serious burden on interstate and foreign commerce. The Department has
> > reviewed the measures being taken by Vermont to quarantine and
> > regulate the flocks in question and has consulted with appropriate
> > officials in the State of Vermont. Based on such review and
> > consultation, the Department has determined that Vermont does not have
> > the funds to compensate flock owners for the seizure and disposal of
> > flocks affected with or exposed to the disease, and their germ plasm.
> > Without such funds, it will be unlikely to achieve expeditious
> > disposal of the flocks and germ plasm. Therefore, the Department has
> > determined that an extraordinary emergency exists because of the
> > existence of the atypical TSE in Vermont. This declaration of
> > extraordinary emergency authorizes the Secretary to seize, quarantine,
> > and dispose of, in such manner as he deems necessary, any animals that
> > he finds are affected with or exposed to the disease in question, and
> > their germ plasm, and otherwise to carry out the provisions and
> > purposes of the Act of July 2, 1962 (21 U.S.C. 134-134h). The State of
> > Vermont has been informed of these facts.
> >
> > Dated: This declaration of extraordinary emergency shall become
> > effective July 14, 2000. Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture. [FR
> > Doc. 00-18367 Filed 7-19-00; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
> >
> >
>
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&...
kind regards,
terry
The name of your magazine would lead me to believe that 'Better Farming' would contain news stories that are worthy of being published to Canadians. This story is a waste of breath, and is disappointing to see that it has garnered so much attention. Scrapies is a serious disease that yes, we need to know more about, but it needs to be controlled. The fact that the Shropshire breed is endangered has nothing to bear with this story. It likely is not common in Canada because it is an unpractical breed. If the CFIA, with support of veterinarian science deems a flock needs to be rendered, then render the damn flock.
Adam Shea
Just wondering......if these sheep are as rare and as valuable as Montana claims, then why hasn't she bothered to register any lambs from her flock for the past FIVE years - well before the CFIA quarantine? Go to the CLRC website and search for Whole Earth under the Shropshire/Sheep tabs. http://www.clrc.ca/cgi-bin/member.cgi?_association=30&_id=5278182 nothing has been registered in the Whole Earth name for the year letters T, U, W, X and Y
What about the other farmer who ended up with the infected sheep? Why are there no articles talking to the other side and investigating? This is disgusting one sided pseudo journalism.
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