Revisiting the 2003 BSE Crisis: An Analysis of Current BSE Policy in Canada
Date
2015-08
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Abstract
The
Canadian
BSE
crisis
in
2003
had
a
devastating
impact
on
the
country’s
cattle
industry.
The
Canadian
cattle
industry
relies
heavily
on
exports
and
the
loss
of
market
access
caused
significant
financial
losses
for
Canadian
cattle
producers
and
agricultural
businesses.
In
order
to
restore
Canada’s
presence
in
global
cattle
and
beef
markets,
the
government
and
industry
collaborated
to
develop
policy
initiatives
designed
to
eliminate
BSE
from
Canadian
cattle
and
assist
the
producers
who
incurred
financial
losses.
Immediately
after
the
BSE
crisis,
academics
in
agriculture,
economics
and
international
policy
contributed
an
extensive
amount
of
literature
on
the
incident’s
initial
impact,
but
did
not
follow
up
on
its
long-‐term
developments.
After
being
disease
free
from
2012-‐2014,
the
Canadian
Food
Inspection
Agency
confirmed
the
country’s
most
recent
case
of
BSE
this
past
February.
Furthermore,
the
cow
was
born
developed
in
a
cow
born
after
its
Enhanced
Feed
Ban
policy,
which
was
believed
to
be
a
safeguard
against
future
disease
development.
Recognizing
the
need
for
more
current
analysis,
this
paper
examines
how
effective
Canada’s
BSE
policies
have
been
in
terms
of
disease
eradication,
industry
development
and
producer
risk
management.
The
paper
uses
metrics
such
as
BSE
testing
data,
changes
in
market
access
and
government
agriculture
policy
frameworks
to
judge
the
effectiveness
of
Canada’s
BSE
policies.
Although
many
of
Canada’s
BSE
policies
are
only
recently
established,
they
have
generally
performed
well.
Even
though
it
hasn’t
completely
eradicated
BSE,
the
Enhanced
Feed
Ban
is
creating
a
trend
of
lower
disease
prevalence
and
BSE
Surveillance
programs
are
identifying
positive
cases
before
entering
the
food
chain.
Livestock
price
insurance
programs
are
providing
most
producers
with
better
risk
coverage
and
the
cattle
industry
is
able
to
secure
increased
market
access
for
its
product.
Government
and
the
cattle
industry
still
need
to
create
stronger
communication
and
management
strategies
around
BSE.
This
paper
recommends
the
government
to
adopt
a
BSE
Roadmap
policy
and
the
nationalization
of
price
insurance.
Additionally,
the
cattle
industry
should
continue
its
Verified
Beef
Production
initiative
to
enhance
operational
safeguards
and
the
social
license
for
beef.
Overall,
Canada
has
rebounded
strongly
from
the
2003
BSE
crisis
but
must
commit
to
a
long
term
BSE
policy
approach
in
order
to
achieve
sustainability
over
the
disease.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Stadnicki, Brady. (2015). Revisiting the 2003 BSE Crisis: An Analysis of Current BSE Policy in Canada ( Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.