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1 1 (December 19, 2006)

handle is hein.crs/crsajdd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22345 Updated December 19, 2006 BSE (Mad Cow Disease): A Brief Overview Geoffrey S. Becker Specialist in Agricultural Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division Summary The appearance of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease) in North America in 2003 raised meat safety concerns and disrupted trade for cattle and beef producers. A major issue for Congress has been how to rebuild foreign markets for U.S. beef. Other issues include whether additional measures are needed to further protect the public and cattle herd, and concerns over the relative costs and benefits of such measures for consumers, taxpayers and industry. This report will not be updated. What Is BSE? BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease) is a fatal neurological disease of cattle, believed to be transmitted mainly by feeding infected cattle parts back to cattle. More than 187,000 cases have been reported worldwide, 183,000 of them in the United Kingdom (UK) where BSE was first identified in 1986. The annual number of new cases has declined steeply since 1992. Humans who eat contaminated beef are believed susceptible to a rare but fatal brain wasting disease, variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease (vCJD). About 160 people have been diagnosed with vCJD since 1986, most in the UK and none linked to any Canadian or U.S. meat consumption. BSE in North America BSE has been reported in 11 North American-bom cattle. (A 12th case was a U.K. import into Canada.) The first native case was an Alberta, Canada, beef cow reported in May 2003. Seven more cases have been found on Canadian soil, five of them in 2006, most recently in August 2006. The first U.S. case was in a Canadian-born dairy cow found in Washington state in December 2003. The other two U.S. cases were a 12-year- old Texas-bom and -raised beef cow, found in November 2004 but not confirmed until June 2005, and a 10-year-old Alabama beef cow found in late February 2006. 1 This report summarizes and updates information in other CRS reports, listed on page 6. Sources for facts and citation to reports and studies can be found in these CRS reports.

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