Fourteen countries are deemed a “negligible risk” for Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow’s disease) in a list released
recently by the OIE, the world animal health organization.
Canada is not on the list.
The 14 are Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
India, South Korea , Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta,
Portugal, Slovakia and Switzerland.
The United States Animal Health and Inspection Service announced
it will honour the OIE standard for trade.
Under the regulations, APHIS may classify a region for BSE
in one of two ways: countries that have not received a risk classification from
the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) can request classification by
APHIS, or APHIS can concur with the classification given to a country by the
OIE.
