Canada has found what may be a second case of mad cow disease, officials said a day after the US said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.
The border was closed 19 months ago when a cow in northern Alberta tested positive for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The US Department of Agriculture said Wednesday the border could be opened in March.
PHOTO: AP
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday released few details on the new suspect case, except to identify it as a 10-year-old dairy cow.
The preliminary testing results were completed on Wednesday, said the agency, adding that the testing was conducted after the cow was identified as a "downer" -- unable to walk.
The finding is not definitive, but the CFIA says multiple screening tests have yielded positive results.
No part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems, the agency said.
Samples are being analyzed at the Canadian Science Center for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba and confirmation is expected in three to five days.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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