Why Litigation Against USDA is Necessary - R-Calf Cattle Update
 
 
 
March 1, 2005
 
(No author given at originating website)
 
 
Billings, Montana – "Tomorrow, on March 2, 2005, the R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund) will go before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, presiding over the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, to seek a preliminary injunction to block the reopening of the Canadian border to imports of Canadian beef and cattle.
 
"I am disappointed that cattle farmers and ranchers have to resort to legal action in order to protect their industry from the inappropriate and premature actions of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), but these are the circumstances our industry faces, and here are the reasons we are taking this extraordinary action: 
 
American consumers are entitled to the safest food products possible.  The U.S. cattle industry provides the safest and most wholesome beef in the world.  Canada now has a BSE problem, documented by four confirmed cases of BSE in its native cattle herd.  USDA now has a responsibility to protect the U.S. food supply and the U.S. cattle industry from the BSE risk presented by Canada.  USDA is not fulfilling this responsibility. The agency is not following the more stringent safeguards recommended by international science, nor is USDA following the more stringent safeguards practiced by every other country in the world affected by BSE.  USDA’s actions are placing the U.S. cattle industry at risk from a loss of consumer confidence in the U.S. beef supply.  "We have called on USDA to meet with us to find solutions to the BSE problem in Canada. We have called for a solution that ensures the U.S. does not adopt BSE standards lower than international standards and lower than the rest of the world, as this would make the U.S. a dumping ground for products other countries won't accept. 
 
"USDA responded on December 29, 2004, by issuing its Final Rule, a rule that fails to address the legitimate concerns posed by R-CALF USA.
 
"We hope the Court, like U.S. cattle producers, will recognize that USDA’s actions present an unnecessary and avoidable risk to the United States."
 
Copyright 2005, CattleNetwork.com.
 
 
More information:
 
r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com or 406-252-2516