Question Period Note: MAD COW DISEASE (BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY, BSE) WORLD ORGANISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE) SUBMISSION 2020

Why is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency preparing a submission to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to apply for negligible risk status for Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, BSE)?

1. Canada will submit its application for BSE negligible risk status to the OIE in July 2020.

2. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working with federal and provincial governments and industry partners to develop a solid submission that recognizes the strong programs Canada has in place to prevent and control the spread of domestic and foreign animal diseases.

3. Continuing support from provinces and industry is essential to gather information that underpins Canada’s submission.

4. Submission in 2020 will allow Canada to present the most robust data and information to support a comprehensive submission to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

5. In the meantime, Canada continues to be recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as a “controlled BSE-risk" country.

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of cattle that is associated with the presence of an abnormal protein called a prion. In infected cattle, prions concentrate in certain tissues known as specified risk material (SRM).

• Program initiatives, such as removal of SRM from the food and feed supply (the latter known as the feed ban), were put in place to manage risks to human health, animal health, and market access.

• Canada discovered its first domestic case of BSE in 2003.

• The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) evaluates countries and assigns them one of three categories of risk for BSE: negligible, controlled or undetermined. Under the OIE criteria, a country can be categorized as having a “negligible BSE-risk” if it has never had a case of BSE in a domestic animal, or if any infected domestic animals were born more than 11 years ago.

• To apply for a change in BSE-risk status, countries must identify risks and how they address them, and provide approximately 8 years of data supporting their claim that the risk is appropriately mitigated. The OIE accepts complete applications in July, undertakes a meticulous and complex assessment, and provides its decision the following May.

• Canada is eligible to apply as of 2020 and could be granted negligible risk status the subsequent year.

• As part of the OIE application, a country must demonstrate an effective feed ban of SRM from all animal feed (terrestrial and aquatic) and of all of its components, as well as a robust response to cases of BSE. If Canada’s application does not demonstrate adequate oversight and control of SRM and other BSE risks entering or spreading within the country, Canada’s application will not be successful and we will maintain a controlled status.

• Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) is a rare but fatal neurological disease in humans. It has been linked to eating contaminated beef products from animals infected with BSE. While there have been no cases of vCJD linked to eating Canadian beef, many steps have been taken to reduce potential risks.

• In Canada, BSE continues to pose an extremely low risk to human health.

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