Transitional Funding For Fallen Stock
UK - Transitional funding will be made available to farmers for a year to help meet the costs of collection and disposal of cattle requiring BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) testing.

Defra Announces Changes to TSEs Testing
UK - The number of cases of BSE and scrapie, included in a family of brain diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), in Great Britain has continued to fall.

More to Prion Protein than Mad Cow Disease?
UK - Prion protein, a form of protein that triggers BSE, is associated with other brain diseases in cattle, raising the possibility of a significant increase in the range of prion disease.

Proposal to Raise BSE Testing Age Welcomed
UK - The EU Commission decision to raise the BSE testing age for all cattle to 48 months from the current 30 months, has been welcomed by the Ulster Farmers’ Union.

Update on the EU BSE Situation in 2007
EU - BSE cases in cattle in most EU Member States (MS) almost halved again in 2007 and no new cases were registered in 14 of the 27 MS. Hence, the EC updated its work program for the TSE Roadmap in November of 2007.

Genetic Mutation at Root of Mad Cow Disease
MANHATTAN, US - New findings about the causes of mad cow disease show that sometimes it may be genetic.

Court Rules on Use of BSE Test Kit
US - The USDA and Creekstone Farms Premium Beef of Arkansas City, Kansas, have been engaged in ongoing litigation regarding Creekstone's desire to test its own cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Mad-cow Class Action Gets Judge's Clearance
US - A $10-billion class action lawsuit targeting the federal government for economic losses caused by a devastating outbreak of mad-cow disease in 2003 has been given a green light to proceed.

Discovery Holds Promise of Live BSE Tests
CANADA - Scientists at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) have made a discovery that could lead to the ability to perform accurate diagnostic tests on live animals for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) as...

Economic Impact of BSE Responses and Regulations
US - A new report has been released which examines the economic impacts of feed-related regulatory responses to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

A Sane Ruling on Mad Cow Testing
US - A Court of Appeals ruling that bars a Kansas meatpacker from testing all its animals for mad cow disease - an expensive step major meatpackers resist - sounds like yet another industry victory that sacrifices the public interest to private interests....

Brazil's Cross-Border Plan to Eradicate Foot-and-mouth
BRAZIL - Despite being locked out of 56 per cent of the world’s beef importing counties because of foot-and-mouth disease – including the lucrative markets of South Korea and Japan – Brazil still accounts for 32 per cent of the world’s beef export. ...

Spain Probes Possible Fourth Human Case of Mad Cow Disease
MADRID - Spanish health authorities said Wednesday they were looking into the possibility that a woman who died last week at a hospital in Leon suffered from the human variant of mad cow disease.

NFSCo Prepared to Take on BSE-testing
UK - The National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) has told Defra it is willing to take over the job of collecting fallen cattle for BSE testing – but only if the Department contributes towards the cost.

BSE in Alberta
ALBERTA, CANADA - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a six-year-old beef cow from Alberta. No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

New BSE Test Could Help Allay Meat Safety Fears
UK - A test to instantly detect beef that has been contaminated with tissue from a cow's brain or spinal cord during slaughter could improve control of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the food supply chain, claims a US study.

A Simple Test to Detect Nervous Tissue in Beef
US - To protect people against the human variant of mad cow disease, health experts say, it is crucial to keep central nervous system tissue of beef cattle out of the food supply. And that means controls and testing at slaughterhouses, where there is...

EFSA Publishes Opinions on BSE Tests
EU - The Biological Hazards Panel (BIOHAZ) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published two opinions on the monitoring of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle in the first 15 countries to join the European Union.

Raising BSE Age Limit a Step Closer
EU - EU scientists have acknowledged that raising the age limit on cattle for BSE testing would have a negligible effect on public health, opening the door for a change in legislation.

$7 Billion Mad Cow Scare Suit Against Canada
CANADA - A $7 billion lawsuit by cattle farmers against the Canadian government and a cattle feed firm for allegedly causing a mad cow disease infection has gotten the Supreme Court's go-signal to proceed.