01/14/05 New Canadian b.s.e. case and its meaning

Now that Canada has yet announced another case of b.s.e. in one of that nation's cows, the focus on a U.S. Senate Ag Committee hearing February Third has been magnified even more. The hearing studies whether U.S.D.A. should move forward towards its March 7th date to reopen the U.S. to Canadian live cattle and beef products banned due to previous Mad Cow disease cases in our neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, U.S.D.A. which had staunchly supported the resumption of beef trade with Canada despite the recent cases, may be gradually changing their tune. The agency now says it will wait from a report from a technical team dispatched to get a first hand assessment of the situation in Canada before deciding on implementing the rule, even though in past statements U.S.D.A. officials had called the rule final. That change in opinion on the U.S.D.A.'s part may come as the latest Canadian b.s.e. case involved an animal born several months after Canada implemented it's ruminant to ruminant feed ban. The Gregoire Administration is slowly but surely being assembled as Washington State's new Governor was sworn into office Wednesday. In the meantime, today's previously scheduled hearing in Chelan County on candidate Dino Rossi's challenge of the election and his call for a statewide revote, will not take place today. The judge presiding in the case, John Bridges, allowed motions for both the Democratic and Libertarian parties to intervene. That has moved the hearing date to January 20th. Outgoing U.S.D.A. Secretary Ann Veneman says she is studying numerous job options after she departs her current position. But one job possibility being reported is one that Veneman is calling premature. Bloomberg news, citing anonymous U.S. and United Nations sources, claim Veneman is set to take over as the next director of the United Nations' Children's Fund&U.N.I.C.E.F. on May First when current chief Carol Bellamy steps down. So what do the new dietary guidelines look like? U.S.D.A. and the Department of Health and Human Services gave a sneak peak of what those new guidelines might look like, in the latest step in a process that has been so far two years in the making. The most significant emphasis of the guidelines is on individual responsibility on diet and exercise choices to prevent becoming overweight, even obese. That means intake of fewer calories and recommended daily exercise periods between thirty to ninety minutes. The next step in the dietary guideline process, expected to be announced in the next couple of months, is the first update in the nation's food pyramid since it was created twelve years ago.