Wade Moser has it wrong about Canada's handling of mad cow disease-infected cattle. The executive director of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association reacted with knee-jerk predictability when Canada confirmed a cow from Alberta was infected. Moser said, "... there's still a problem up there." He said if the infected cow had been shipped to the United States, "it would have been a U.S. problem."
But that's the point. It has not become a U.S. problem because Canadians found the animal and solved the problem north of the border.
Moser's job is to represent the interests of North Dakota cattle producers. He knows that keeping older Canadian cattle out of the U.S. market is a factor in higher prices for his ranchers. It is no surprise he wants Canada to remain the bad guy in the mad cow saga for as long as possible.
But Canadian safeguards worked in the most recent case. Tests confirmed a single 6-year-old animal was infected. It did not enter the market or food chain. Surely Moser and the cattlemen can give Canadians some credit.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper's Editorial Board.
