Instead, the government has said it plans to test just 8,000 animals this year for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), increasing to 30,000 annually over the next five years.

"I was absolutely amazed when I read the paper this morning," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada. "It's quite frightening. We feel it's grossly negligent of the government not to have followed its own advice, especially in light of the billions of dollars that have been lost by the industry and concern expressed by consumers."

Internal Canadian Food Inspection Agency documents obtained by The Sun under the Access to Information Act show that experts with the agency argued as early as last summer that the best course of action to determine the size of the BSE problem in Canada was a blitz of testing of 65,000 cattle over 12 months.

In a briefing note to CFIA president Dick Fadden -- titled Enhanced BSE Surveillance : Why does Canada need to test 65,000 cattle? -- Dr. Noel Murray, a senior CFIA veterinarian, argued that "65,000 animals will need to be tested in order to fulfil the objectives of a statistically based, scientifically sound surveillance program and provide an appropriate assurance that the prevalence of BSE in Canada is very low."

But in January, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Bob Speller announced the five-year testing plan, starting with just 8,000 animals in 2004.

CFIA said Wednesday the government decided a more moderate increase in testing over a longer period of time would be more effective than a blitz.

"In the final analysis, it was felt we would get a more accurate picture of what the disease incidence was if we maintained a higher level of surveillance for a longer period of time rather than a short-term blitz," said CFIA veterinarian Dr. Gary Little.

Speller was unavailable to comment Thursday.

The decision to ramp up testing was sparked by the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in northern Alberta in May 2003 and of an Alberta-born cow with BSE in Washington State in December.

Since the first case of BSE was found, dozens of countries have imposed bans on the importation of Canadian cattle, costing the beef industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dick Proctor, the federal NDP's agriculture critic, said Thursday the best way to encourage countries to reopen their markets to Canadian beef is to increase testing for BSE.

"We should be testing more animals," said Proctor. "If we did that, we could say with some conviction to the Japanese and other countries that are concerned, that our meat is safe."

The documents obtained by The Sun also show that, in a presentation to deputy ministers in October, CFIA staff warned the government that any increase in testing for BSE raised the risk of turning up another infected animal.

"Enhancing the BSE surveillance program means increasing the possibility of finding another case of BSE in Canada," it stated.

The agency argued, therefore, that an "integral part" of any plan to increase testing should also involve a communications strategy to deal with the possible discovery of another infected animal.

The CFIA said Wednesday that fears of finding another infected animal played no role in the government's decision to test fewer cattle.

But Michael McBane, national coordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition, a watchdog group, said he doesn't buy that.

"Their policy is: You don't test, you don't find," McBane said. "Every other country that increased the testing regime found significantly more [infected] cows. They keep saying it's an isolated case. How would we know? We're not testing enough to find out."

The Japanese test all cattle slaughtered in their country and Europeans test all animals over the age of 30 months -- about 25 per cent of all cattle slaughtered.

McBane said his group would like to see Canada test every single animal heading for the food chain.

But at the very least, he said, the government should have gone with the far smaller 65,000 target of its own experts.

"Their own experts gave them a very modest number to test," McBane said. "They've ignored their own experts."

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

(Picture courtesy of Free Stock Photos)