![]() ![]() Mortality, morbidity, and psychosocial impacts resulting from other major events such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus (WNV), and the U.S.-Iraq war made the theoretical risks of BSE and vCJD a lower priority, reducing its concern as a risk issue. The attenuated reaction in Canada toward mad cow disease and increased human health risks from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) was due to the social context at the time when BSE was discovered domestically. Using the social amplification of risk framework, we show that, while other countries displayed social amplification of risk, Canada experienced a social attenuation of risk. The Canadian public showed a markedly different reaction to the news of domestic BSE than the furious and panicked responses observed in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Consumers actually increased their consumption of beef slightly after the news of an increased risk from mad cow disease, which has been interpreted as public support for beef farmers and confidence in government regulators. Recent revisions to the OIE BSE risk classification attempt to improve the application of standards by categorising countries into two main risk groups – either controlled or negligible risk, based on surveillance of high risk animals and implementation of appropriate BSE control policies.įollowing the detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, and subsequently in the United States, confidence in the safety of beef products remained high. Three examples of trade disruption from BSE are reviewed to reveal how countries either misapplied or ignored standards that classified BSE risk levels, resulting in primary, secondary and regional trade disruption impacts. However, the existence of the OIE standards did not prevent major trade disruptions from occurring. The OIE designed recommendations for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to facilitate trade among countries with similar risk profiles. The OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code contains standards and recommendations to prevent import of infectious pathogens during trade of animal products. ![]() The World Organisation for Animal Health (formerly the Office of International Epizootics, or OIE) provides inter-governmental guidance on animal health issues. ![]()
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