A group of Canadian cattle farmers is launching a class action suit over Ottawa's handling of Mad Cow disease, alleging the government was negligent and incompetent in protecting the interests of the cattle industry.

The cattle producers claim that Agriculture Canada failed to consider safety issues when compiling a list of permitted animal feed ingredients in 1988-1990 and lost track of 80 cattle that had been imported from the United Kingdom and Ireland, allowing them to be ground up into cattle feed. As a consequence, BSE infected a number of Canadian cattle, which in turn led to devastating consequences for the Canadian cattle industry.

The suit contends that Agriculture Canada waited two years after Britain banned the feeding of cattle remains to other cattle before banning the import of cattle from the UK and Ireland. One hundred and 91 animals were then catalogued and placed in a "monitoring program." In 1993, after one of them was found to have BSE, department staff discovered that 80 of them had been ground up and turned into cattle feed that was sold to Canadian cattle farmers.

"By the government's own admission one or more of those 80 cattle are the most likely

source of BSE in Canada," says Cameron Pallett of Toronto, one of a group of four lawyers representing the cattle producers.

"Where was the monitoring? Where was the government's concern for the health of Canadians? Why did the Government fail so badly in the exercise of its regulatory responsibilities?"

The suit also targets Australian-based Ridley Corporation, a multinational manufacturer of animal feeds. The suit alleges that Ridley continued to use cattle remains in their Canadian feed products, even after they apparently stopped the practice in Australia.

The claim alleges that the diseased cow that caused the closing of the U.S. border to Canadian cattle and beef, contracted BSE in the spring of 1997 after eating calf starter manufactured by Ridley which contained rendered cattle remains contaminated with the BSE prion.

"(Ridley) voluntarily stopped using cattle remains in their feed products in Australia in May of 1996 after discussions with Australian government representatives concerning the potential disaster that would result if BSE became an issue for the Australian cattle and beef export industry. Ridley figured they could get away with it here" says Mr. Pallett, "and hopefully they will be proven wrong."

"Canadian cattle producers have lost seven billion dollars and counting as a result of the BSE crisis and they deserve to be fully compensated", says Mr. Pallett.