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Cuba opens border to Canadian
cattle
CBC
News, Canada,
March 31, 2005.
HAVANA - Cuba will start importing live
cattle from Canada again.
Federal Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell
announced that the almost two-year ban is
being lifted while at a news conference
Thursday in Havana.
Cuba had already reopened its border to
a wide range of beef and beef products in
December, as well as pet food that doesn't
contain ruminant meat or bone meal.
The Caribbean nation was one of 34 countries
that blocked Canadian imports after the
first Canadian-born animal with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy was confirmed in May 2003.
Canada's beef industry has subsequently
lost more than $7 billion.
The United States was set to open its border
to Canadian cattle under the age of 30 months
earlier this month, but a Montana court
granted an injunction to a U.S. ranchers'
group, keeping the border closed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is appealing
the injunction.
Mitchell said Tunisia and Lebanon had also
recently lifted their bans on Canadian beef
imports.
Copyright © CBC 2005
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