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business & economy

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Central American free trade talks to start again
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Third US mad cow case hasn't prompted the RP reactions that prior ones did
Business & Economy Briefs

No action by new food safety authority on US mad cow case
by Eric Jackson

Might it be argued that this one just fell through the cracks in a bureaucratic shift? Or is it proof of what dissident farmers have suggested, that Panama has surrendered its sovereign right to make decisions about the safety of food sold in Panama to the Americans?

On February 22 the Torrijos administration issued a decree eliminating the old Quarantine Office and replacing it with the Autoridad Panameña de Seguridad de Alimentos --- Panamanian Food Safety Authority, which may or may not use the expected acronym, given that "APSA" is already used by a fuel bunkering company. But although the law was published in the Gaceta Oficial and is thus in effect, the selection of a director for the new authority and other parts of the government reorganization are not yet done.

One part of the law creating the new authority allows the Panamanian government to delegate the certification that food products meet this country's standards to health authorities in other countries. This provision was sharply criticized by a number of Panamanian farm organizations, and by certain nationalistic non-farmers who consider the move an improper cession of Panamanian sovereignty.

Meanwhile, in the second week of March reports began to appear in the United States about a suspected mad cow case on an Alabama farm. After several days of delay, it was confirmed that the animal had been infected with the prions --- living molecules even simpler than viruses --- that cause Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease). The veterinarian who had detected the disease oversaw the cow's burial, first taking lab samples. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a statement that BSE had not been introduced into the human or animal food supply in this case, an analysis that has not so far been challenged by those who would be expected to do so were it faulty, and later certified the farm in question as safe.

However, the origin of the BSE infection has not been identified. The cow had been born in 1996, about a year before the USDA imposed rules designed to stop the spread of mad cow disease through American cattle herds. Moreover, the cow had given birth to two calves, one of which was quarantined for study but the other has proven untraceable by agricultural health authorities. Another problem is that the USDA has not been able to determine the herd into which the infected cow was born.

The problems with tracing the origins of the cow in question and the destination of her offspring has led to some criticism within the US cattle industry about the lack of a good registry system.

Meanwhile, because of this new BSE case Japan has reimposed a total ban on US beef imports and South Korea, which has had such a ban in place and was considering lifting it, has decided to keep it in place pending its receipt of more information from the Americans.

In Panama after each of the first two mad cow cases identified in the United States, total bans were imposed, then later eased. This time, however, there has been no ban, nor even any official acknowledgment of the problem by the Torrijos administration. The ranchers and farmers who had criticized that section of the decree creating the new authority which allows the USDA to certify that beef meets Panamanian standards have also been fairly quiet about this recent development. However, Alexis Soto, the economic aid for the ONAGRO farmers' organization, told The Panama News that the group takes the mad cow situation very seriously and is watching how the Panamanian government deals with it.

It is likely that if US and Panamanian negotiators come up with a free trade agreement in the coming few weeks, farmers will raise agricultural health and food safety concerns as reasons to oppose the deal.

Also in this section:
Central American free trade talks to start again
Electric bills going up
Third US mad cow case hasn't prompted the RP reactions that prior ones did
Business & Economy Briefs