Summary: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is advising the public of our preliminary concurrence with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designation for Bolivia and the United Kingdom’s zone of Jersey. The OIE recognizes this country and this zone as being of negligible risk for BSE.
If the OIE has classified a region as either BSE negligible risk or BSE controlled risk, APHIS will seek information to support concurrence with the OIE classification. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE’s risk designation for Bolivia and the United Kingdom’s zone of Jersey.
APHIS will consider all comments that we receive on or before Aug. 24, 2021. After reviewing any comments that we receive, we will announce our final determination regarding the BSE classification of Bolivia and the United Kingdom’s zone of Jersey in the Federal Register, along with a discussion of and response to pertinent issues raised by commenters.
BSE, widely referred to as “mad cow disease," is a progressive and fatal neurologic disease of cattle. It is caused by an unconventional transmissible agent, an abnormal prion protein. The prion agent is resistant to enzymatic breakdown and most disinfection treatments. Clinical signs in cattle include behavioral changes, coordination problems, weight loss and decreased milk production.
All countries of the world are considered by APHIS to be in one of three BSE risk categories: negligible risk, controlled risk, or undetermined risk. If APHIS recognizes Bolivia and the United Kingdom’s zone of Jersey as negligible risk for BSE, the Agency will include this country and zone on the list of regions of negligible risk for BSE that is available to the public on the Agency’s website at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-and-animal-product-import-information/animal-health-status-of-regions.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
