The most important point made for sellers of cattle was that if they make a statement “This cow does not have Johne’s disease”, then they are legally liable if the cow does actually turn out to have JD, a strongly possible occurrence due to the inaccuracy of current testing methods for JD. The only statement they can make is that “This cow has tested negative for Johne’s disease, by methods X, Y, and Z”.

It is possible that this principle might be extended to “Mycobacterium paratuberculosis does not cause Crohn’s disease”, which is the current position of the dairy and beef industries around the world. If/when proof that paratuberculosis causes Crohn’s is revealed, then they might be liable, since evidence is becoming much stronger that live Mycobacterium paratuberculosis are present in cattle derived foods.

With 1.5 million people with clinical Crohn’s disease around the world, and at least 400,000 people with clinical Crohn’s disease in the USA, it could result in a class-action lawsuit on a Big Tobacco Scale.

If I were in the cattle industry, I would be moving to eradicate Johne’s disease from herds of food animals now. Instead, the US Animal Health Association advocates a “Voluntary Certification” program, whereby volunteer farmers test their herd for Johne’s disease, and there is no obligation if they test positive. Such animals currently go into the food chain to make hamburgers.

More info on the USAHA meeting available from

http://www.crohns.org/media/index.htm

Info on the finding of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in British retail milk available from

http://www.crohns.org/governments/uk.htm