The cost of bird flu hysteria. Renownned bird flu expert Robert Webster said there were ''about even odds at this time for the virus to learn how to transmit human to human," and ''society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die." [News Source]

A primer for pandemics. “Bird flu” has already shown that it can jump from fowl to humans, and now even to cats, which indicates that it might be the next global killer. [News Source]

Bill on animal disease records being discussed. A bill to keep animal disease records secret in Tennessee has been delayed while sponsors are negotiating with open-government activists. [News Source]

Japan says Canadian meat packer loses approval. Canada has withdrawn approval for one of nine meat packers it had said could export beef to Japan after Tokyo found discrepancies in the procedure, Japanese government officials said on Friday. [News Source]

Horse owner cries foul over registry. Eventually, the government ID program could require that each horse, cow, steer, bull, pig, sheep, goat, turkey, chicken and other domestic and exotic livestock be individually registered and tagged with a radio frequency identifier that could be used to track the animal's movements. [News Source]

Farm bill debate to cover livestock tracking. The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee says Congress will take up the issue of a livestock identification system during consideration of the 2007 farm bill. The move could potentially delay the program for tracking disease outbreaks. [News Source]

Infected Alabama cow is exhumed. After exhuming the Alabama cow with mad cow disease, the government has concluded it was at least 10 years old and could have been infected before steps were taken to safeguard cattle feed. [News Source]

S. Korea may limit U.S. beef imports. South Korea said Friday that the resumption of limited imports of American beef may be delayed until May following the latest case of mad cow disease in the United States. [News Source]

BSE confirmed in cow raised for food in Japan. Japanese officials have confirmed the country's first case of mad cow disease in cattle specifically raised to provide meat. [News Source]

Archaic tracking system limits mad-cow investigation. Agriculture officials are working to track down herdmates of the Alabama cow that is the nation's third case of mad-cow disease. [News Source]