New Million Dollar Elba Animal Lab (WTVY-TV 4) If there's an outbreak of bird flu, rabies, or mad cow disease in Alabama, state agriculture officials will be in close contact with medical personnel at the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in Elba. [News Source]

Animal health body maintains safety standards on beef trade (Kyodo via Yahoo! Asia News) _ The World Organization for Animal Health said Friday it has decided to maintain current safety standards on beef trade amid the mad cow disease scare. [News Source]

OIE Certifies Chilean Beef Free From Mad Cow Disease (CattleNetwork.com) SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--The World Animal Health Organization, or OIE, has certified Chile 's beef industry to be free of bovine spongiform encelopathy, according to the Agriculture Ministry. [News Source]

Drought, disease cost farmers in 2005: StatsCan (CTV.ca) Realized net income for Canadian farmers fell in 2005 to its lowest level since 2003, following two years of drought and more than two years of battling trade restrictions because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease. [News Source]

It’s official - the British diet is getting healthier. Consumption of alcohol, white bread and ice cream - down more than 8% - are decreasing. A new report exposes wide variations between different parts of the country and different income groups. [News Source]

Senators press Japan, South Korea to buy U.S. beef. Nearly three dozen U.S. senators from both parties asked Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in a letter released on Thursday to end Tokyo's "prolonged embargo" of U.S. beef before he visits Washington next month. [News Source]

Judge speeds Creekstone’s USDA suit. Arkansas City beef processor Creekstone Farms has won a court ruling that will speed up a hearing date in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture which challenges the USDA's authority to deny the company's request to test all cattle it slaughters for mad cow disease. [News Source]

Japanese rules affect U.S. pork industry. New Japanese food import standards may require more U.S. testing and could force some U.S. pork producers to change what they feed their hogs. [News Source]

Some ranchers shy on first day since mad cow announcement (AG Weekly) TULIA, Texas -- West Texas rancher Kevin Crooks lost about $1 million in the year following the country's first case of mad cow 18 months ago. If he'd had cattle big enough to sell at the Tulia Livestock Auction on Monday, he wouldn't have brought a one. [News Source]