Canada discovers its third mad cow (New Scientist) This is the fourth "mad cow" detected in North America, and raises concerns over whether some regions are looking hard enough for BSE [News Source]

New form of mad cow disease found (New Scientist) It resembles one type of a human prion disease, sporadic CJD, raising the possibility that this is acquired from cattle [News Source]

Mad cow quarantine in Canada extended (New Scientist) Nine herds are now isolated as investigators scramble to find the cause of a case of BSE - and whether any other animals are infected [News Source]

Towards a More Efficient Agricultural Policy… (European Union) Established in 1962 when the founding members of the EU were emerging from more than a decade of food shortages, the Common Agricultural Policy began by subsidizing production of basic farm products in the interests of self-sufficiency and securing enough food. [News Source]

Premise registration continues on plan (Iowa Farmer) Editor’s note: On Nov.. 22, the Bush administration pledged not to make a planned National Animal Identification System mandatory. However, that has not derailed movement toward a voluntary tracking system. [News Source]

Fresh US pressure to ease Japan’s beef import curbs (AFP via Yahoo! News) The United States is putting fresh pressure on Japan to ease curbs on imports of US beef, a half year after Tokyo lifted a total ban. [News Source]

Japan, U.S. to review procedures for beef imports from U.S. in March (Kyodo via Yahoo! Asia News) _ Japan and the United States are expected to reassess Tokyo's import procedures for U.S. beef in March, including the practice of inspecting all boxes of imports over fears of mad cow disease, government officials said Wednesday. [News Source]

Team Finds Crucial Protein Role In Deadly Prion Spread (Science Daily) Brown University biologists have made another major advance toward understanding the deadly work of prions, the culprits behind fatal brain diseases such as mad cow and their human counterparts. In new work published online in PLoS Biology, researchers show that the protein Hsp104 must be present and active for prions to multiply and cause disease. [News Source]

Fresh from a farm (Everett Herald) Area farmers, once worried about their future, find hope in the local food movement. [News Source]

2007 Offers More Challenges for Tyson Foods (The Morning News) Tyson Foods Inc. CEO Dick Bond said the best thing about 2006 is that it's over. [News Source]