Canada tests cows for madness

Canada has exceeded its target for &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/97/385/11636_MadCow.html ' target=_blank>mad cow testing this year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.

All tests have come back negative for the brain-wasting disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the agency says.

As of Oct. 27, more than 8,600 animals had been tested for mad cow, 600 more than was needed for this year, reports CBC Calgary.

The scientists are pooling their expertise and about $41 million (US$33.5 million) in current research funding to form the University of Alberta Center for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, believed to be the first of its kind in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/fun/2001/09/19/15630.html ' target=_blank>Canada.

The program was approved by university administrators this week.

"We'll have engineers talking to biological scientists talking to biochemists and cell biologists and agricultural researchers and people in genetics," said Andy Greenshaw, the school's associate vice president for research. "All these people are pooling their resources to ask questions and try to find answers to the problems that we face", wrote Seattle Post.