FILES-CANADA-MAD-COW-ALBERTA

(FILES): This 21 May 2003 file photo shows Alberta cattle feeding on a ranch outside Calgary, Canada. The first cow in the United States to be found carrying the mad cow disease originally came from a farm in Canada, the US Department of Agriculture said 06 January 2003. "We now have DNA evidence that allows us to verify with a high degree of certainty that the BSE positive cow found in the state of Washington originated from a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada," said the department's chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven. Washington state is on the Canadian border. The US authorities made the case public 23 December 2003 and all of its major foreign markets have since banned imports of US beef. Canada reported its first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in May last year, causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage to the country's beef industry. AFP PHOTO/David BUSTON/FILES (Photo by Dave BUSTON / AFP) (Photo by DAVE BUSTON/AFP via Getty Images)