FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 2, 2014
CONTACT:
Laramie Adams
Cell: 512-922-7328

Fort Worth, Texas – Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Pete Bonds today made the following statement after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a rule proposal in the federal register on Friday that would allow the importation of fresh or frozen beef from Northern Argentina.  

“The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association strongly opposes the APHIS rule proposal that would allow the importation of fresh or frozen beef from Northern Argentina,” said Bonds. “If this rule is implemented, it could have devastating effects on the United States’ cattle herd through the possible introduction of Foot-and-Mouth disease. While we support open trade markets, we must make certain these critical decisions are based on science based standards and do not jeopardize the health and safety of the nation’s cattle herd. TSCRA urges cattle producers to submit comments in opposition to this rule.”

Instructions for filing comments are available at www.regulations.gov by typing into the search screen, APHIS-2014-0032-0001. Comments are due by October 28, 2014. 

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TSCRA is a 137-year-old trade association and is the largest and oldest livestock organization based in Texas. TSCRA has more than 16,000 beef cattle operations, ranching families and businesses as members. These members represent approximately 50,000 individuals directly involved in ranching and beef production who manage 4 million head of cattle on 76 million acres of range and pasture land primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, but throughout the Southwest.