Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), April 13, 2006 – A $600,000 vaccine project being funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) Program will provide Canada’s beef producers with a new drug to help protect their cattle from shipping fever.

“I am pleased to be making this announcement as it demonstrates this government’s ongoing commitment to our cattle industry,” said Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board Chuck Strahl. "Effective immunization against disease will provide beef producers with the support they need to meet the demands of the marketplace, both at home and abroad.”

The innovative project, spearheaded by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at University of Saskatchewan, will test how a stimulant called CpG improves the immune system response of animals to vaccines. The stimulant, already in clinical trials to treat human diseases, is being tested as an additive to cattle vaccines to enhance their protection against bovine respiratory disease, commonly known as shipping fever.

“Vaccination remains the most cost-effective method of reducing animal suffering and death,” said Dr. George Mutwiri of VIDO. “This is becoming even more important as antibiotic disease resistance increases. The economic impact of bovine respiratory disease is immense, and we hope that clinical trials will confirm that this will provide benefits to producers and, ultimately, consumers.”

Funding for the VIDO project is being provided through the collaboration of ten industry councils that manage the ACAAF program in their respective provinces and territories. The co-ordination and leadership for the project is provided by the Saskatchewan ACAAF industry council, the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Saskatchewan (ACAAFS) Committee of the Saskatchewan Council for Community Development (SCCD).

“This project is important to the Canadian cattle industry and it will provide producers, packers and processors with industry-led solutions to respond to current and emerging issues which will assist the industry in becoming more viable,” said Louis Hradecki, ACAAFS Committee Chair. “There is more scrutiny on the cattle industry after the BSE crisis, and the need for innovation is great. It is through collective efforts such as this that Canadian producers and value-added processors will be able to meet the challenges ahead.”

For more information on ACAAF, please visit http://www.agr.gc.ca/acaaf/. To learn more about VIDO, please visit their Web site at: http://www.vido.org. Information on the SCCD is available at: http://www.sccd.sk.ca/acaafs/.

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For more information, please contact:

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(613) 759-7972 or 1-866-345-7972

VIDO, University of Saskatchewan
Dr. George Mutwiri
(306) 966-1511