AR-News: Japan Still Not Convinced U.S. Beef Is Safe

[jim robertson]

Japan Still Not Convinced U.S. Beef Is Safe

January 19, 2004

By KOMO Staff & News Services


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TOKYO - A Japanese team that returned Monday from a mission to investigate 
the United States' first confirmed case of mad cow disease warned that 
American and Canadian cows were still vulnerable to an outbreak of the 
illness.

Japan, the world's largest customer for U.S. beef, banned imports from the 
United States last month after the mad cow case was discovered. Canadian 
beef was banned seven months earlier when a case of the illness was detected 
there.

Both Washington and Ottawa are pressing Japan to drop the bans, arguing that 
their beef products are safe, but the findings of the 11-day Japanese 
mission to the United States and Canada advised caution.

The cow discovered in Washington state with bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy, or BSE, as the disease is formally known, was imported from 
Canada.

"It cannot be guaranteed that there will not be a recurrence of BSE in the 
United States," the five-member team said in its report.

The report cited the close links between the two North American countries' 
beef industries. The United States imposed restrictions on Canadian cattle 
and beef after the case was discovered there in May.

Mad cow disease is a public health concern because scientists believe humans 
who eat brain or spinal matter from an infected cow can develop variant 
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The incurable disease was blamed for 143 deaths 
in Britain during a mad cow disease outbreak in the 1980s.

That concern prompted several countries to close their borders to American 
beef last month.

Before the ban, Japan bought $1 billion worth of American beef and beef 
products a year - making it the world's top buyer of U.S. beef in terms of 
value, though Mexico was the biggest buyer in volume. Japan also imported 
about $55 million worth of Canadian beef in 2002 before halting trade in 
May.

The sharp drop in beef supplies has sent the price of both domestic and 
imported beef soaring in Japan. The Agriculture Ministry said Monday that 
retail prices reached a record high last week since it began monitoring such 
data in August.

Tokyo has scrambled to make up for the shortfalls, sending delegations to 
try to secure more beef from Australia and New Zealand. Neither country has 
reported a case of mad cow disease.

Japan tests all the 1.3 million cattle it slaughters every year for the 
disease and is pressing beef-exporting nations to adopt similar safeguards.

While acknowledging the safety measures implemented by the United States and 
Canada, the team concluded that the threat of further infections remained, 
Agriculture Ministry representative Shukichi Kugita said.

"U.S. safety measures compared to those of Japan are inadequate," he said, 
citing the continued use of feed containing protein or bone meal.

Mad cow disease is believed to spread by recycling meat and bones from 
infected animals back into cattle feed. U.S. authorities have outlawed 
giving it to cattle but still allow it to be fed to other livestock.

"The threat of cross-contamination remains because such feed can 
inadvertently get mixed up on farms," Kugita said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering tightening restrictions 
on feeding animal protein to other animals. Companies already must test all 
feed shipments bound for the United States.

Since 1997, the United States and Canada have banned animal feeds that 
contain tissues of cattle, goats or sheep to keep out the illness.

The report, which was to be used as a basis for future discussions on the 
issue, said U.S. and Canadian officials plan to provide additional details 
about questions unanswered during the mission. Washington will send a 
negotiating team to Japan later this week.




"In my humble opinion, non-cooperatin with evil is as much a duty as is 
cooperation with good."
"I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species."
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

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