January 8, 2004

 

 

US Beef Imports Still Banned in Many Countries

 

Despite DNA tests proving the US mad cow originated from Canada, many countries are still not prepared to resume imports of American beef.

 

The DNA link announced by U.S. and Canadian officials on Tuesday could allow the United States to still claim to be free of the brain-wasting BSE ailment, linked to the deadly human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).

 

The U.S. Agriculture Department has sought to reassure dozens of trading partners that U.S. meat is safe and they should lift bans on U.S. beef exports.

 

The OIE world animal health body said on Wednesday the United States had strengthened its case in negotiating its BSE status but other factors had to be taken into account.

 

"The origin (of the cow) is just one factor. In this case you would have to look at how large the cross-border trade is with Canada and what the U.S. import policy is," David Wilson, head of the OIE's International Trade Department, told Reuters.

 

The OIE (Office International des Epizooties) has set up detailed standards on countries' bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) status, but does not categorise them itself. Wilson said it was up to countries themselves, using the standards, to negotiate bilaterally with their trading partners.

 

The single U.S. case led to more than two dozen nations, led by Japan, banning U.S. beef exports, which total about $3.2 billion a year and account for about 10 percent of U.S. beef production.

 

The following is a list of reactions by U.S. trading partners as of 1330 GMT on Wednesday:

 

JAPAN - Ban still in place. Senior Japanese officials on Tuesday were sharply critical of U.S. efforts to guard against the disease. "The U.S. safeguards are not up to the level of those (in Japan)," Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei told a news conference in Tokyo after a cabinet meeting.

 

TAIWAN - Taiwan will keep the ban on imports of U.S. beef and goat products in place until it is comprehensively proven that there are no traces of BSE in their exports, a Taiwan government official said on Wednesday.

 

"The ban will not be lifted until testing by the U.S. that conforms to international standards shows that there is no risk of infection from U.S. beef and goat products," said a senior animal quarantine official who declined to be identified.

 

The official said news that the infected Holstein cow was imported from Canada had not affected the ban.

 

Taiwan will only consider lifting the ban if it receives an application to do so from the United States, which must be backed up by the results of thorough testing, said the official.

 

The Taiwan government has not yet received any request from the United States to do so, said the official.

 

"The government will evaluate whether to lift the ban -- which could in principle be held in place for up to seven years -- based on its evaluation of the risks," said the official.

 

INDONESIA - The import ban remains in place, Agriculture Ministry official Bachtiar Moerad said on Wednesday.

 

EUROPEAN UNION - Officials of the executive Commission said on Wednesday they were continuing to watch the situation in Canada and the United States closely but had no plans for any tightening of tough import rules.

 

"For us, there's no change in policy," said one.

 

The EU imposed several measures in October 1999 to restrict imports of bovine material deemed to be at risk of carrying BSE.

 

After a scientific risk assessment, also carried out on a number of major beef exporters, EU authorities identified the United States and Canada as countries at risk of BSE outbreak.

 

But in any case, the bloc has long banned imports of most U.S. and Canadian beef due to its concerns over cattle treated with growth hormones.

 

However, it does allow a limited amount of imports -- an annual quota of 10,000 tonnes of prime Hilton beef from the U.S.

 

"They don't even fill it (quota)...and the rest doesn't come in because of hormones," the official said.