April 27, 2004

Russia To Ban Live Cattle Imports
 

The Russian veterinary service plans to ban imports of live cattle from all countries in which cases of BSE, or mad cow disease, have been registered. This ban starts May 17.

Russia's main veterinary inspector Yevgeny Nepoklonov told Interfax that this decision was made because of the fact that BSE is spreading throughout the world. Russia, as an importer of live cattle, is at risk of having the disease brought into the country.

He said that the situation with BSE in Europe indicates that the disease is still spreading. It is so despite thorough efforts directed at preventing the spreading of the disease from country to country, and the fact that the European Union's veterinary agencies are paying a great deal of attention to the problem. According to Nepoklonov, this shows that importing cattle from countries where BSE has previously been registered, to countries that did not have the problem would be extremely risky.

Nepoklonov said that in 2003, BSE had been registered in the U.S. and Canada, and the overall number of countries at risk of being infected with BSE increased to 24. Out of 15 EU countries, only Sweden managed to avoid any BSE cases on its territory.