July 19, 2004

Japan Government Panel Split On Revising Beef Testing
 
A Japanese Food Safety Commission panel studying safety issues related to mad cow disease was unable Friday to reach a conclusion on whether Japan should revise its policy of testing all cattle, thus delaying the possibility of lifting the ban on U.S. beef imports, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports in its Saturday morning edition.
 
A draft of the panel's report had stated that the estimated probability of a person in Japan getting sick from eating beef from cattle that is infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is extremely low. It added that the risks of human infection wouldn't rise if young cattle were excluded from testing.
 
However, some at the panel meeting voiced opposition to that statement. The panel agreed to re-examine the details of how the low human infection probability was reached and to discuss the matter at its next meeting.
 
Because of a lack of time, the panel was unable to debate and postponed any conclusion on the focus of discussions: whether the testing of all cattle should be reconsidered, a move that would pave the way for restarting U.S. beef imports.
 
Tokyo banned U.S. beef imports after a case of BSE was discovered there, and demanded that the U.S. also test all cattle. The U.S. rejected this demand, leading to an impasse in talks to resume imports.
 
"There are still many aspects of BSE that are unclear scientifically, so we may not be able to reach a conclusion until autumn," said panel chairman Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, a professor of animal science and veterinary medicine at the University of Tokyo, after the meeting.