January 8, 2004

Mad Cow Outbreak In Australia Impossible

The Australian government said that the chances of mad cow disease appearing in the country are virtually zero. This is because Australian cattle are fed on grass and grain and the import of sheep was banned more than 50 years ago.

Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said Australia was scrapie-free and had banned the import of sheep and goats from all countries except New Zealand in 1952. The import of meat and bone meal from all countries except New Zealand was outlawed in 1966.

"The prospect of the disease developing in Australia is exceptionally remote - we would say non-existent. We have a high degree of confidence in our BSE freedom," Truss told reporters.

In 1996 Australia also banned feeding ruminant-derived meat and bone meal to ruminants, which now extends to animal protein. But a spokesman for Truss said only a small percentage of cattle would have been fed meat and bone meal prior to the ban.

BSE, a brain wasting illness, can pass to people who eat infected beef products, causing a related condition called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or vCJD. There is no cure and it is always fatal.

It has killed 137 people - most in Britain, six in France and one each in Italy, Ireland, Canada and the United States.

Australia tests about 500 cows annually for BSE to comply with the World Animal Health Organisation's requirements.