-
- The French Government has admitted it is baffled by the
continuing spread of BSE in France.
-
- The number of cases is rising and France's agriculture
minister has suggested there may be a mysterious 'third way' of transmitting
the disease.
-
- Jean Glavany's comments, published in a newspaper last
Saturday, have caused an angry reaction from farmers and consumers who
demanded he clarify his remarks.
-
- "I said things which French scientists have been
saying for several years" Mr Glavany told LCI television afterwards.
-
- "I said that basically the scientists are in a phase
of uncertainty".
-
- He said they had identified the two most probably ways
of passing BSE, but that because cases of the disease were not tapering
off as expected a third method of contamination could not be ruled out.
-
- Another decade
-
- Until recently, French officials were confidently predicting
that BSE would be eradicated by 2001.
-
- Surprisingly however the number of cases in the first
14 weeks of 2000 is higher than expected - 14 compared to a total of 30
for 1999.
-
- No one has been able to explain the trend.
-
- BSE in France
-
- 1990: Ban on carcass animal feed 1996: Tougher culling
and feed measures 1998: 18 cases of BSE 1999: 30 cases of BSE2000: 2000:
14 cases of BSE in 14 weeks 2001: Predicted turning point in spread 2010:
Revised eradication date
-
- Now one of France's senior food safety advisers has predicted
that mad cow disease will continue to be a problem for another decade.
-
- "Every country that has BSE now will still have
it in 2010", Marc Savey, the head of animal health at the French food
safety agency, told the BBC.
-
- Rogue proteins
-
- The two known methods of spreading BSE are contaminated
feed and mother-to-calf infection.
-
- Bruno Oesch, a BSE specialist at the University of Zurich,
told the French news agency AFP that several other theories are being explored.
-
- One is that the rogue proteins which cause the disease,
called prions, do not biodegrade. 'Third way' theoriesPrions remain in
soilPrions attach to insects in hayGround-up animal feed ban abusedSpread
through cattle vaccinations
-
- Like tetanus, they could remain in the soil and infect
grazing animals.
-
- The prions could also attach themselves to tiny insects
such as mites in hay, which are then eaten.
-
- Dominique Dormont, who chairs a French committee on prion
diseases, suggested that the disease could be spread by injections to cattle.
-
- "Two major outbreaks of the disease scrapie in Britain
and Italy occurred as a result of vaccinations using nerve tissue,"
said Mr Dormont.
-
- The most common theory is that France has been lax in
applying the tougher controls on using meat in bone meal in cattle feed,
introduced in 1996.
-
- Meanwhile, in the UK, Conservative agriculture spokesman
Tim Yeo demanded Britain respond vigorously to news of the cases.
-
- Mr Yeo said: "At last the truth about BSE is being
dragged out of a reluctant French government.
-
- "This is not the first, nor will it be the last
report to admit that BSE is much more widespread in France, and in contrast
to Britain, the number of cases are still rising."
-
- Liberal Democrat spokesman Colin Breed called on France
to drop its ban on British beef.
-
- "France cannot continue to ban British beef when
cases are rising in France and falling in Britain."
-
- A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture dismissed
calls for a ban, saying the UK could not "act unilaterally" in
contravention of EU law. _____
-
- Mad Cow Cases Soar In France
-
- http://www.the-sun.co.uk/news/6322980 4-21-00
-
- Cases of mad cow disease are soaring in France - yet
its government still refuses to lift its illegal ban on safe British beef.
-
- There have been 14 cases of BSE in the first 14 weeks
of this year, compared with 18 in the whole of 1998 and 30 throughout 1999.
-
- Arrogant French ministers had boasted the disease would
be eradictated in their country within 18 months.
-
- But now agriculture supremo Jean Glavany has admitted:
-
- "Contrary to forecasts predicting a reduction of
the disease in France, it appears it could be increasing instead."
-
- Amazingly, he added:
-
- "Just because BSE is increasing here, it does not
make British beef any safer."
-
- Tories immediately called on the British Government to
ban imports of French beef.
-
- And they claimed many more infected cattle were going
unrecorded in France.
-
- The Sun exposed the hypocrisy at the heart of the French
ban last October when burning barricades halted British trucks carrying
perfectly healthy beef.
-
- Yesterday shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo said:
-
- "At last the truth about BSE is being dragged out
of a reluctant French government.
-
- "This is not the first, nor will it be the last,
report to admit that BSE is much more widespread in France. And - in contrast
to Britain - the number of cases is still rising.
-
- Britain must now ask the EC to impose a precautionary
ban on the import of French cattle products until their safety can be guaranteed."
-
- Mr Yeo urged Agriculture Secretary Nick Brown to stand
up for our farmers.
-
- He said: "Failure to do so will expose his eagerness
to protect French farmers, while putting British consumers at risk."
-
- Mr Glavany claimed the disease - known to be transmitted
through feed and from cow to calf - was now being passed in a "mysterious
third way".
-
- But BSE expert Professor Bruno Oesch said most cases
were down to French farmers IGNORING animal-feed rules.
-
- France fears new tests on its cattle could prove BSE
is rampant there. Its government is being prosecuted for flouting an EU
order to let in British beef.
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