- TOKYO (AP) - A Japanese team
that returned Monday from a mission to investigate the United States' first
confirmed case of mad cow disease warned that American and Canadian cows
were still vulnerable to an outbreak of the illness.
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- Japan, the world's largest customer for U.S. beef, banned
imports from the United States last month after the mad cow case was discovered.
Canadian beef was banned seven months earlier when a case of the illness
was detected there.
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- Both Washington and Ottawa are pressing Japan to drop
the bans, arguing that their beef products are safe, but the findings of
the 11-day Japanese mission to the United States and Canada advised caution.
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- The cow discovered in Washington state with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or BSE (news - web sites), as the disease is formally known,
was imported from Canada.
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- "It cannot be guaranteed that there will not be
a recurrence of BSE in the United States," the five-member team said
in its report.
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- The report cited the close links between the two North
American countries' beef industries. The United States imposed restrictions
on Canadian cattle and beef after the case was discovered there in May.
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- Mad cow disease is a public health concern because scientists
believe humans who eat brain or spinal matter from an infected cow can
develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (news - web sites). The incurable
disease was blamed for 143 deaths in Britain during a mad cow disease outbreak
in the 1980s.
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- That concern prompted several countries to close their
borders to American beef last month.
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- Before the ban, Japan bought $1 billion worth of American
beef and beef products a year ó making it the world's top buyer
of U.S. beef in terms of value, though Mexico was the biggest buyer in
volume. Japan also imported about $55 million worth of Canadian beef in
2002 before halting trade in May.
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- The sharp drop in beef supplies has sent the price of
both domestic and imported beef soaring in Japan. The Agriculture Ministry
said Monday that retail prices reached a record high last week since it
began monitoring such data in August.
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- Tokyo has scrambled to make up for the shortfalls, sending
delegations to try to secure more beef from Australia and New Zealand.
Neither country has reported a case of mad cow disease.
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- Japan tests all the 1.3 million cattle it slaughters
every year for the disease and is pressing beef-exporting nations to adopt
similar safeguards.
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- While acknowledging the safety measures implemented by
the United States and Canada, the team concluded that the threat of further
infections remained, Agriculture Ministry representative Shukichi Kugita
said.
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- "U.S. safety measures compared to those of Japan
are inadequate," he said, citing the continued use of feed containing
protein or bone meal.
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- Mad cow disease is believed to spread by recycling meat
and bones from infected animals back into cattle feed. U.S. authorities
have outlawed giving it to cattle but still allow it to be fed to other
livestock.
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- "The threat of cross-contamination remains because
such feed can inadvertently get mixed up on farms," Kugita said.
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- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites)
is considering tightening restrictions on feeding animal protein to other
animals. Companies already must test all feed shipments bound for the United
States.
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- Since 1997, the United States and Canada have banned
animal feeds that contain tissues of cattle, goats or sheep to keep out
the illness.
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- The report, which was to be used as a basis for future
discussions on the issue, said U.S. and Canadian officials plan to provide
additional details about questions unanswered during the mission. Washington
will send a negotiating team to Japan later this week.
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