Britain warned Japan about MBM in 1990

[Guest guest]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020227a3.htm

 

Britain warned Japan about MBM in 1990

 

The British government warned Japan's farm ministry in

1990 that meat-and-bone meal, an animal-based feed,

could be the source of mad cow disease, a ministry

report to a study panel revealed Tuesday.

 

The revelation that the Agriculture, Forestry and

Fisheries Ministry was aware of the danger of MBM a

decade ago but took no decisive action to prevent the

spread of mad cow disease is likely to generate even

more criticism of the government's lack of concern for

safety.

 

The warning was contained in a letter sent by

Britain's Bureau of Livestock Industry and dated Feb.

14, 1990. The letter said, " Epidemiological

investigations have concluded that cattle were most

probably exposed to the agent of scrapie via

commercial cattle feedstuffs which contained meat and

bone meal derived from sheep. "

 

The letter, distributed Tuesday to reporters, went on

to say that the British government had banned, since

July 1988, " the use in ruminant feedstuffs of protein

material derived from ruminant animals. "

 

The letter was submitted the same day to a panel

jointly set up by the farm ministry and the Health,

Labor and Welfare Ministry that is studying the

Japanese government's response to mad cow disease,

formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

 

Despite mounting calls by experts in the mid-1990s for

a ban on MBM, the farm ministry instead asked farmers

in April 1996 only to " refrain " from feeding MBM to

cows.

 

Earlier in 1996, the World Health Organization had

called for a total ban on MBM after the European Union

warned in June that mad cow disease could break out in

Japan.

 

The first confirmed case of mad cow disease in Japan

was found Sept. 10 in a Holstein at a farm in Shiroi,

Chiba Prefecture. Since that time, two more infected

cows have been found.

 

BSE is a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in

humans, which has killed more than 100 people in

Europe. It is believed to be caused by eating

BSE-infected meat products.

 

The Japan Times: Feb. 27, 2002

© All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

Greetings - Send FREE e-cards for every occasion!

http://greetings.