DATE=10/25/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=FRANCE / MAD COW (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268439

BYLINE=PAUL MILLER

DATELINE=PARIS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: There are new fears in France that mad cow disease is spreading. This week, three supermarket chains announced that they were recalling beef products that came from a herd where an animal had been infected with the disease. Paul Miller reports from Paris that the government is taking new steps to try to calm the public.

TEXT: French Farm Minister Jean Glavany said France would consider banning meat and bone meal from all animal feed, if that were necessary to protect the public. As a start, the government will extend a ban on the use of animal fat in animal feed.

Mad cow disease, also known as B-S-E or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, apparently began in Britain through the use of tainted sheep carcasses in cattle feed, and spread to France. B-S-E cases have declined in Britain, but they are still rising in France. So far this year, there have been 71 reported cases - last year, there were 30.

Part of the increase is due to stricter testing of any cattle that die with unusual symptoms.

Minister Glavany said France would also begin random checks on cattle at the slaughterhouse to try to prevent contaminated animals from being sold. He said systematic testing was not feasible.

Three supermarket chains said they had unknowingly purchased beef from a herd in which one animal had B-S-E. One chain said it would begin testing all cattle destined for its meat counters.

The French public has been demanding action from the government because eating cattle that has B-S-E can cause a variation of a rare but deadly brain

condition in humans known as Creutzfeld Jakob disease. (SIGNED)

NEB/PM/KL/GE/TDW