DATE=12/04/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=E-U / MAD COW (L UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-270028

BYLINE=DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN

DATELINE=LUXEMBOURG

CONTENT=

/// EDS: THIS REPORT UPDATES CR 2-270000 ///

INTRO: European Union farm ministers have approved sweeping new measures to curb the spread of mad cow disease and restore consumer confidence in beef. V-O-A's Douglas Bakshian reports the meeting in Brussels went late into the night.

TEXT: The ministers approved an E-U wide ban on the use of meat and bone-meal in feed for all livestock . Feed containing animal carcasses is suspected of causing mad cow disease, which is also known as B-S-E. The ban will take effect on January First and initially last for six months.

Diplomatic sources say Finland and Germany voted against the measure and Belgium abstained. Finland has no reported cases of B-S-E, and considers the measures wasteful and costly. Germany reportedly felt the measure did not go far enough.

The ban is expected to cost up to one-billion dollars, but the farm ministers hope it will restore confidence in the European beef industry.

The push for the sweeping new measures follows the discovery of first ever cases of B-S-E in Germany and Spain. In Germany the parliament Friday approved an emergency feed ban.

The latest crisis began in October in France, where it was revealed that potentially contaminated beef had been sold to supermarkets. Cases of mad cow disease have more than tripled in France this year and many E-U nations recently started to block French cattle and beef imports.

Last month, E-U agriculture ministers agreed to conduct tests for the disease in cattle more than 30 months old in a risk category mostly those showing symptoms of neurological disease. Scientists believe the disease does not affect younger animals.

More than 80 people in Britain and two in France have died of the human form of B-S-E. (Signed)

NEB/DB/JWH