DATE=12/05/00

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=YEARENDER: EUROPE / MAD COW

NUMBER=5-47480

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=LONDON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Europe has been gripped by a food scare stemming from the spread of the so-called mad cow disease, or B-S-E, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. The alarm was sounded a few months after Britain released a two-year study into the cause and effect of its own B-S-E crisis, which has claimed 81 lives. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman in London reviews how Europe is handling the food scare.

TEXT: Beef sales have been slashed across the European Union as more markets close their doors to European meat products. The B-S-E scare now has spread beyond British borders, where it erupted 15 years ago.

Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in Britain in 1986. A special two-year study released in October criticized British officials for misleading the public about the hazards of eating infected beef. The report acknowledged the officials did so out of the belief the health risks were remote.

But, the officials were wrong. More than 80 Britons have died so far from the brain wasting human variant of B-S-E after eating tainted beef products.

Nicholas Philips who supervised the British study said the findings show that animal-based feed was a probable cause of mad cow disease.

/// PHILIPS ACT ///

Nobody knows why the first cow or cows got B-S-E. But we believe from this single source, infection spread widely in the British herd before anyone realized that a new disease had come into existence. This happened because of a long-standing practice of making cattle feed out of bits of the cow that are not fed to humans. Offal from the cow with B-S-E probably infected the feed of many. And offal from those cattle infected the feed of many more. And, in this way, B-S-E spread rather like a chain letter and thousands of cows had been infected before the first cows were diagnosed with the disease.

/// END ACT ///

/// OPT /// Britain lost millions of dollars in trade after the European Union and other markets banned British beef products. /// END OPT ///

Now Britain's E-U neighbors are feeling the pinch too after mad cow disease was detected in several European herds. German, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch meat products now are shunned by markets from Latvia to Brazil. Ireland dispatched a special delegation to try to persuade Egypt to end its ban of Irish beef.

E-U Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne recognized the extent of the dilemma as national producers traced the market route of potentially infected meat products.

/// BYRNE ACT ///

B-S-E does not know any borders. It is not a disease in cattle that is owned by or prevalent in exclusively any particular member states.

/// END ACT ///

E-U farm officials believe the export of tainted British meat and bone meal to the European Union and other markets in the 1980's also could have contributed to the spread of B-S-E.

So, E-U farm ministers agreed to an emergency six-month ban of animal-based feed for all farm animals to try to curb mad cow disease. The ministers also agreed to remove cattle over the age of 30 months from the food chain unless they are tested and proved free of B-S-E. That could mean the slaughter of two-million head of cattle. The European Union will have to pay out several billion dollars to implement the tough restrictions.

British Farm Minister Nick Brown told reporters in Brussels the costly measures aim to restore consumer confidence.

/// BROWN ACT ///

We're trying to not only extinguish B-S-E but also to prevent a reoccurrence. And that means the precautionary measures have to be put in place across the European Union now.

/// END ACT ///

Most E-U governments have allocated emergency funds to compensate their farmers as frightened consumers shun beef products. (Signed)

NEB/LMK/GE/JWH