DATE=1/8/2001

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AUSTRALIA/MAD COW (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-271123

BYLINE=PHIL MERCER

DATELINE=SYDNEY

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Australia has banned all beef imports from Europe amid growing fears of mad cow disease and is setting up a committee to investigate risks posed to consumers. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

TEXT: Health Minister Michael Wooldridge says the health risk posed to Australians from Mad Cow disease is extremely low, but the government wants to stay a step ahead of the problem.

Canberra banned British beef four years ago after a massive outbreak of Mad Cow disease in the country. Now with cases being reported in a number of other nations, all beef products from Europe are barred. The list includes soups, pate, canned meats, frankfurters and meat--filled pasta.

The move comes as experts express increasing concerns that mad cow disease in cattle - called

bovine spongiform encephalopathy or B-S-E - is responsible for a deadly brain illness in humans called Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. New variant C-J-D has killed dozens of people in Britain. Transmission believed to be caused by ingesting contaminated meat. But scientists says symptoms can take up to 30 years to surface.

A spokesman for the National Health and Medical Research Council says restrictions on European beef will continue until a certification system is in place that allows exporting countries to prove they are B-S-E - free.

The Australian government is also considering extending the ban to cover bovine-derived beauty products and medicines including gelatin-based hand and face creams and collagen preparations.

The blanket beef ban is a further precaution taken by the authorities in Australia against the dreaded disease. Blood donations from people who spent more than six months in Britain between 1980 and 1996 were outlawed about a month ago. (signed)

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