DATE=02/13/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

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

NUMBER=2-272527

BYLINE=DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN

DATELINE=LUXEMBOURG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The European Union's top farm official has announced today/Tuesday emergency plans for changes in the E-U's beef market, to deal with the crisis caused by mad cow disease. Douglas Bakshian has the story.

TEXT: Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler unveiled a seven-point emergency package aimed at restoring confidence in Europe's beef market. Speaking through an interpreter, he said drastic measures are required.

/// FISCHLER ACT///

We all know that the beef market is in a deep crisis. Consumption in the European Union has dropped drastically. Here, obviously rash action is the order of the hour.

///END ACT///

The plan includes proposals to limit beef production in the European Union. Mr. Fischler said a rule putting a maximum 90-head limit on animals per farm receiving E-U subsidy payments would be more strictly enforced.

The program also provides incentives for organic production of fodder crops, such as clover, and extends a program in which surplus, older cattle are destroyed and kept off the market. The plan is estimated to cost over 900 million dollars.

Mad cow disease was first detected in Britain in 1986 where thousands of cows were slaughtered. In 1996, British beef was taken off the market in most of Europe after it was revealed that mad cow disease could be transmitted to humans.

The human variety of the disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) has killed more than 80 people in Britain and two in France. (Signed)

NEB/DB/GE/FC