010160 UN Urges World Action to Fight Mad Cow

Rome - The United Nations world food body urged countries outside the European Union to act to reduce and prevent risks of mad cow disease, already present in Western Europe.

“Countries around the world should be concerned about 'mad cow disease' and should take action to reduce and prevent risks,” the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said.

“Countries outside the EU should adopt appropriate measures to protect their herds and to ensure the safety of meat and meat products,” it added.

So far Switzerland is the only nation outside the 15-nation bloc to report a native case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, FAO officials said. A number of EU states have had cases.

Many scientists believe humans may contract an equivalent form of the brain- wasting disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), through eating infected beef. More than 80 people in Britain and three in France have so far died of vCJD.

FAO experts encouraged states that had big dairy industries and imported large quantities of meat-and-bone meal (MBM) from countries hit by BSE to consider banning the use of MBM in cattle feed.

Precautionary Approach

FAO advised countries to take precautions at once.

“As an immediate measure, countries which have imported animals and MBM from BSE-infected trading partners should consider a precautionary ban on the feeding of MBM to ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) or, to reduce the risk of infection even further, to all animals,” the statement said.

The EU has banned the use of MBM in animal feed for six months until June 30. Many scientists believe the use of MBM in cattle feed spreads BSE.

The Middle East, Eastern Europe, North Africa and India have the highest risk among countries outside Western Europe of harbouring mad cow disease, the FAO experts said.

All countries which have imported cattle or MBM from Western Europe, especially Britain, during and since the 1980s, can be considered at risk from the disease, they added.

The FAO experts also encouraged countries to consider testing older cattle for BSE and banning the use of Specified Risk Materials (SRMs), such as cattle'e eyes, spinal cords and brain tissue, if they identified risks from the disease.

The FAO statement said attention should be paid to slaughtering procedures and to the processing and use of offal and by-product parts.

“FAO, together with the World Health Organisation (WHO)...will hold an expert consultation in the near future to draw up advice for countries, particularly developing countries, to protect their people from vCJD, their livestock from BSE, and their industries from trade restrictions,” the statement said.

A panel of international experts on the Codex Alimentarius, a body backed by FAO and the WHO which draws up international food safety standards, is now working on a so-called Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding to ensure that animal products do not create risks to consumers.

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