030724 Japan Says Concerned if U.S. Eases Canada Beef BanJuly 12, 2003Washington - Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said on Friday that Tokyo would be concerned if the United States eases a ban on imports of beef from Canada, where a case of mad cow disease was discovered in May. "It is not something that Japan has a say in, however if that should happen we cannot help but have strong concerns," Kamei told reporters. Japan, the biggest buyer of U.S. beef, has demanded stricter safeguards against Canadian products being included in American beef shipments to Japan. Tokyo's concerns stem from the May 20 discovery of one case of mad cow disease in Alberta. That prompted a ban on beef imports by the United States and other nations, which is costing Canada some $20 million a day in lost exports. Kamei met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Friday, and was scheduled to meet with Canadian Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief this weekend. He said that while Canada was acting on the assumption that there was only one case of mad cow disease within its borders, further testing could reveal more. "I intend to say that caution is needed, and that Canada should continue to carry out further tests," Kamei said of his meeting with Vanclief. Japan also wants Canada to pinpoint how the Alberta cow was infected with mad cow disease, which is typically spread by contaminated livestock feed. "There are also various issues which haven't been clarified, for instance, the cause of the disease in the one case and the circumstances in which the disease emerged. Those are issues that must be cleared up," Kamei said. Mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to be spread through contaminated animal feed. In 1997, the FDA banned the use of brains, spine and other nervous system tissue from mammals in cattle feed. In a separate development, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday afternoon that X-Cel Feeds Inc., a livestock feed manufacturer in Washington state, admitted to selling "adulterated and misbranded" feed that violated federal rules to prevent mad cow disease.
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
