Japan Minister Says Worried About More BSE in US
Date: 21-Jan-04
Country: JAPAN
Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei told reporters, "It is not our aim to prolong the ban (on U.S. beef imports)."
"It is in fact our wish to resume imports at an early date, but the condition for this is that we are sure of the safety and security of (U.S. beef)," he said. A report released by the Agriculture Ministry on Monday said there was no guarantee that other cases of mad cow disease would not be discovered in the United States.
The report was based on a study conducted by a Japanese fact-finding delegation, just back from a trip to North America.
Referring to the report, Kamei said, "I am worried about (new cases of U.S. mad cow)."
Japan banned imports of U.S. beef last month after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). It has been resisting pressure from Washington to lift the ban, saying it must be sure of the safety of U.S beef.
Japan is the biggest importer of U.S. beef, of which it buys about $1 billion a year.
Kamei said that Japan had been able to regain the confidence of Japanese consumers in the safety of domestic beef by conducting tests on all cattle slaughtered for consumption.
Kamei again called on the United States to conduct the same mass testing, or checks of equal strictness. His comments came days before a U.S delegation, led by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Undersecretary J.B. Penn, is due to visit Japan.
Japan introduced strict safeguards after it discovered its own case of the brain-wasting disease in September 2001.
A rare human form of BSE, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), can result from eating animal products contaminated with BSE.