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From: TSS ()
In Reply to: 29th suspected case of mad cow in Japan posted by TSS on September 26, 2006 at 7:01 am:
Farm ministry confirms Japan's 29th case of mad cow disease Tests on the 6 1/4 year-old dairy cow performed at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the cow, which died at a ranch on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, was infected with the fatal illness. The animal will be destroyed and incinerated so that any parts from it will not be circulated for consumption or used as feed, the ministry said. Japan has now confirmed 29 animals infected with the fatal illness -- known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001. Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply. Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. That ban was eased in December 2005, but was re-imposed after prohibited spinal bones were found in a shipment of veal in January. In July, Japan eased the ban, with U.S. beef hitting some retailers' shelves the following month. Earlier this month, Yoshinoya D&C Co., a major Japanese fast-food chain, returned a popular rice dish topped with U.S. beef that was off the menu for more than two years due to mad cow scares. (AP) September 28, 2006 http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060928p2a00m0na012000c.html Sept. 28, 2006, 8:13AM TOKYO — Japan imported 105 tons of U.S. beef in August, the first month after it lifted a six-month ban on American beef, an official said Thursday. Tokyo imposed the ban in January _ just weeks after lifting an earlier one _ when inspectors found prohibited animal parts in a veal shipment from New York. After evaluating the results of a monthlong inspection tour by Japanese officials of the 35 processing plants seeking to export U.S. meat, Japan lifted the ban in late July. The 105 tons imported last month was worth 80 million yen ($678,000), said Toru Tanaka of the Finance Ministry's statistics bureau. Japan was a huge consumer of American beef before December 2003, when it first imposed a ban over concerns of possible mad cow disease _ formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE _ among U.S. cattle. That ban was lifted in December 2005. Japan imported a total of 200,000 tons worth $1.4 billion in 2003 before the ban was imposed. BSE is a brain degenerative disease in cattle. In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease. Under an agreement between the two countries, all U.S. beef shipped to Japan must come from cattle less than 20 months old, and no brain or spinal material can be included because it is thought to be at risk of carrying the disease. Last week, Philip Seng, the president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told reporters in Tokyo that Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of American beef by the end of this year. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4221038.html Japan 06 US Beef Imports A Fraction Of Pre-Mad Cow Levels Today 9/20/2006 9:22:00 AM TOKYO (AP)--Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of U.S. beef in 2006, just a fraction of what it bought before a two-year hiatus over a mad cow scare, a trade group said Tuesday. Philip Seng, president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told a press conference in central Tokyo he hoped the Japanese government would relax conditions on American beef imports. Tokyo currently limits the trade to meat from cows aged 20 months or younger that are handled by a select list of U.S. meat exporters. "Obviously, the United States and U.S. industry would prefer not to have the 20-month age limitation," Seng said. He said the trade group would boost its campaign to draw consumers back to U.S. beef. Japan used to be the most lucrative market for U.S. beef exporters. Though Tokyo eased its two-year blanket ban on U.S. beef in July, the lingering trade restrictions and a resulting supply crunch has meant only a trickle of U.S. beef has made it back into the country. The strict checks required of U.S. meat allowed into Japan has meant higher costs for importers, which is also dampening trade, said Greg Hanes, USMEF's Japan director. Japan's U.S. beef imports are expected to total 500 tons by the end of September and will likely grow to 15,000 tons by year's end, Seng said. That's still just 7.5% of the 200,000 tons valued at $1.4 billion that Japan imported in 2003 before the ban was imposed. Source: Dow Jones Newswire AT LEAST Japan is looking for BSE/TSE in there cattle, a far cry from what the USDA is doing in the USA, and there failed attempt to document BSE/TSE in the June 2004 Enhanced BSE surveillance program, which we all know was flawed from the beginning ; CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006 The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a "The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven "Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005 CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ... THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT *** http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/BSE_Peer_Review.pdf TSS
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