Scientists: factory farming drop could end mad cow

LONDON (Reuters) -- United Kingdom scientists urged Europe on Monday to help farmers move away from intensive agriculture, saying the end of factory farming was the only way to kill mad cow disease.

The scientists, who advised and criticized the U.K. government at the height of Britain's mad cow crisis, told European Union farm ministers that tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy were not sensitive enough to guarantee BSE-free beef.

"Action needs to be taken now to initiate plans for the genuine long-term eradication of BSE," the three scientists said in a letter to EU food safety Commissioner David Byrne.

"We would urge that the EU should both promote, and provide substantial funding for an expansion of extensive and organic systems of beef production ... and a scaling down of industrially farmed beef throughout Europe."

EU farm ministers were meeting in Brussels to decide how to curb the spread of the brain-wasting disease, considering a ban on all meat-based livestock feed and measures to keep older cattle out of the food chain unless tested for BSE.

But Iain McGill, who worked for the Agriculture Ministry at the height of Britain's crisis, Stephen Dealler, who has worked on BSE since 1988, and Adrian Holmes, a lobbyist on the matter, warned the EU that a wide cattle cull and increased testing may not halt the disease's spread.

"The current tests for BSE would not appear to be sufficiently sensitive to guarantee that beef is BSE-free," they said, adding that false negative results could allow high-risk cattle tissues back into the food chain.

"Regarding the culling of cattle it must be worth flagging up the enormous problems with the disposal of cattle carcasses in the U.K."

They said a widespread cattle cull could also expose people to BSE from the carcasses -- whether eaten or not -- through environmental contamination.

"There is currently no safe and satisfactory route for disposal of carcasses which is also logistically feasible on such a large scale," they said.

Europe should also adopt France's ban on the tissues most susceptible to the disease, including the ileum and thymus.

Moreover, Europe should fund research for a cure to BSE and its human equivalent, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

But to end the spread and kill off the disease, Europe has to start farming in a different way, they said.

"The German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is calling for the end of factory farming," they said.

"The U.K. BSE inquiry also came to the conclusion that BSE was a product of intensive agriculture -- a 'recipe for disaster."'

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Summit considers BSE crackdown
December 4, 2000
Germany targets cattle feed amid BSE crisis
December 1, 2000
EU warning over BSE
November 27, 2000

CNN In-Depth Link on mad cow disease
European Union

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.