France 'mirrors Britain' in BSE response

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As France grapples with its mad cow disease crisis, the sound of bureaucrats reassuring the meat-eating public that beef is safe has a familiar ring in Britain.

In 1990, before a link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the human form of the brain-wasting disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, (vCJD) was established, the British Agriculture Minister John Gummer appeared on TV encouraging his four-year-old daughter to eat a beefburger.

His claims that beef was "completely safe" were proved to be inaccurate as more than 80 Britons died from vCJD since the first known victim, 19-year-old Stephen Churchill, died in 1995 -- 10 months before the Government officially said there was a "probable" link between the cattle disease and vCJD.

Ten years later, the French government is using a similar approach to allay public fears, despite the vCJD deaths in Britain and the two in France.

Full-page newspaper advertisements in French newspapers this week confidently state: "Why you can eat beef without fear," and picture a healthy looking cow. The ads publicise a new telephone advice service aimed at restoring public confidence in eating beef.

Public panic, described as "psychosis" by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, has grown over the past month, resulting in a 40 percent drop in beef sales.

Beef has been taken off the menu in numerous schools and restaurants in France and Italy, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands have restricted imports of live French cattle. Meanwhile, European Union agriculture ministers have announced plans to extend testing for BSE in cattle.

Former Agriculture Minister John Gummer urged the British public to continue eating beef

The French Consumer Affairs Minister Francois Patriat was adamant about beef's safety: "Never was meat as safe as today," echoing remarks made by the former British health secretary Stephen Dorrell who once said during Britain's BSE crisis that there was "no conceivable risk from beef."

For a member of the British support group for people with vCJD, the Human BSE Foundation, the response by the French government is one that she has heard before.

Foundation secretary Frances Hall told CNN.com that the French Government should have learnt from Britain's mistakes in informing the public about the possible risks of eating beef.

"It's very much deja vu. The only excuse the British Government had was that the link [between BSE and vCJD] had not been proven. But there is no excuse for France not to have taken precautions," Hall said.

"No beef is safe from any country, including Britain, until they have totally eradicated BSE. Beef products cannot be guaranteed to be safe -- one slab of beef on a butcher's block looks the same as any other," she added.

A British government report in BSE, published in October, strongly criticised former government ministers and officials for consistently playing down the risks of eating beef to the public and failing to properly co-ordinate a government response.

For Hall, France's approach is heading along the same lines.

"The French government simply cannot be 100 percent sure if the beef is safe," she said.

Human BSE Foundation
British Government BSE Inquiry

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