Germany calls for action over BSE

BERLIN, Germany -- Ministers have moved to reassure consumers after two cases of mad cow disease were confirmed in German-born cows -- while Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has called for Europe-wide ban on meat-based animal feeds.

But as two German ministers said there was no reason to suspect that German beef was unsafe, another warned of a "real BSE danger" in the country.

And a European Union health chief, reacting to the news, said the EU may have to take far-reaching health protection measures over mad cow disease to make sure consumers are not put at risk.

European Health Commissioner David Byrne said he would press for maximum control measures to protect consumers at a special meeting of EU agriculture ministers provisionally set for December 4.

Schroeder said he was in favour of banning meat-based animal feeds, believed to be behind the deadly disease, in Germany and the whole of the EU. He said a German ban was likely from Monday.

Germany confirmed that two cows with the disease had been discovered -- one in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein and the other in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the first time cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have been detected in Germany.

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One of the cows confirmed to have the disease had been exported to the Portuguese islands of the Azores, an area previously free of the brain-wasting disease. Authorities in the Azores said they would slaughter all cattle imported in recent years.

The Azores Agriculture Ministry said the Fresian cow stricken by BSE -- born in Germany in September 1995 -- had been imported two years ago to the island of Sao Miguel.

It was slaughtered on October 2, with the carcass immediately destroyed, after showing signs of BSE. An autopsy, including an examination of brain tissue, confirmed the presence of the disease.

Veterinary authorities in the Azores have placed the farm in question under embargo and informed their counterparts in Germany.

Until now Germany has claimed its cattle are free of BSE and that the six cases reported in the country related to five British cattle and a Swiss animal.

German health officials said on Friday that German beef was still safe to eat, while they also encouraged cattle farmers to take pre-emptive action in banning animal-based feeds immediately, before legislation is introduced next week.

ALSO Mixed messages over BSE discovery

Erwin Jordan, state secretary at the health ministry, said: "There is no reason to say German beef is not healthy. We have had one suspicious case and there is no reason to assume a BSE problem here like in Britain, with thousands of cases."

And Agriculture Minister Karl-Heinz Funke said consumers need not worry about the safety of German beef.

"You must trust your butcher. He knows where the slaughtered meat comes from," Funke told reporters in the northern city of Bremen.

But Health Minister Andrea Fischer seemed to contradict her colleagues as she said: "Even though we only have suspected cases at the moment, we have to work on the basis that we have a real BSE danger in Germany."

She added that testing on as many animals as possible will begin immediately.

Germans are among Europe's lowest consumers of beet.

An agriculture ministry report showed they ate 34.3 pounds of beef and veal per head last year, ranking them last among the 11 European countries surveyed. France was first with 59.4 pounds.

Germany has already banned animal-based feed to ruminants, which include cows, sheep and goats, but not poultry and pigs, under an EU ruling introduced in 1994.

BSE has been linked to the human form of the illness, new variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD), which has killed more than 80 Britons and two French people. No confirmed cases have occurred in Germany.

In a separate move in western France around 250 cattle farmers staged noisy demonstrations on Friday to protest against the government's FF 3.13 billion ($400 million) mad cow aid package that they say fails to cover their losses.

About 200 farmers drove tractors and led cows through the streets of Alencon in Normandy before occupying the courtyard of a government building.

Meanwhile, 50 breeders in the town of Savenieres blocked rail traffic between Nantes and Paris, delaying high-speed train services for up to three hours.

Two main farmers' unions have called on their members to demonstrate against the government package announced on Tuesday, with more demonstrations expected for the weekend.

France has banned the sale of T-bone steaks and the use of meat and bone meal, the ground-up cattle parts used as a protein additive in animal feed that are suspected of spreading BSE.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Mad cow disease found in Azores
November 24, 2000
Mad cow disease strikes Spain
November 23, 2000
Britain to check French beef
November 23, 2000
EU extends tests for mad cow disease
November 21, 2000
French farmers get BSE aid package
November 21, 2000

German Government
European Union
French Agriculture Department (in French)

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