BSE crisis feed ban 'too short'

Farmers will be compensated over some of the new EU measures

BERLIN, Germany -- A six month ban on meat-based animal feeds across the European Union is not long enough to tackle the crisis over mad cow disease, Germany's agriculture minister has said.

The ban, due to take effect on January 1, was agreed at a meeting of EU ministers on Monday.

But German Agriculture Minister Karl-Heinz Funke said on Tuesday that a six month ban was not long enough and that he was confident it would be extended.

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Scientists have linked meat and bone meal feeds (MBM) to the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The EU decision aims to prevent the spread of BSE's fatal human equivalent, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).

Funke said the switch from animal-based to vegetable-based proteins, necessitated by the ban, would require major investments in planting new crops.

The minister had previously resisted banning MBM in animal feeds because of the huge costs it would cause, but reversed his position after German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for an EU-wide ban on the feeds.

The EU ministers also agreed to exclude all cattle more than 30 months old from entering the food chain unless tests prove the animals are free from mad cow disease.

UK Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said: "This is a comprehensive and very powerful public protection measure to extinguish mad cow disease."

He said the ban on animals over 30 months old would take effect from January and that a scheme to compensate farmers for removing the cattle would be 70 percent funded from the budget of the 15-nation EU.

Britain already has banned the sale of any beef from cattle aged above 30 months in the wake of its crisis over mad cow disease.

EU officials have said that as many as two million cattle across the EU could be involved in the scheme until member states are in a position to test their animals.

Egypt on Monday banned the import of live cattle, beef and animal-based fodder from Western Europe amid concerns about the disease.

Earlier Iran banned imports of livestock from Germany after the discovery of a German cow infected with BSE. Iran does not import any livestock from countries that have reported BSE.

Fodder containing animal products is a key suspect in spreading the disease from Britain four years ago.

It is estimated the EU fodder ban will cost $1.7 billion and some EU countries were concerned at the expense.

Fish meal and animal fats are excluded from the ban as they are not seen as a potential cause for spreading BSE in cattle to humans in the form of vCJD.

French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany said the ban would "allow Europe to take a major step forward" in containing mad cow disease.

BSE is thought to spread to humans as vCJD disease -- an incurable brain-wasting disease. Two people in France and 80 in Britain have died from vCJD linked to BSE.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Germany to make BSE testing mandatory
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EU proposes tougher feed controls
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EU warning over BSE
November 27, 2000

European Union
World Health Organisation: Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)
Germany Ministry of Agriculture

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