German call for BSE tests on sheep

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's agriculture minister has called for sheep to be tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

"If the scientists recommend it, I regard it as right, so we'll have to move it forward," Karl-Heinz Funke told German television station ZDF on Wednesday.

The German's minister's comments come just three days after another case of suspected BSE was found in Germany -- raising the total to four suspected cases on top of five confirmed incidents of the brain-wasting illness.

Experts are investigating the possible presence of the disease in sheep. They are also exploring the suspicion that BSE could be passed on through fodder or by cows that have been grazing in the same fields.

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However, most sheep are fed very little animal-based fodder and 60 to 70 percent are free-range grazing on pasture, minimising the risks.

CNN's Berlin bureau chief Chris Burns said officials are confident that very few sheep if any will have BSE.

"It is more of a security measure and to reassure the population," he said.

Earlier this month, Germany's main opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), demanded a ban on imports of British lamb amid fears that sheep scrapie is behind mad cow disease and its fatal human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).

The Agriculture Ministry in the central state of Lower Saxony said a cow slaughtered near the town of Osnabrueck on Saturday was believed to be infected with BSE.

BSE has been linked to the deaths of at least 80 Britons from vCJD.

New BSE case in Germany
December 24, 2000
Mad cow fears prompt German meat bans
December 23, 2000
Europe warns Germany over BSE
December 22, 2000
Summit considers BSE crackdown
December 4, 2000
Germany discovers third BSE case
December 20, 2000
New BSE case found in Germany
December 18, 2000

The BSE Inquiry
German Federal Government
German Agriculture Ministry
World Health Organisation:Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)

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