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French set to lift UK beef ban
PARIS, France -- France is set to lift an illegal ban on British beef after its food safety experts ruled the meat was safe to eat. A European Union ban was first imposed on the British meat after links between mad cow disease and its human equivalent were found. But France has continued its own ban for three years after the EU sanction was lifted, arguing that its own national food safety agency (AFSSA) was not convinced that British beef was safe. AFSSA president Martin Hirsch told RTL radio: "Things have changed considerably in Britain, France and Europe. Many safety measures have been added. The risk of contamination is much more limited than before." French health, trade and farm officials will discuss AFSSA's recommendations before Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin makes a final decision. During 1995, the last full year of beef exports before the BSE crisis, 274,000 tonnes of the meat worth £520 million ($808 million) were shipped abroad with £80,000 tonnes going to France - Britain's biggest market. In Britain a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "We welcome the French food standards agency decision.
"The ban on British beef by France is illegal and we hope to get some positive outcome from the French government." France refused to comply with a European Union ruling easing a ban on British beef exports in mid-1999, sparking a cross-Channel diplomatic row and calls from politicians for Britain for trade retaliation. In July the European Commission asked the European Court of Justice to impose a fine of almost 160,000 euros a day on France for failing to comply with its earlier judgments that the ban was illegal. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been linked to a deadly human variant, Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (vCJD), which has so far killed more than 100 people, mostly in Britain but also some in France. A spokesman for the UK Meat and Livestock Commission said the AFFSA was "tremendous news" but added it was only the first step in getting the ban lifted. He told the UK's Press Association: "We are very optimistic and we are looking ahead but it's been many years since we shipped beef to France. "We will have to renew all those old contacts - it's going to be an uphill struggle."
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