By STEPHEN GRAHAM
Associated Press
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| A herd of calves stares into the cameras at the farm
in the eastern Bavarian village of Friedersried, southern
Germany, Dec. 20, 2000. The German government announced Wednesday,
Jan. 31, it would slaughter an estimated 400,000 cattle in
an attempt to curb mad cow disease, a spokesman said. (AP)
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BERLIN – Germany
said Wednesday it will join France and Ireland in killing thousands
of older cattle in a drive to solve Europe's mad cow crisis and
relieve the pressure on farmers as consumers shun beef for fear
of infection.
Germany expects to destroy about 400,000 cattle under a "purchase
for destruction" program launched by the European Union last month,
government spokeswoman Charima Reinhardt said. The EU foresees
buying and incinerating up to 2 million cattle by the end of June,
at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast had hesitated to approve the
slaughter after farmers and animal rights groups protested against
mass slaughter in the fight against the disease, which was first
detected in Germany last November. The tally has since risen to
25 cases.
Many experts suspect people who eat infected beef can develop
the human version of the brain-wasting disease, and German consumers
have taken fright, pushing beef sales down by half and leaving
many farms populated with unwanted animals. Demand for beef has
fallen by about a quarter EU-wide.
Kuenast has also pledged a tough line on consumer protection after
her predecessor and Germany's health minister stepped down over
their botched handling of the crisis.
"She has checked all the alternatives and concluded there is no
other way," her spokeswoman Sigrun Neuwerth said. "This helps
create space in the stalls and clears out the most risky animals."
Under the EU scheme, farmers are being given an opportunity to
sell animals that are at least 30 months old Ñ the age-group believed
most likely to carry the disease. Ministry officials said they
hoped it would be as soon as possible, but no date was given.
Few of the animals are expected to be diseased.
Gerd Sonnleiter, head of Germany's largest farmers' group, said
he was relieved at the decision and said the program should begin
quickly regardless of an ongoing spat about who should pay for
the crisis.
"The distress of farmers and their animals can stand no delay,"
he said.
All the animals killed will be tested for the disease, formally
known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, but the government
has so far resisted calls for any BSE-free meat to be exported
or donated to poor countries.
Scientists link BSE with new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,
the human version of the brain-wasting ailment that has killed
some 80 Europeans since the mid-1990s, mostly in Britain.
German consumption of beef has dropped by more than 50 percent
since November, the Central Bureau for Markets and Pricing reported
Wednesday. Exports have also fallen drastically after 34 other
countries banned German meat.
Also Wednesday, some 100 police officers in riot gear guarded
the Italian Parliament in Rome as farmers protested a second straight
day to demand more government money to offset losses caused by
the mad cow scare.
A day earlier, farmers threw eggs and oranges at the doors of
the building that is home to the Chamber of Deputies. Some also
threw firecrackers inside the building. Italy discovered its first
mad cow case in January.
Concern about the disease has spread to the European continent
a decade after it surfaced in Britain, where about 180,000 animals
were found to be infected.
The disease has since spread to the continent, where about 150
infected cows were found in France last year and two people have
died.
Spanish officials said Wednesday they had detected three new cases
of the disease, bringing to 12 the number discovered so far. Beef
sales in Spain have plunged since the first case was announced
last November.
Meanwhile, the European Union said it has enough money to pay
the cost of destroying the cattle and testing for mad cow disease,
but warned the budget could be busted if the beef market doesn't
recover soon.
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