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Reuters
PARIS
- Spain announced a ban on imports of French and Irish cows
Wednesday to stop the spread of mad cow disease as France"s
biggest farm union said it wanted the government to kill
millions of cattle to wipe out the fatal, brain-wasting
illness. "We have asked authorities to do what they
can to make sure these animals do not enter the food chain,"
FNSEA farm union president Luc Guyau said in a television
interview. The union asked the French government to slaughter
all cattle born before July 15, 1996 -- the date when France
banned all so-called specific risk material from animal
feed as a precaution against the condition known as bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Guyau added the proposed
mass slaughter could involve around five million cattle
over seven or eight years. French Farm Minister Jean Glavany
said the proposal made sense but could cost billions of
francs. "This measure merits study, makes sense (but)
represents a cost of at least 12 billion French francs ($1.56
billion), possibly 18 billion French francs ($2.35 billion),"
Glavany told a stormy session of parliament. Spain"s
Agriculture Ministry said it had banned imports of live
breeding cattle over 20 months old from France and Ireland
amid fears of the potential spread of BSE. Spain took action
following a food scare in France sparked two weeks ago when
several supermarkets disclosed they had sold beef potentially
contaminated with BSE. BSE CASES TRIPLE As concerns widened
over BSE, France reported Wednesday three new cases of the
deadly disease. That brought the total number of cows identified
with the disease this year to 92 -- more than triple the
30 cases reported last year. Two of the three new cases
were detected under a testing scheme that the government
launched in June to gauge the extent of the illness among
its 21 million cattle. The country"s proud culinary
tradition continued to suffer further indignity as top restaurateur
Alain Ducasse said he may take beef off the menu at his
European restaurants and eventually import it from America
because of BSE concerns. "As public authorities are
not going to make the right decision quickly...I think I
am going to take the decision to pull beef from my menus,"
he said. "And why not import American beef? In that
way all the French farmers will hate me when I return soon,"
he told French radio from New York, where he has a restaurant.
Ducasse also has establishments in several European cities.
But as the scare that has dashed beef sales wore on, there
were suggestions that the reaction was overdone. Europe"s
Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne said cases of BSE were
on the rise in France but the incidence rate was still relatively
low and must be seen in context. "The incidence is
very low, much lower than in Britain. It is rising but from
a very low level," he said. According to the latest
EU data, France has less than eight mad cow cases per million
cattle aged over two years. Ireland has almost 40, Portugal
nearly 200 and at the end of last year Britain"s rate
of the brain-wasting disorder was above 500. Most scientists
are convinced that eating contaminated beef is the most
likely mode of transmission of the disease from cattle to
humans. (additional reporting by David Evans in Brussels)
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