Japan 'stifled' mad cow report

Japan is the only Asian country so far where cattle have been affected by the brain-wasting disease

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo blocked the publication of a European Union study that warned Japan was at high risk for mad cow disease, a local newspaper has reported.

The Mainichi newspaper report, published Thursday, follows a government announcement earlier this week that a fourth suspected case of the brain-wasting disease had been discovered.

Citing a 12-page document dated February 1, Mainichi reported that the EU study claimed that misguided Japanese policies would increase the likelihood of mad cow contagion rather than its prevention.

The document was authored by a team of European experts on the disease, the newspaper said.

The EU report said although at the time no mad cow cases had been confirmed, there was a high possibility that animals in Japan had already been infected, the newspaper report said.

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The Japanese government had commissioned the EU study, Mainichi reported, which began in 1998 but stifled its publication after learning its contents.

Japan is the only country in Asia where cattle have been affected by the disease, which has ravaged Europe's beef industry.

Cattle slaughter

Late last month Japan said it would slaughter all 5,100 cows fed with meat-and-bone meal, one day after a second case of mad cow disease was found.

Authorities have been unable to trace the source of the infection but reports said that in the three confirmed cases the cows had been fed a milk substitute containing a Dutch-made animal fat.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to spread through recycled meat and bones from infected animals used in cattle feed.

It is linked to a human brain-wasting disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which has killed about 100 people in Europe and is believed to spread through eating infected meat.

Japan has 4.5 million cows, including dairy cows.