Global BSE warning issued


The U.N. says all countries who imported beef from W. Europe are at risk of BSE

ROME, Italy -- The United Nations has warned the international community to act now to reduce the risk of mad cow disease spreading beyond European Union states.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said any country that imported cattle, meat or bone meal from Western Europe since the 1980s was at risk.

In a statement, the FAO urged countries around the world, "to be concerned about the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human form, the new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)."

It added: "All countries which have imported cattle or meat and bone meal from Western Europe, especially Britain, during and since the 1980s can be considered at risk from the disease."

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The Middle East, Eastern Europe, North Africa and India have the highest risk among countries outside Western Europe of harbouring mad cow disease, the FAO experts said.

So far, Switzerland is the only non-EU to report the appearance of BSE.

More than 80 people in Britain and three in France have so far died of vCJD, while cases of BSE have been reported in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Republic of Ireland and Spain.

The Rome-based organisation, best known for its drive to reduce world hunger, wants countries with big dairy industries, and which have imported large quantities of meat and bone meal from countries hit by BSE, to consider banning the use of it in cattle feed.

"As an immediate measure, countries which have imported animals and MBM from BSE-infected trading partners should consider a precautionary ban on the feeding of MBM to ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) or, to reduce the risk of infection even further, to all animals," the statement said.

Ahmed Sidahmed, technical adviser with the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) doubts many BSE cases would emerge in developing states as farmers tended to feed cattle on grass rather than MBM.

"If animals are grazing, I don't think the BSE risk is that high," he said, but added that the FAO's warning would encourage countries outside the EU to pursue farming practices in tune with nature to reduce and prevent the risk of BSE.

Speaking on Thursday, FAO experts encouraged countries to consider testing older cattle for BSE and banning the use of Specified Risk Materials (SRMs), such as cattle'e eyes, spinal cords and brain tissue, if they identified BSE risks.

Under tough new EU rules, all cattle aged over 30 months must be tested for BSE. The practice has already proved effective in uncovering cases of the disease.

The EU has imposed a six-month ban on the use of meat and bone meal in animal feed for until June 30. Many scientists believe the use of it in cattle feed spreads BSE.

Germany, which has registered 20 cases of mad cow disease since November, said on Friday it planned to reduce the age limit for BSE tests in cattle to 24 months from 30.

The FAO said it was working with the U.N. World Health Organization to draw up guidelines for safe feeding of livestock.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.