Farm ministry confirms Japan's 29th case of mad cow disease
Japan's Agriculture Ministry said Thursday it confirmed that a cow from northern Japan had the country's 29th case of mad cow disease.
Tests on the 6 1/4 year-old dairy cow performed at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the cow, which died at a ranch on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, was infected with the fatal illness.
The animal will be destroyed and incinerated so that any parts from it will not be circulated for consumption or used as feed, the ministry said.
Japan has now confirmed 29 animals infected with the fatal illness -- known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001.
Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. That ban was eased in December 2005, but was re-imposed after prohibited spinal bones were found in a shipment of veal in January.
In July, Japan eased the ban, with U.S. beef hitting some retailers' shelves the following month.
Earlier this month, Yoshinoya D&C Co., a major Japanese fast-food chain, returned a popular rice dish topped with U.S. beef that was off the menu for more than two years due to mad cow scares. (AP)
September 28, 2006
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/ ... 2000c.html
Sept. 28, 2006, 8:13AM
Japan Imported 105 Tons of U.S. Beef
© 2006 The Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan imported 105 tons of U.S. beef in August, the first month after it lifted a six-month ban on American beef, an official said Thursday.
Tokyo imposed the ban in January _ just weeks after lifting an earlier one _ when inspectors found prohibited animal parts in a veal shipment from New York.
After evaluating the results of a monthlong inspection tour by Japanese officials of the 35 processing plants seeking to export U.S. meat, Japan lifted the ban in late July.
The 105 tons imported last month was worth 80 million yen ($678,000), said Toru Tanaka of the Finance Ministry's statistics bureau.
Japan was a huge consumer of American beef before December 2003, when it first imposed a ban over concerns of possible mad cow disease _ formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE _ among U.S. cattle. That ban was lifted in December 2005.
Japan imported a total of 200,000 tons worth $1.4 billion in 2003 before the ban was imposed.
BSE is a brain degenerative disease in cattle. In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease.
Under an agreement between the two countries, all U.S. beef shipped to Japan must come from cattle less than 20 months old, and no brain or spinal material can be included because it is thought to be at risk of carrying the disease.
Last week, Philip Seng, the president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told reporters in Tokyo that Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of American beef by the end of this year.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4221038.html
Japan 06 US Beef Imports A Fraction Of Pre-Mad Cow Levels
Today 9/20/2006 9:22:00 AM
Japan 06 US Beef Imports A Fraction Of Pre-Mad Cow Levels
TOKYO (AP)--Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of U.S. beef in 2006, just a fraction of what it bought before a two-year hiatus over a mad cow scare, a trade group said Tuesday.
Philip Seng, president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told a press conference in central Tokyo he hoped the Japanese government would relax conditions on American beef imports.
Tokyo currently limits the trade to meat from cows aged 20 months or younger that are handled by a select list of U.S. meat exporters.
"Obviously, the United States and U.S. industry would prefer not to have the 20-month age limitation," Seng said.
He said the trade group would boost its campaign to draw consumers back to U.S. beef. Japan used to be the most lucrative market for U.S. beef exporters.
Though Tokyo eased its two-year blanket ban on U.S. beef in July, the lingering trade restrictions and a resulting supply crunch has meant only a trickle of U.S. beef has made it back into the country.
The strict checks required of U.S. meat allowed into Japan has meant higher costs for importers, which is also dampening trade, said Greg Hanes, USMEF's Japan director.
Japan's U.S. beef imports are expected to total 500 tons by the end of September and will likely grow to 15,000 tons by year's end, Seng said. That's still just 7.5% of the 200,000 tons valued at $1.4 billion that Japan imported in 2003 before the ban was imposed.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
AT LEAST Japan is looking for BSE/TSE in there cattle, a far cry from what
the USDA is doing in the USA, and there failed attempt to document BSE/TSE
in the June 2004 Enhanced BSE surveillance program, which we all know was
flawed from the beginning ;
USA BSE OIG 2006
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf
CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier
this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to
them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest
case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at
least a decade.
The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA
officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.
These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a
picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is
thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they
consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal,
incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated
with the mad cow pathogen.
"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of
other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the
National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System
Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press
International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer
that."
Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow
cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the
United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before
one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow
that initially tested positive.
USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven
months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.
"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005
suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end
http://www.upi.com/
CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ...
Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central
Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room
4A-05, ...
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm
THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT ***
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/docket ... tach-1.pdf
Suppressed peer review of Harvard study October 31, 2002
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/BSE_Peer_Review.pdf
TSS
TSS
Japan's Agriculture Ministry said Thursday it confirmed that a cow from northern Japan had the country's 29th case of mad cow disease.
Tests on the 6 1/4 year-old dairy cow performed at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the cow, which died at a ranch on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, was infected with the fatal illness.
The animal will be destroyed and incinerated so that any parts from it will not be circulated for consumption or used as feed, the ministry said.
Japan has now confirmed 29 animals infected with the fatal illness -- known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001.
Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. That ban was eased in December 2005, but was re-imposed after prohibited spinal bones were found in a shipment of veal in January.
In July, Japan eased the ban, with U.S. beef hitting some retailers' shelves the following month.
Earlier this month, Yoshinoya D&C Co., a major Japanese fast-food chain, returned a popular rice dish topped with U.S. beef that was off the menu for more than two years due to mad cow scares. (AP)
September 28, 2006
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/ ... 2000c.html
Sept. 28, 2006, 8:13AM
Japan Imported 105 Tons of U.S. Beef
© 2006 The Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan imported 105 tons of U.S. beef in August, the first month after it lifted a six-month ban on American beef, an official said Thursday.
Tokyo imposed the ban in January _ just weeks after lifting an earlier one _ when inspectors found prohibited animal parts in a veal shipment from New York.
After evaluating the results of a monthlong inspection tour by Japanese officials of the 35 processing plants seeking to export U.S. meat, Japan lifted the ban in late July.
The 105 tons imported last month was worth 80 million yen ($678,000), said Toru Tanaka of the Finance Ministry's statistics bureau.
Japan was a huge consumer of American beef before December 2003, when it first imposed a ban over concerns of possible mad cow disease _ formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE _ among U.S. cattle. That ban was lifted in December 2005.
Japan imported a total of 200,000 tons worth $1.4 billion in 2003 before the ban was imposed.
BSE is a brain degenerative disease in cattle. In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease.
Under an agreement between the two countries, all U.S. beef shipped to Japan must come from cattle less than 20 months old, and no brain or spinal material can be included because it is thought to be at risk of carrying the disease.
Last week, Philip Seng, the president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told reporters in Tokyo that Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of American beef by the end of this year.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4221038.html
Japan 06 US Beef Imports A Fraction Of Pre-Mad Cow Levels
Today 9/20/2006 9:22:00 AM
Japan 06 US Beef Imports A Fraction Of Pre-Mad Cow Levels
TOKYO (AP)--Japan is set to import 15,000 tons of U.S. beef in 2006, just a fraction of what it bought before a two-year hiatus over a mad cow scare, a trade group said Tuesday.
Philip Seng, president of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told a press conference in central Tokyo he hoped the Japanese government would relax conditions on American beef imports.
Tokyo currently limits the trade to meat from cows aged 20 months or younger that are handled by a select list of U.S. meat exporters.
"Obviously, the United States and U.S. industry would prefer not to have the 20-month age limitation," Seng said.
He said the trade group would boost its campaign to draw consumers back to U.S. beef. Japan used to be the most lucrative market for U.S. beef exporters.
Though Tokyo eased its two-year blanket ban on U.S. beef in July, the lingering trade restrictions and a resulting supply crunch has meant only a trickle of U.S. beef has made it back into the country.
The strict checks required of U.S. meat allowed into Japan has meant higher costs for importers, which is also dampening trade, said Greg Hanes, USMEF's Japan director.
Japan's U.S. beef imports are expected to total 500 tons by the end of September and will likely grow to 15,000 tons by year's end, Seng said. That's still just 7.5% of the 200,000 tons valued at $1.4 billion that Japan imported in 2003 before the ban was imposed.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
AT LEAST Japan is looking for BSE/TSE in there cattle, a far cry from what
the USDA is doing in the USA, and there failed attempt to document BSE/TSE
in the June 2004 Enhanced BSE surveillance program, which we all know was
flawed from the beginning ;
USA BSE OIG 2006
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf
CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier
this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to
them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest
case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at
least a decade.
The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA
officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.
These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a
picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is
thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they
consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal,
incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated
with the mad cow pathogen.
"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of
other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the
National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System
Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press
International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer
that."
Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow
cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the
United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before
one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow
that initially tested positive.
USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven
months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.
"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005
suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end
http://www.upi.com/
CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ...
Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central
Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room
4A-05, ...
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm
THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT ***
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/docket ... tach-1.pdf
Suppressed peer review of Harvard study October 31, 2002
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/BSE_Peer_Review.pdf
TSS
TSS
