Japan Refusing U.S. Beef Until White House Agrees to Stricter Safety Rules

US, Japan Apart on Need for Beef Study-Koizumi

By Irwin Arieff

Sept. 22, 2004

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on
Wednesday that he and U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) "see
eye to eye" on the need for a quick resumption of their bilateral beef
trade, but Japan wants more mad cow safety studies.

Japan suspended its imports of U.S. beef, amounting to $1.4 billion a year,
last December following the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in
Washington state. Until then, Japan had been the biggest importer of U.S.
beef.

"We do see eye-to-eye that beef trade should be resumed as soon as
possible," Koizumi told reporters. But there is the question of the safety
of the meat, he said, as U.S. and Japanese views "remain somewhat apart" on
the need for additional safety studies.

Koizumi, speaking on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting, said
the United States and Japan would continue consultations on the safety
issue, which he said was important to Japanese consumers and "the people of
the whole world."

"We should like to discuss that point in a way that will not delay the
resumption of trade unduly," he said.

Japan has found 13 cases of mad cow disease since September 2001, causing
widespread consumer concern about the brain-wasting disease. Humans can
contract a variant of mad cow disease by eating beef from afflicted cattle.

Since December, Washington and Tokyo have been in intensive discussions on
how to reopen Japan's market.

Japan initially told the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites)
that it would not accept any American beef until USDA carries out mad cow
tests on all 36 million U.S. cattle slaughtered each year.

The USDA countered that there was no scientific basis for such an expensive
undertaking. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has a
long incubation period and generally does not show up in cattle under 30
months old.

More recently, Japan indicated a willingness to exempt cattle 20 months and
younger from mad cow tests, which potentially could open Japan to a vast
segment of U.S. beef.

But a U.S. industry source on Tuesday said there were logistical problems in
setting a 20-month testing standard, including the difficulty in tracking
cattle organs to be sold to Japan once they are separated from the carcass.
_________________________________________________________________________

Japan Confirms 13th Mad Cow Disease Case

BY KOZO MIZOGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

September 22, 2004

TOKYO - Japan confirmed its 13th case of mad cow disease Wednesday after a
slaughtered Holstein tested positive for the brain-wasting illness, a
government food safety official said.

The 8-year-old dairy cow in Nara prefecture, or state, was found to have the
illness after an exam given by a state-run infectious disease research
institute in Tokyo, said Seiichiro Minese of the Nara food safety office.

The cow's meat and organs had not gone on the market and officials said the
meat processing center in western Japan where it was dismembered will be
thoroughly disinfected.

The cow is the 13th to test positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
or BSE (news - web sites), in the country since 2001, when Tokyo began
checking every cow that was killed before it entered the food supply.

Tokyo also banned the use of meat-and-bone meal < made from ruminant animal
parts < in cattle feed. Authorities believe the outbreak was caused by
meat-and-bone meal.

Eating beef from a diseased cow is believed to cause the fatal
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (news - web sites) in humans.

The latest discovery comes as Japan and the United States discuss testing
standards that could lead to a partial lifting of Japan's ban on American
beef imports.

Tokyo prohibited all U.S. beef from entering Japan in December after a case
of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington state. Japan insisted it
would not lift the ban until the United States also instituted blanket
testing for cows.

U.S. officials have balked at blanket testing of all cattle, saying it's too
expensive and unnecessary. In addition, they say the tests are reliable only
on cattle 30 months old or older.

Japan showed signs of relaxing its demand this month when the
state-appointed Food Safety Commission announced that the country could
import meat from untested cows 20 months old or younger without endangering
public health.

President Bush (news - web sites) and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi discussed the matter in New York on Tuesday but did not set a
timeline for restarting beef trade.

Both sides are eager to strike a compromise to reopen the Japanese market to
American beef. The country was the most lucrative overseas market for U.S.
beef, which is much cheaper than domestic beef.

Japan bought $1.2 billion of U.S. beef in 2003, more than any other country,
before halting imports.