Incidence of Mad Cow Disease more than doubles in France

November 1, 2000

Cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease,

rose sharply in France this year, with a total of 73 incidents so far in 2000

compared to 31 cases for all of 1999. The European Union, which placed a ban on

British beef after a link was established between eating infected beef and

contracting the human fatal brain-wasting condition, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,

lifted the ban last year.

French agriculture officials said cows in the Loire valley and Vosges region

were discovered to be suffering from the disease.

The Correfour supermarket chain cleared the shelves of 39 locations in France

that had possibly come from infected cows, and appealed to customers to return

meat with expiration dates from October 10 - 15.

Carrefour will be a plaintiff in a lawsuit launched over the weekend against a

trader accused of knowngly selling a cow afflicted with mad cow disease to a

slaughterhouse earlier this month. Claude Demeulenaere is under investigation

along with his wife and son, and each faces up to 4 years in jail if convicted.

The French Green Party said that the investigation must be deep, and the

punishment must be far-reaching.

Green Party spokeman said that legal action should not only target the trader

who sells the infected cow, but also the farmer who sells infected feed to the

trader.

In an attempt to calm concerned consumers, Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany

said that it was uncertain as to whether the beef posed a threat to public

health.

Also on the mad cow front, the Belgian Agriculture Ministry announced Monday

that they have found two new cases of mad cow disease, bringing their total up

to 8 this year and 18 in total.

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