Report: Japan food safety panel says U.S. cattle more exposed to mad cow

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's food safety panel said Monday that U.S. cows were exposed to a higher risk of mad cow disease infection than their Japanese counterparts due to insufficient feed control in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, Kyodo News agency reported. The concern was raised in a draft report presented by the Food Safety Commission panel, which is currently discussing whether it's safe to lift Japan's 20-month ban on U.S. beef imports.

Panel head Yasuhiro Yoshikawa said in the report that the extent of feed contamination in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s was up to 10 times as high as that of Japan, Kyodo reported.

Officials were not available for comment late Monday.

The mad cow disease - bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE - is known to spread through the feeding of infected cattle remains to other cattle. The United States has banned the practice since 1997.

Japan banned American beef imports after the first case of mad cow was found in that country in December, 2003.

Washington is pushing for a quick resumption of Japan's imports, but Tokyo says it needs to follow the proper bureaucratic procedures. Yoshikawa, however, said the higher exposure to the disease does not immediately mean U.S. beef is riskier, Kyodo said.

After months of negotiation, Japan decided in May to waive mad cow tests for Japanese cattle younger than 21 months, but not to extend that waiver yet to imports. Experts say that risk of infection among cows younger than 21 months is negligible.

Eating beef infected with mad cow disease is thought to cause a fatal brain disorder that has killed more than 150 people, mostly in Britain, since the 1990s.

Before the ban, Japan was the most lucrative market for American beef. Some U.S. officials have threatened sanctions unless Tokyo resumes imports of beef from younger cows.

The country's first case of mad cow disease, confirmed in December 2003, was in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. The second case, a Texas-born cow, tested positive in June.

© The Canadian Press, 2005